Krishnamurti ...

If you don't know yourself you are a most stupid person ...

You may have all the academic degrees in the world, but if you don't know yourself you are a most stupid person. To know oneself is the very purpose of all education. Without self-knowledge, merely to gather facts or take notes so that you can pass examinations is a stupid way of existence.

You may be able to quote the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, the Koran and the Bible, but unless you know yourself you are like a parrot repeating words. Whereas, the moment you begin to know yourself, however little, there is already set going an extraordinary process of creativeness.

It is a discovery to suddenly see yourself as you actually are: greedy, quarrelsome, angry, envious, stupid. To see the fact without trying to alter it, just to see exactly what you are is an astonishing revelation. From there you can go deeper and deeper, infinitely, because there is
no end to self-knowledge.

Through self-knowledge you begin to find out what is God, what is truth, what is that state which is timeless. Your teacher may pass on to you the knowledge which he received from his teacher, and you may do well in your examinations, get a degree and all the rest of it; but, without knowing yourself as you know your own face in the mirror, all other knowledge has very little meaning.

Learned people who don't know themselves are really unintelligent; they don't know what thinking is, what life is. That is why it is important for the educator to be educated in the true sense of the word, which means that he must know the workings of his own mind and heart, see himself exactly as he is in the mirror of relationship. Self-knowledge is the beginning of wisdom. in self-knowledge is the whole universe; it embraces all the struggles of humanity.

Think on these things.

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj ...

The world is but a show,
glittering and empty.
It is, and yet it is not.
It is there as long as I want to see it
and take part in it.
When I cease caring, it dissolves.
It has no cause and serves no purpose.
It just happens when we are absent-minded.
It appears exactly as it looks,
but there is no depth in it, nor meaning.
Only the onlooker is real,
call him Self or Atma.
To the Self, the world is
but a colorful show,
which he enjoys as long as it lasts
and forgets when it is over.
Whatever happens on the stage
makes him shudder in terror
or roll with laughter,
yet all the time he is aware
that it is but a show.
Without desire or fear,
he enjoys it, as it happens.

When the mind is kept away from its preoccupations, it becomes quiet. If you do not disturb this quiet and stay in it, you find that it is permeated with a light and a love you have never known; and yet you recognize it at once as your own nature. Once you have passed through this experience, you will never be the same man again; the unruly mind may break its peace and obliterate its vision; but it is bound to return, provided the effort is sustained; until the day when all bonds are broken, delusions and attachments end and life becomes supremely concentrated in the present.

Zen Master Man Gong ...

"Everybody recognizes that they have lost something, but no one knows they have lost their true self." 

So, now ... what to do? Time for action:

Dudjom Rinpoche ...

Action is being truly observant of your own thoughts, good or bad, looking into the true nature of whatever thoughts may arise, neither tracing the past nor inviting the future, neither allowing any clinging to experiences of joy, nor being overcome by sad situations. In so doing, you try to reach and remain in the state of great equilibrium, where all good and bad, peace and distress, are devoid of true identity.

Sri Bhagavan SriRamana Maharshi - Upadesa Saram 

The Essence of Instruction

To know the Self is but to be the Self,
For It is non-dual.
In such knowledge
One Abides as That.

Patrul Rinpoche ...

Listen up, old bad-karma Patrul,
You dweller-in-distraction.
For ages now you’ve been
Beguiled, entranced, and fooled by appearances.
Are you aware of that? Are you?
Right this very instant, when you’re
Under the spell of mistaken perception
You’ve got to watch out.
Don’t let yourself get carried away by this fake and empty life.
Your mind is spinning around
About carrying out a lot of useless projects:
It’s a waste! Give it up!
Thinking about the hundred plans you want to accomplish,
With never enough time to finish them,
Just weighs down your mind.
You’re completely distracted
By all these projects, which never come to an end,
But keep spreading out more, like ripples in water.
Don’t be a fool: for once, just sit tight.

THE NOBLE BATTLE ... [Philip Kapleau, The Three Pillars of Zen]

Zazen that leads to Self-realization is neither idle reverie nor vacant inaction but an intense inner struggle to gain control over the mind and then to use it, like a silent missile, to penetrate the barrier of the five senses and the discursive intellect (i.e., the sixth sense). It de­mands determination, courage, and energy. Yasutani-roshi calls it "a battle between the opposing forces of delusion and bodhi." This state of mind has been vividly described in these words, said to have been uttered by the Buddha as he sat beneath the Bo tree making his supreme effort, and often quoted in the zendo during sesshin:

 
"Though only my skin, sinews, and bones remain and my blood and flesh dry up and wither away, yet never from this seat will I stir until I have attained full enlightenment."

The drive toward enlightenment is powered on the one hand by a painfully felt inner bondage-a frustration with life, a fear of death, or both-and on the other by the conviction that through satori one can gain liberation. But it is in zazen that the body-mind's force and vigor are enlarged and mobilized for the breakthrough into this new world of freedom. Energies which formerly were squandered in com­pulsive drives and purposeless actions are preserved and channeled into a unity through correct Zen sitting, and to the degree that the mind attains one-pointedness through zazen it no longer disperses its force in the uncontrolled proliferation of idle thoughts. The entire nervous system is relaxed and soothed, inner tensions eliminated, and the tone of all organs strengthened. In short, by realigning the physical, men­tal, and psychic energies through proper breathing, concentration, and sitting, zazen establishes a new body-mind equilibrium with its center of gravity in the vital hara.

With the body and mind consolidated, focused, and energized, the emotions respond with increased sensitivity and purity, and voli­tion exerts itself with greater strength of purpose. No longer are we dominated by intellect at the expense of feeling, nor driven by the emotions unchecked by reason or will. Eventually, zazen leads to a transformation of personality and character. Dryness, rigidity, and self-centeredness give way to flowing warmth, resiliency, and compassion, while self-indulgence and fear are transmuted into self­ mastery and courage.