The world of J Krishnamurti

J Krishnamurti's teachings state that the 'Self' is the source of all disorder in the world.   No effort, regardless how great, can transform the 'Self'.   Psychological order and a unified humanity can only be achieved by transcending or going beyond the Self.   How can this be understood or achieved?

For more than a thousand years there had been many predictions about the coming of a new world teacher who would challenge humanity so deeply that all previous religious beliefs would cease to have meaning.   During his life, Krishnamurti spoke of the quest for self-fulfilment, self-enlightenment and self-transformation as disgusting desires that cause more and more misery.   He also stated that we fabricate religious beliefs and Gods in our own image, as a means of escaping from what is.

The précis below are of the primary concepts that embody the teachings of J Krishnamurti.   A summary of Krishnamurti's life is on the previous page Great minds  → J Krishnamurti

1. Truth is a pathless land.
2. You are the world.
3. The word is not the thing it describes.
4. The observer is the observed.
5. What is right action.
6. Freedom from the known.
7. Consciousness is its content.   (described on Consciousness page)

Truth is a pathless land

Many people seek  Self-transformation or enlightenment.   However, Krishnamurti's teachings state that any attempt to transform the Self is a false path.   The Self is a social construct made up of opposing thoughts, beliefs and competing identities that is in a continual state of disorder   Attempting to transform the Self only increases the problem.   All religious, political and philosophical doctrines claim that their version of belief is the only one required for each person to attain being an adequate 'Self'.   These beliefs also state that a collection of adequate Selves will result in achieving an adequate society.   Therefore, force of any type through indoctrination, torture, war or genocide, can be justified to impose the correct imagined belief.

The devil and his friend went out for a stroll and noticed a man walking in front of them pick something up, then dance with joy down the street.   "What did that man find?" asked the friend of the devil.   "He discovered truth"  said the devil.   "That is going to be a problem for you"  stated the devil's friend.   "Not at all"   responded the devil-  "I'm going to help him organise it"   J Krishnamurti.

Truth is not about belief or self-transformation.   Truth can not be described by what it is, Truth (similar to love) can only be described by what it is not, therefore, Truth is the ability to see what is false, and also, Truth cannot exist outside of relationship.   This requires us to understand that the word 'relationship' is not intended to be a grammatically abstract noun or Philosophy that is not of life.   Relationship is a term intended as a verb or adverb describing how we relate to each other and the environment.   Therefore integrity, virtue, honour, humility are all-inclusive.   One simply is, or is not.

• There is no path to virtue.
• There is no path to humility.
• There is no path to integrity.
• There is no path to truth.   One is, or is not.

You are the world

How can we understand each other when each one of us is taught from birth to believe that we are separate individuals   This requires us to look closely at what is meant by the term 'Belief'.   If we were not taught this word, and the concept of belief was not within our language, could any one of us have invented it, or dreamed it up in isolation?   The paradox within this question requires us to see that 'Belief' is not an innate function within consciousness, but a cultural indoctrination throughout most of humanity as an attempt to escape the emotional fear of isolation.

As an attempt to mask the fear created by the fabrication of belief, and that the Self is a isolated individual, humanity has created Blind faith beliefs in Gods and an afterlife, overlaying one paradoxical belief with another, entrapping ourselves in Self-deception.

"God did not make us in His image;   we made God in our image.   I wish He had made us in His image   -   everything would be very different"   J Krishnamurti.

Fear and sorrow is the common ground on which we all stand similar to the air we breathe.   I maybe small, tall or dark and my eyes green, blue or brown.   Our mobile phone numbers differ by a few digits including difference in birth date and day of death.   There are differences of information we were taught at school and mountains or oceans we see where we live, including the subtle variations between languages and clothes we wear.   Other than minor differences in the superficial content of our lives, the consciousness of humanity is a singularity.   Why do we not see this?

The word is not the thing it describes

From words and descriptions, we have invented a hierarchy of tiles and institutions of authority as a means of attaining to something other than what is.   From the Priest to the Bishop, from the Bishop to the Cardinal, from the Cardinal to the Pope.   This use of words where the description attains to greater meaning than the described is the same in all political, social and economic systems, management practices, marketing and educational institutions including the lineage of family names.

• The word God is not God
• The word tree is not a tree
• Why do we not see that the description is not the described?

Organised religions and popularised spiritual concepts provide us with belief in worshipping words, prayers and mantras for illusionary romantic comfort.   The most extreme of this behaviour is believing that thoughts and words have magical powers to cause change in the physical world.   In many religious faiths, beliefs similar to   'Jesus being the son of God, or not being the son of God'   attains to a higher importance for securing God's favour to enter the gates of heaven, than integrity, honesty and truth in relationships with family and neighbours and the environment in the present.   Honour, virtue and integrity is falsely placed in worshiping words rather than our relationships with each other.

Repeating words   'Coca cola'  'Hail Mary'  'Krishna' or 'Ommm'  over and over has an effect on numbing the mind into subservience and removes our capacity for intellectual observation.   Repeating affirmations in the belief of achieving a positive mental attitude for the purpose to win against an opponent in sport, or attain wealth at the expense of others, or cure a cancerous tumour.   Then there are political words that demonise the enemy to justify destroying other human beings in war and describing honour to the victors of genocide.

The belief that we can transform ourselves by repeating words, attachment to an image, conformity, status or attaining academic qualifications is an escape into a superficial existence.   The way we live is the result.   The craving for psychological security, by believing that repeating words and thoughts is more important than reality of relationships, prevents physical security except in division.   The failure of the mind to distinguish the difference between a word in language and the thing it describes is an overwhelming delusion in the consciousness of humanity.

The observer is the observed

Each one of us believes we can independently observe each other and the world around us.   But, as I look out into the world from where my eyes are, it appears I perceive the world from within a dark hollow void.   My eyes are capturing the varying wavelengths and intensity of light, which are then transferred into electrical impulses sent to the cortex of my brain for interpretation.   The structures that appear in my mind are formed by the language I have been taught to speak and further influenced by memory of the past that is already within various parts of my mind.

Within seconds many choiceless thoughts, opinions, judgements and feelings un-consciously merge with the experience of the picture, deleting, amplifying and distorting points of detail.   Some may experience the picture as beautiful whereas another may experience the picture as fearful.   The process that unfolds forms our perception, which is shaped by our conditioning, language, cultural and personal values, memories of the past and education.   As an example, we are unable to describe a colour without perceiving it, or perceive a colour without the word to represent it.   When indigenous New Guinean highlanders were first shown a photograph, they were un-able to recognise the picture as being of themselves or their environment.   This abstract process for all of us is similar to language, learnt at an earlier age we no longer remember.   But once remembered as with riding a push bike, passes into the un-conscious and is never, never forgotten.   Therefore, the observer is the observed.

What is right action ?

My son is late for the evening meal, and does not tidy his room.   I can observe thoughts that spring to mind similar to what I have seen on TV.   A neighbour who drinks is under a restraining order for beating his wife, an act he felt justified because of her infidelity.   Newspapers and television carry statements of our leaders describing a foreign country as an Axis of evil and claiming we must take pre-emptive action to protect our way of life. Pic. The Simpsons

"Imposing order upon disorder creates further disorder,  
  whereas, understanding disorder dissolves disorder"   J Krishnamurti.

Any action, based on beliefs; religious, political or personal memories, as retribution for loss of imagined pride or honour,  manifesting itself as the need to argue or bear influence upon others, or take drugs to avoid depression, or drink to feel self-righteous,   is not action based on intelligent observation but re-action based on conditioning.   Therefore, no action is right action.

Freedom from the known

Whenever we are swayed by words, we are lost.   Whenever we need to choose, we are lost.   Why do we value choice?
If I can see what is true why would I choose another path?   Why can I not be choicelessly aware?   A mind trapped in the past, cannot be in the present and therefore is in conflict and not free. Freedom is choiceless awareness in the present without fear, belief, motive or the need for direction.

Imposing the past upon the present is the hidden agenda of that we are up against.   Looking at what is with freedom from what we have previously known - Beliefs, methods, formulas and philosophies demands the highest intelligence.   Why do we not see this?   Our hopes, desires and ambitions drive our materialistic world.   Emotional energy is directed to self-interest and material gain in the belief that this provides us with security.   The inner anguish externalises itself randomly amongst us in the form of -  violence, suicide, depression, alcoholism and drug addiction.   Underling this is the common ground on which we all stand -   Fear

Fear is devastating, it consumes the content of our consciousness, blinding us to seeing what is and disables us to transcend.   Is it possible to be free of fear ?   is the same question as,   Is it possible to transcend the Self ?   That is the ultimate question.