Krishnamurti: freedom and discipline

The second piece is by Jiddu Krishnamurti, a world-famous speaker on philosophy and education, who founded schools based on his ideas.

Many people believe that discipline leads to freedom. Krishnamurti disagrees. Discipline is resistance: it builds a frame around us. And freedom cannot exist inside a frame.

Parents, teachers, priests and tradition all build an enclosure around us. To be free, we must examine it, not just accept it, and discover for ourselves, not merely follow a guru.

Following rules without thinking makes a person thoughtless. Intelligence comes only from the freedom to question. Otherwise there is an inner conflict between what we feel and how we conform.

Fear and self-concern destroy sensitivity: the ability to notice the poor man in the street, to hear the temple bell, to see sunlight on water, to help a servant carrying a heavy load. Real freedom, he says, means great sensitivity: freedom grows from questioning and caring.