strings: Therefore there is no method for self-knowledge. Seeking a method invariably implies the desire to attain some result  and that is what we all want. We follow authority—if not that of a person, then of a system, of an ideology because we want a result which will be satisfactory, which will give us security. We really do not want to understand ourselves, our impulses and reactions, the whole process of our thinking, the conscious as well as the unconscious; we would rather pursue a system which assures us of a result. But the pursuit of a system is invariably the outcome of our desire for security, for certainty, and the result is obviously not the understanding of oneself. When we follow a method, we must have authorities—the teacher, the guru, the saviour, the Master—who will guarantee us what we desire; and surely that is not the way to self-knowledge.