The First and Last Freedom (1954) by J. Krishnamurti

 

“Man is an amphibian who lives simultaneously in two worlds – the given and the home‑made, the world of matter, life and consciousness and the world of symbols.”

This is the opening of the preface by Aldous Huxley. Amphibians, like frogs, can live both in water and on land. Likewise, Huxley says that human beings have the capacity to live in: The conditioned, sensory world (like land), and The unconditioned, spiritual or transcendent world (like water).

But—just as amphibians are not fully at home in either realm, humans often struggle to reconcile or navigate these two dimensions.

Krishnamurti emphasized choiceless awareness, freedom from conditioning, and direct perception of truth without the mediation of thought or belief systems. Huxley highlights that Krishnamurti’s teachings are a bridge or pointer to the deeper, eternal world, helping humans recognize and live from their spiritual nature—not just their psychological or material conditioning. 

 At the heart of the book lies Krishnamurti’s central message:

“Freedom is not at the end; it is at the very beginning.”

He insists that real freedom—psychological and spiritual—is not something to be attained after effort or time. It begins with choiceless awareness, the direct, unmediated perception of what is, without resistance, judgment, or escape.

“We are secondhand people. We have lived on what we have been told.”

We live based on beliefs, authorities, traditions, and borrowed knowledge. True freedom starts when we question everything, especially our own thoughts and conditioning.

Begin each day with the question: “What assumptions or beliefs am I carrying into this moment?” Observe without trying to fix or justify them.

“To observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence.”

Awareness without choice means seeing things as they are, not as we want or fear them to be. It’s not about controlling the mind, but observing it as a mirror reflects.

Pause and just watch your thoughts and emotions. No labels, no reactions. This strengthens awareness.

“Fear cannot be understood through analysis, but only through awareness of the total process of the self.”

Fear arises when the mind projects into the future or clings to past memories. Trying to conquer or suppress fear only strengthens it.

Next time fear arises, don’t resist or name it. Stay with the sensation. See how the mind builds it with thought.

“Truth is a pathless land.”

Krishnamurti warns against relying on gurus, systems, or external authorities for inner truth. Truth must be discovered individually, freshly, directly.

Instead of adopting others’ truths, ask: “Is this true for me now, from direct perception?”

Let insight come from within, not imitation.

“Meditation is the ending of thought.”

Meditation is not repetition or control. It is stillness that arises when the mind is silent—not forced into silence, but naturally quiet because it sees the futility of its noise.

Don’t try to meditate. Just watch. Let the noise pass. Let silence show itself.

“Where the self is, love is not.”

Love, for Krishnamurti, is not attachment, desire, or dependence. It exists only when the self (the ego) is quiet—when there’s no division, control, or possession.

In relationships, notice when you act from need, control, or fear. Step back. Ask: “Is this love or my image of it?”

“The first and last freedom is the freedom to observe—without the observer.”

The “observer” is the ego—the accumulated memories, conditioning, and identity. True observation happens when there is no division between the observer and the observed. In that space, transformation is possible. 

“If, living in the world, you refuse to be a part of it, you will help others out of this chaos - not in the future, not tomorrow, but now.”

“If I follow a particular method of knowing myself, then I shall have the result which that system necessitates; but the result will obviously not be the understanding of myself.”

“The pursuit, all the world over, of gurus and their systems, reading the latest books on this and that, and so on, seems to me so utterly empty, so utterly futile, for you may wander all over the earth, but you have to come back to yourself. And, as most of us are totally unaware of ourselves, it is extremely difficult to begin to see clearly the process of our thinking, feeling, and acting."

“Transformation can only take place immediately; the revolution is now, not tomorrow.” “After all, a cup is useful only when it is empty; and a mind that is filled with beliefs, with dogmas, with assertions, with quotations, is really an uncreative mind; it is merely a repetitive mind.”

“Ideas are not truth, and truth is something that must be experienced directly, from moment to moment.”

“The understanding of oneself is not a result, a culmination; it is seeing oneself from moment to moment in the mirror of relationship—one’s relationship to property, to things, to people, and to ideas.”

“When you quote the Bhagavad Gita, or the Bible, or some Chinese Sacred Book, surely you are merely repeating, are you not? And what you are repeating is not the truth. It is a lie; for truth cannot be repeated.”

“I must love the very thing I am studying. If you want to understand a child, you must love and not condemn him. You must play with him, watch his movements, his idiosyncrasies, his ways of behaviour; but if you merely condemn, resist or blame him, there is no comprehension of the child.”

“Perception can take place only in the present; but if you say: "I will do it tomorrow,"; the wave of confusion overcomes you, and you are then always involved in confusion.”

“If I regard life not as a permanent desire but as a series of temporary desires which are constantly changing, then there is no contradiction.”

“You may wander all over the earth, but you have to come back to yourself.”