Life is a process of challenge and response, and whenever the response is inadequate, there is conflict; and the inadequacy of the response can be removed only through understanding the process of relationship. And as we understand more and more the process of relationship, which is the process of myself in action, there is a possibility of the mind being still. A mind that is not still—whether it is pursuing knowledge or greed or becoming something now or in the hereafter—such a mind is incapable, obviously, of discovering because there must be freedom to discover. And as long as the mind is trying to be something, there can be no discovery. It is only in freedom that there can be discovery, and freedom is virtue, because virtue gives freedom. But, to strive to be virtuous is not freedom; it is another form of becoming, which is self-expansion.

So, virtue is the denial of becoming, and that denial takes place only with the understanding of what is. And when there is this radical transformation through self-knowledge, then there is a possibility of creative living. For, truth is not something to be achieved; it is not an end; it is not something to be gained. It comes into being from moment to moment. It is not a result of accumulated, stored-up knowledge, which is merely memory, conditioning, experience. But truth comes into being from moment to moment when the mind is capable of being free from all accumulations. For, the accumulator is the self—the self that gathers in order to assert, to dominate, to expand, to self-fulfill. Only with the freedom of the self does truth come into being—not as a continuous process, but to be discovered from moment to moment. Therefore, to discover, the mind must be fresh, alert, and still.

Choiceless Awareness – Collected Works 5
Jiddu Krishnamurti