自我觉知是件艰苦卓绝的事，因为我们多数人都喜欢轻松、虚幻的方式，所以才臆造出权威，用来塑造、规范我们的生活。权威，可能是一个集体，比如国家；也可能是个人，如大师、救世主、精神导师。任何权威都令人目盲，令人想当然，因为多数人发现，思考即痛苦，所以宁愿把自己交付给权威。权威孳生权力，而权力总是集中的，因而必然彻底腐化，它不但腐化权力的行使者，也腐化其追随者。知识与经验权威，也令人堕落，不论权威披着大师、议员的外衣，或者摇身变为牧师。
最重要的，是你自己的生活——这场永无止息的冲突，而不是追寻什么模式或领袖，因为大师、神父的权威感反而让你偏离了人生的核心课题——你自己的内在冲突。
——克里希那穆提《生命书：365观心日课》（The Book of Life: Daily Meditations with Krishnamurti）
Authority Corrupts Both Leader and Follower
Self-awareness is arduous, and since most of us prefer an easy, illusory way, we bring into being the authority that gives shape and pattern to our life. This authority may be the collective, the State; or it may be the personal, the Master, the savior, the guru. Authority of any kind is blinding, it breeds thoughtlessness; and as most of us find that to be thoughtful is to have pain, we give ourselves over to authority. Authority engenders power, and power always becomes centralized and therefore utterly corrupting; it corrupts not only the wielder of power, but also him who follows it. The authority of knowledge and experience is perverting, whether it be vested in the Master, his representative or the priest.
It is your own life, this seemingly endless conflict, that is significant, and not the pattern or the leader. The authority of the Master and the priest takes you away from the central issue, which is the conflict within yourself.
JANUARY 21
