Jiddu Krishnamurti Quotes: August 2009

Monday, August 31, 2009

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Thought has no importance psychologically

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Thought is important in its right place, but it has no importance whatsoever psychologically. Thought is the reaction of memory, it is born from memory. Memory is experience as knowledge stored up in the brain cells. You can watch your own brain, you don’t have to become a specialist. The brain cells hold memory; it is a material process, there is nothing sacred, nothing holy about it. And thought has created everything that we have done: going to the moon and planting a silly flag up there; going to the depths of the sea and living there; all the complicated technology and its machinery. Thought has been responsible for all this. Thought has also been responsible for all wars. It is so obvious that you don’t even have to question it. Your thoughts have divided the world into Britain, France, Russia, and so on. And thought has created the psychological structure of the “me”. That “me” is not holy, something divine. This Light in Oneself, p 56

Sunday, August 30, 2009

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Thought must inevitably divide

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Thought is matter; it is in the very structure, in the very cells of the brain, so when the brain operates—whether psychologically, socially or religiously—it must invariably operate in terms of its past conditioning. We see that thought is essential and must function absolutely logically, objectively, impersonally; and yet we see how thought divides.I am not pushing you to agree, but do you see that thought must inevitably divide? Look what has happened: thought says that nationalism has led to all kinds of war and mischief, so it says, “Let us all be united, form a League of Nations.” But thought is still operating, still maintaining the separation—you , as an Italian, keeping your Italian sovereignty and so on. There is talk about brotherhood and yet the maintaining of separation, which is hypocrisy. It is characteristic of thought to play double games with itself. The Impossible Question, pp 40-41

Saturday, August 29, 2009

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Can thought resolve our problems?

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Can thought resolve our problems? By thinking over the problem, have you resolved it? Any kind of problem—economic, social, religious—has it ever been really solved by thinking? In our daily life, the more you think about a problem, the more complex, the more irresolute, the more uncertain it becomes. Is that not so—in our actual, daily life? You may, in thinking out certain facets of the problem, see more clearly another person’s point of view, but thought cannot see the completeness and fullness of the problem, it can only see partially, and a partial answer is not a complete answer; therefore it is not a solution. The more we think over a problem, the more we investigate, analyse, and discuss it, the more complex it becomes. So is it possible to look at the problem comprehensively, wholly? And how is this possible? That, it seems to me, is our major difficulty. For our problems are being multiplied—there is imminent danger of war, there is every kind of disturbance in our relationship—and how can we understand all that comprehensively, as a whole? Obviously, it can be solved only when we can look at it as a whole—not in compartments, not divided. And when is that possible? Surely, it is only possible when the process of thinking—which has its source in the “me”, the self, in the background of tradition, of conditioning, of prejudice, of hope, of despair—has come to an end. The Collected Works vol VI, p 333

Friday, August 28, 2009

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Can thought bring about a change?

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Can thought bring about a vital change? Up to now we have relied on thought, have we not? The political revolution, whether of the right or the extreme left, is the result of thought. And can thought fundamentally change man, change you and me? If you say it can, then you must see all the implications—that man is the product of time, that there is nothing beyond time, and so on and on. So, if I am to create a fundamental change in myself, can I rely on thought as an instrument to bring about that transformation? Or, can there be a fundamental change only when there is the ending of thought? My problem, then, is to experiment, to find out, and I can find out only through self-knowledge, through knowing myself, watching, being aware in moments when I’m off guard. It is only when I begin to understand the process of my own thinking that I can find out whether or not there is a possibility of a fundamental change; until then, mere assertion that I can or cannot change is of little significance. The Collected Works vol VII, p 15

Thursday, August 27, 2009

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Perception of “what is” and mutation

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Human beings are violent; that is actually “what is”; and the danger they have brought about in this world is the result of this violence, it is the outcome of fear. What is there dangerous about observing it and trying to completely eradicate that fear—that we may bring about a different society, different values? There is great beauty in observation, in seeing things as they are, psychologically, inwardly; which does not mean that one accepts things as they are; which does not mean that one rejects or wants to do something about “what is”; the very perception of “what is” brings about its own mutation. The Flight of the Eagle, p18

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

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Allowing “what is” to blossom

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I see that so long as fear exists there can be no flowering. So I have to tackle fear, not through ideas, but tackle it as a fact, which means I will allow fear to blossom. I will let fear blossom, and see what happens. All this requires a great deal of inward perception. Allow fear to blossom—do you know what that means? It may mean I may lose my job, be destroyed by my wife, my husband. Can I allow everything to blossom? It does not mean I am going to murder, rob somebody, but can I just allow “what is” to blossom?Krishnamurti on Education, p 103

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

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Live with “what is”

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Is it possible to live a life without any pattern, without any goal, without any idea of the future, a life without conflict? It is only possible when one lives completely with “what is”. With “what is” means with that which is actually taking place. Live with it; do not try to transform it, do not try to go beyond it, do not try to control it, do not try to escape from it, just look at it, live with it. If you are envious, or greedy, jealous, or you have problems, sex, fear, whatever they are, live with them without any movement of thought that wants to move away from them. Which means what? One is not wasting one’s energy in control, in suppression, in conflict, in resistance, in escape. All that energy was being wasted; now one has gathered it up. Because one sees the absurdity of it, the falseness of it, the unreality of it, one has now the energy to live with “what is”.The Wholeness of Life, p148

Monday, August 24, 2009

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Pride creates this conflict between “what is” and “what should be”

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It’s pride that prevents me from looking at myself and it is pride that is inventing the ideology which says, “I should be”. I don’t like what I am and my pride says, “I must be that.” This is the ideological philosophy which man has invented, the formula, the “should be”. Pride creates this conflict between “what is” and “what should be”, and pride says” “I must be that, this is ugly, this is stupid, this is unintelligent, this is unreasonable.” So I put on a mask of what I should be, and hence there is a conflict, a kind of hypocritical activity going on. Is it possible to look at oneself without the image of pride? But one has such extraordinary images of oneself, haven’t you? No? I am a great writer, I am this, I am that, I am a Jew, a Christian, a Catholic, a Communist, all the images that one has built about oneself. Why? Is it pride? Or, have we invested in these images values other than the actual state of one’s own being? One is aggressive and for various reasons one is ashamed of that and one has the ideology of non-aggression. This ideology is invented by one’s pride, by one’s desire to be other than “what is”, and by giving great value to “what should be”. Talks & Dialogues Saanen 1968, pp 126-127

Sunday, August 23, 2009

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The “what is”

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Living is a process of conflict in which there is violence; that is “what is”, the fact. The opposite is “non-violence”, a state in which there is no conflict, no violence. The man who is violent is trying to become non-violent. It may take him ten years, or it may take him all the rest of his life to become non-violent, but in the meantime he is sowing the seeds of violence. So there is the fact of violence and the non-fact, which is non-violence, which is the opposite. In this contradiction there is conflict: the man trying to become something. When you banish the opposite, not try to become non-violent, then you can actually face violence. Then you have energy which is not dissipated through conflict with the opposite. Then you the energy, the passion, to find out “what is”. You are the World, p 78

Saturday, August 22, 2009

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If I don’t compare, I am what I am

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I know dullness only through comparison. I see you, very bright, very clever, intelligent—and I say, compared to her how dull I am. But if I don’t compare, I am what I am. Right? I can then begin from there; but if I am comparing myself all the time with you, who are bright, intelligent, nice looking, capable, and all the rest of it, I am in perpetual conflict with you. But if I accept what I am—I am this—from there I can begin. So conflict exists only when we deny the actual fact of “what is”. I am this, but if I am trying all the time to become that, I am in conflict. You are like that because you all engage in psychological becoming. You all want to become businessmen, holy, or meditate properly, don’t you? So there is conflict. Instead of realizing the fact that I am violent and not moving away from that fact, I pretend not to be violent; and when I pretend not to be violent, conflict begins. So will you stop pretending and say, I am violent, let’s deal with violence?On Conflict, p 130

Friday, August 21, 2009

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The inward conflict

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Then there is the inward conflict, which is much more complex. Why is there conflict in us? We are examining; we are not saying that we should or should not be without conflict. We are examining it; and to examine we must be very clear in our thinking, very acute in our observation; we must be intensely aware in observing the whole nature and the significance of conflict. Why is there conflict? What do we mean by that word “struggle”? We are examining the meaning of the word, not what brings about conflict. When are we at all conscious of this word, of the fact? Only when there is pain; only when there is a contradiction; only when there is the pursuit of pleasure and it is denied. I am aware of conflict when my form of pleasure in fulfilment, in ambition, in various forms is thwarted. When pleasure of ambition is frustrated, then I am conscious of conflict, but as long as the pleasure of ambition continues without any blockage, I have no sense of conflict at all. There is pleasure in conformity. I want to conform to society because it pays me; it gives me profit. For security, for a means of livelihood, to become famous, to be recognized, to be somebody in society, I must conform to the norm, to the pattern set by society. As long as I am conforming to it completely, which is a great pleasure, there is no conflict; but there is conflict the moment there is a distraction from that conformity.The Collected Works vol XVI, pp 81-82

Thursday, August 20, 2009

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To live a life without conflict

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Human beings have lived in this state of conflict as long as human history is known. Everything they touch turns into conflict, within and without. Either it’s a war between people, or life as a human being is a battlefield within. We all know this constant, everlasting battle, outwardly and inwardly. Conflict does produce a certain result by the use of the will, but conflict is never creative. That’s a dangerous word to use; we’ll go into a little later. To live, to flower in goodness, there must be peace, not economic peace, the peace between two wars, the peace of politicians negotiating treaties, the peace which the church talks about, or what the organized religions preach, but peace that one has discovered for oneself. It is only in peace that we can flower, can grow, can be, can function. It cannot come into being when there is conflict of any kind, conscious or unconscious. Is it possible to live a life without conflict in the modern world, with all the strain, struggle, pressures, and influences in the social structure? That is really living—the essence of a mind that is inquiring seriously. The question of whether there is God, whether there is truth, whether there is beauty can only come when this is established, when the mind is no longer in conflict.The Collected Works vol XVI, pp 80-81

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

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It is not a selfish affair

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You might ask, “If I, as a human being, change, will it affect in any way the rest of mankind? If I do change, if there is a change in a particular person, how will it affect the whole consciousness of mankind?” Please do put that question to yourself; even as a single isolated human being you are asking, “If I change, what effect has it in the world?” The question is, if you change fundamentally, you affect the whole consciousness of man. Napoleon affected the whole consciousness of Europe. Stalin affected the whole consciousness of Russia. The Christian saviour, he has affected the consciousness of the world, and the Hindus with their peculiar gods have affected the consciousness of the world. When you, as a human being, radically transform psychologically, that is, be free of fear, have right relationship with each other, end sorrow and so on, which is a radical transformation, then you affect the whole consciousness of man. It is not an individual affair. It is not a selfish affair. It is not individual salvation; it is the salvation of all human beings of which you are. Mind Without Measure, p 38

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

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To look at the totality of life

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So the question then is how to look at the totality of life non-fragmentarily. When we look at the totality of life—not as a Hindu, a Muslim, a communist, a socialist, a Catholic, a professor, or a religious man—when we see this extraordinary movement of life in which everything is included—death, sorrow, misery, confusion, the utter lack of love, and the image of pleasure that we have bred through centuries for ourselves, which dictates our values, our activities—when we see this vast thing comprehensively, totally, then our response to that totality will be entirely different. And it is this response, when we see totally the whole movement of life, that is going to bring about a revolution in ourselves.The Collected Works vol XVI, p 5

Monday, August 17, 2009

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Understanding conflict as a whole

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Understanding the nature of conflict demands not the understanding of your particular conflict as an individual but the understanding of the total conflict as a human being—the total conflict, which includes nationalism, class difference, ambition, greed, envy, the desire for position, prestige, the whole sense of power, domination, fear, guilt, anxiety, in which is involved death, meditation—the whole of life. And to understand the whole of life, one must see, listen, not fragmentarily, but look at the vast map of life. One of our difficulties is, is it not, that we function fragmentarily, we function in sections, in one part—you are an engineer, an artist, a scientist, a businessman, a lawyer, a physicist, and so on—divided, fragmentary. And each fragment is in battle with the other fragment, despising it or feeling superior.The Collected Works vol XVI, pp 4-5

Sunday, August 16, 2009

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Centuries of conditioning

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For centuries we have been conditioned by nationality, caste, class, tradition, religion, language, education, literature, art, custom, convention, propaganda of all kinds, economic pressure, the food we eat, the climate we live in, our family, our friends, our experiences—every influence you can think of—and, therefore, our responses to every problem are conditioned. Are you aware that you are conditioned? That is the first thing to ask yourself, not how to be free of your conditioning. You may never be free of it, and if you say, “I must be free of it”, you may fall into another trap of another form of conditioning. So are you aware that you are conditioned?Freedom from the Known, p 25

Saturday, August 15, 2009

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To see that the mind is conditioned

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All that we can do is to see that the mind is conditioned and, through self-knowledge, to understand the process of our own thinking. I must know myself, not as I would ideologically like to be, but as I actually am, however ugly or beautiful, however jealous, envious, acquisitive. But it is very difficult just to see what one is without wishing to change it, and that very desire to change it is another form of conditioning; and so we go on, moving from conditioning to conditioning, never experiencing something beyond that which is limited.The Collected Works vol IX, p 114

Friday, August 14, 2009

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Freedom from conditioning

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What is important is the total, earnest intention to find out if your mind is conditioned so that you discover your conditioning, and do not just say that your mind is or is not conditioned. When you look into a mirror you see your face as it is; you may wish that some parts of it were different, but the actual fact is shown in the mirror. Now, can you look at your conditioning in a similar way? Can you be totally aware of your conditioning without the desire to alter it? You are not aware of it totally when you wish to change it, when you condemn it or compare it with something else. But when you can look at the fact of your conditioning without comparison, without judgement, then you are seeing it as a total thing, and only then is there a possibility of freeing the mind from that conditioning. The Collected Works vol VIII, pp 265-266

Thursday, August 13, 2009

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The danger of conditioning

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Now, if you are at all sensitive, at all serious, you will not only be aware of your conditioning but you will also be aware of the danger it results in, what brutality and hatred it leads to. Why, then, if you see the danger of your conditioning, don’t you act? Is it because you are lazy, laziness being lack of energy? Yet you will not lack energy if you see an immediate physical danger like a snake in your path, or a precipice, or a fire. Why, then, don’t you act when you see the danger of your conditioning? If you saw the danger of nationalism to your own security, wouldn’t you act?The answer is you don’t see.Freedom from the Known, p 28

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

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Total awareness of conditioning

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How do I free myself from my conditioning of the culture in which I was born? First, I must be aware that I am conditioned—not somebody telling me that I am conditioned. You understand the difference? If somebody tells me I am hungry, that’s something different from actually being hungry. So I must be aware of my conditioning, which means, I must be aware of it not only superficially, but at the deeper levels. That is, I must be aware totally. To be so aware means that I am not trying to go beyond the conditioning, not trying to be free of the conditioning. I must see it as it actually is, not bring in another element, such as wanting to be free of it, because that is an escape from actuality. I must be aware. What does that mean? To be aware of my conditioning totally, not partially, means my mind must be highly sensitive, mustn’t it? The Awakening of Intelligence, p 88

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

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The deeper conditioning

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Then there is the deeper conditioning, such as an aggressive attitude towards life. Aggression implies a sense of dominance, of seeking power, possessions, prestige. One has to go very deeply to be completely free of that, because it is very subtle, taking many different forms. One may think one is not aggressive, but when one has an ideal, an opinion, an evaluation, verbal and non-verbal, there is a sense of assertiveness which gradually becomes aggressive and violent...Another form of conditioning is that of comparison. One compares oneself with what one thinks is noble or heroic, with what one would like to be, as opposed to what one is. The comparative pursuit is a form of conditioning; again, it is extraordinarily subtle. I compare myself with somebody who is a little more intelligent or more beautiful physically. Secretly or openly, there is a constant soliloquy, talking to oneself in terms of comparison. Observe this in yourself.The Impossible Question, pp 59-60

Monday, August 10, 2009

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The conscious, the unconscious, and conditioning

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What is the mind? There is the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. The conscious mind is occupied with the everyday duties—it observes, thinks, argues, attends to a job, and so on. But are we aware of the unconscious mind? The unconscious mind is the repository of racial instinct, it is the residue of this civilization, of this culture, in which there are certain urges, various forms of compulsion. And can this whole mind, the unconscious as well as the conscious, uncondition itself? Now, why do we divide the mind as the conscious and the unconscious? Is there such a definite barrier between the conscious and the unconscious mind? Or are we so taken up with the conscious mind that we have never considered or been open to the unconscious? And can the conscious mind investigate, probe into the unconscious, or is it only when the conscious mind is quiet that the unconscious promptings, hints, urges, compulsions come into being? So the unconditioning of the mind is not a process of the conscious or of the unconscious; it is a total process which comes about with the earnest intention to find out if your mind is conditioned. The Collected Works vol VIII, p 265