Jiddu Krishnamurti

Meditation is the beginning of self- knowledge and without self- knowledge there is no meditation.

Relationship has very little significance merely seeking mutual gratification

when we are but becomes

extraordinarily significant when it is a means of selfrevelation and self-knowledge. Conflict of any kindphysically, psychologically,

intellectuallyis a waste of energy. It is one of the most difficult things to listento listen to anybody, directly to in the birdjust to listen. It is only when you contact; and being in contact, you will listen without the idea, without thought, that you are understand whether what he is saying is true or false; you do not have to discuss. When the mind goes beyond the thought of the me, the experiencer, the observer, the thinker, then there is a possibility of a happiness that is incorruptible. Meditation is not something apart from life. When you are driving a car or sitting in a bus, when you are chatting aimlessly, when you are walking by yourself in a wood or watching a butterfly being carried along by the windto be choicelessly aware of all that is part of meditation.

The difficulty is that we are so deeply ambitious. As the clerk strives to become the manager, so we want to

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become the Masters, the saints. We want to arrive

ultimately at a state of peace. So ambition is the motive; ambition is driving us. And instead of understanding that ambition and putting an end to it completely, we turn our face towards going becoming very far. more So we and more, to reaching we deeper, not deceive but ourselves, he will

create illusions. Obviously, the man who is ambitious is only antisocial, destructive, never understand what truth is, what God is, or whatever name you like to give to it. A mind that is ambitious can never know what it is to sympathize, to have pity, to love. An ambitious mind is a cruel mindwhether spiritually or outwardly or inwardly.

How we want to possess the coconut, the woman, and the heavens! We want to monopolize, and things seem to acquire greater value through possession. When we say, It is mine the picture seems to become more beautiful, more worthwhile; it seems to acquire greater delicacy, greater depth and fullness. The moment one says, It is mine, it becomes a thing to be cared for, defended, an d in this very act there is a is a resistance quality which of breeds in violence . There strange violence

possession.

Violence

is

ever

seeking

success;

violence

is

self-

fulfilment. To succeed is always to fail. Arrival is death and travelling is eternal. To gain, to be victorious in this world, is to lose life. How eagerly we pursue an end! But the end is everlasting, and so is the conflict of its pursuit. Conflict is constant overcoming, and what is

conquered has to be conquered again and again. The victor is ever in fear, and possession is his darkness. The defeated, craving victory, loses what is gained, and so he

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is as the victor. To have the bowl empty is to have life that is deathless.

Respectability is a curse; it is an evil that corrodes the mind carve and for heart. It creeps oneself which or virtue. and a upon one unknowingly in the world, power, of of and that destroys love. To be respectable is to feel successful to position with This assurance capacity breeds comes money, in success, assurance

exclusiveness human

hatred

antagonism

relationship,

which in society. The respectable are always the cream of society, and so they are ever the cause of strife and misery.

The respectable, like the despised, are always at the mercy of circumstances; the influences of environment and the weight of tradition are vastly important to them, for these hide their inward power. The respectable are on the defensive, fearful and suspicious. Fear is in their hearts, so anger is their righteousness; their virtue and piety are their defence. They are as the drum, empty within but loud when beaten. The respectable can never be open to reality, for, like the despised, they are enclosed in the concern for their own selfimprovement. Happiness is denied to them, for they avoid truth.

Question: Is there an element of fear in respect, or not? What do you say when you show respect to your teacher, to your parents, to your guru, and disrespect to your servants? You kick those people who are not important, and you lick the boots of those who are above you, the officials, the politician, the big ones. Is there not an element of fear in that? Because, from the big ones you

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want something; from the teacher, from the examiner, from the professor, from the parents, from the politician, from the bank manager, you want something. What can the poor people give you?

So, you disregard them, you treat them with contempt, you do not even know that they pass you by. You do not even look at them, you do not even know that they shiver in the cold, that they are dirty and hungry, but you will give to the big ones, the great ones of the land, the little that you have in order to receive more of their favour.

So in that, there is definitely, is there not, an element of fear; there is no love. If you had love, then you would show love to those who have nothing and also to those who have everything; then, you would not be afraid of those who have, and you would not disregard those who have not. So respect in that sense is the outcome of fear. Love is not the outcome of fear; in love, there is no fear.

Do you know what your fears are? Loneliness, not being loved, not being beautiful, frightened of losing your position, your job, your this or that, ten different thongs.

Now by looking at one fear, at your particular fear, you can then see the root of that fear, not only the root of that fear but the root of all fear. You understand? Through one fear, by observing it, by observing it in the sense the observer is the observed, then you will see for yourself that through one fear you discover the very root of all fear.

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WHAT IS FEAR? Fear can exist only in relation to

something, not in isolation. How can I be afraid of death, how can I be afraid of something I do not know? I can be afraid only of what I know. When I say I am afraid of death, am I really afraid of the unknown, which is death, or am I afraid of losing what I have known? My fear is not of death but of losing my association with things belonging to me. My fear is always in relation to the known, not to the unknown.

Fear must exist as long as there is an urge to be or to become, which is the pursuit of success, with all its frustrations and tortuous contradictions.

My inquiry now is how to be free from the fear of the known, which is the fear of losing my family, my reputation, my character, my bank account, my appetites and so on. You may say that fear arises from conscience; but your conscience is formed by your conditioning, so conscience is still the result of the known. What do I know? Knowledge is having ideas, having opinions about things, having a sense of continuity as in relation to the known, and no more....

There is fear of pain. Physical pain is a nervous response, but psychological pain arises when I hold on to things that give me satisfaction, for then I am afraid of anyone or anything that may take them away from me. The psychological accumulations prevent psychological pain as long as they are undisturbed; that is I am a bundle of accumulations, experiences, which prevent any serious form of disturbanceand I do not want to be disturbed.

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Therefore I am afraid of anyone who disturbs them. Thus my fear is of the known, I am afraid of the accumulations, physical means or of psychological, warding also off helps to that pain I or have gathered As as a preventing pain. sorrow. medical

...Knowledge

prevent

knowledge helps to prevent physical pain, so beliefs help to prevent psychological pain, and that is why I am afraid of losing my beliefs, though I have no perfect knowledge or concrete proof of the reality of such beliefs.

What as

is fear? How does it come about? What said, of public opinion; One may have

is the done

structure and nature of fear? One is, for example, afraid, we something wrong, or one may have said something which should not have been said, all in the past; or one is afraid of what might happen, ill health, disease, losing one's job, all in the future. So there is fear of the past and there is fear of the future. Fear of the past is the fear of something which has actually taken place and fear of the future is the fear of something which might happen, a possibility. What sustains and gives continuity to the fear of the past and also to the fear for the future? Surely it is thought, thought of what one has done in the past, or of how a particular disease has given pain and one is afraid of the future repetition of that pain. Fear is sustained by memory, by thinking about it. Thought, in thinking about past pain or pleasure, gives a continuity to it, sustains and nourishes it.

Pleasure or pain in relation to the future is the activity of thought. possible I am afraid of something in the I have This done, fear its is consequences future.

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sustained by thought. That is fairly obvious. So thought is time psychologically. Thought brings about psychological time as distinct from chronological time. (We are not talking about chronological time.)

Understanding the false as the false, seeing the true in the false, and of seeing and the true as Fear the How true, do is to the be these beginning intelligence. has

observed,studied,

understood.

psychological fears arise? What is their origin? That is the issue. There is the fear of something that happened yesterday; the fear of something that might happen later on today or tomorrow. There is the fear of what we have known, and there is the fear of the unknown, which is tomorrow. One can see for oneself very clearly that fear arises through the structure of thoughtthrough thinking about that which happened yesterday of which one is afraid, sure; or do through not thinking what about the the future. is Right? be Thought breeds fear, doesnt it? Please let us be quite accept speaker saying; absolutely sure for yourself as to whether thought is the origin of fear.

Time and thought make feartime as yesterday, today and tomorrow; there is the fear that tomorrow something will happenthe loss of a job, death, that my wife or my husband will run away, that the disease and pain that I have had many days ago will come back again. This is where time comes in. Time, involving what my neighbour may say about me tomorrow, or time which up to now has covered up something which I did many years ago. I am afraid of some deep secret desires which might not be fulfilled.

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So time is involved in fear, fear of death which comes at the end of life, which may be waiting around the corner and I am afraid. So time involves fear and thought. There is no time if there is no thought. Thinking about that which happened yesterday, being afraid that it may happen again tomorrowthis is what brings about time as well as fear.

The speaker is saying that fear can be totally ended. Dont say, It is for the illumined one and all that nonsense. You can end it if you put your brain, your heart into itcompletely, not partially. And then you will see for yourself what immense beauty there is in it; a sense of utter freedomnot freedom of a country or of some government, but the sense of the enormity of freedom, the greatness of freedom. Will you do ittoday, now? From today, seeing the cause of fear, end it. As long as there is fearbiologically, physically, psychologicallyit destroys us. So, if one may ask, after listening to this fact, not theory, what are you going to do? Time is the factor of fear and thought; so if you dont change now, you wont ever change. It is constant postponement.

One has lived a so-called individualistic life, concerned about oneself and ones problems. Those problems never end, they increase. One has lived that kind of life. One has been brought up, educated, conditioned to that kind of life. You come along as a friend; you say to me: Look, your consciousness is not yours; you suffer as other people suffer. I listen to it and I do not reject what you say, for it makes sense, it is sane and I see that in what you have told me there can perhaps be peace in the world. And I say to myself: Now, can I be free from fear? I see that I am responsible, totally, for the whole

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consciousness. I see that when I am investigating fear I am helping the total human consciousness to lessen fear.

A man who is not afraid is not aggressive, a man who has no sense of fear of any kind is really a free, a peaceful man. Your belief in God is merely an escape from your monotonous, stupid and cruel life The very desire to find a solution is an escape from the problem. It is also an escape to turn to religions, to conclusions, to various forms of speculations.

To live without a principle, without an ideal, is to live facing that which is every minute. The actual facing of what is - which is to be completely in contact with it, not through the word or through past associations and memories, but directly in touch with it - is to be honest. To know you have lied and make no excuse for it but to see the actual fact of it, is honesty; and in this honesty there is great beauty. The beauty does not hurt anybody. To say one is a liar is an acknowledgment of the fact; it is to acknowledge a mistake as a mistake. But to find reason, excuses and justifications for it is dishonesty, and in this there is self-pity. Self- pity is the darkness of dishonesty. It does not mean that one must become ruthless with oneself, but rather, one is attentive. To be attentive means to care, to look.

Religion is a splendid escape for many people; it gives significance, however illusory, to their otherwise drab existence. So do cinemas, romantic novels and some drugs; and would you encourage such forms of escape? Religion is not a matter of dogmas and beliefs, of rituals and superstitions; nor is it the cultivation of personal salvation, which is a self- centred activity. Religion is the

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total way of life; it is the understanding of truth, which is not a projection of the mind.

So long as I am conscious of the me I know there is pain, there is struggle, there is constant fear. But if I can identify myself with something greater, with something worth while, with beauty, with life, with truth, with belief, with knowledge, at least temporarily, there is an escape from the me, is there not? If I talk about my country I forget myself temporarily, do I not? If I can say something about God, I forget myself? If I can identify myself with my family, with a group, with a particular party, with a certain ideology, then there is a temporary escape. Identification therefore is a form of escape from the self, even as virtue is a form of escape from the self.

The man who pursues virtue is escaping from the self and he has a narrow mind. That is not a virtuous mind, for virtue is something which cannot be pursued. The more you try to become virtuous, the more strength you give to the self, to the me. Fear, which is common to most of us in different forms, must always find a substitute and must therefore increase our struggle. The more you are identified with a substitute, the greater the strength to hold on to that for which you are prepared to struggle, to die, because fear is at the back.

Our acquisitions are a means of covering up our own emptiness; our minds are like hollow drums, beaten upon by every passing hand and making a lot of noise. This is our life, the conflict of neversatisfying escapes and mounting misery. It is strange how we are never alone, never strictly alone. We are always with something with a problem, with a book, with a person; and when we are

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alone, our thoughts are with us. To be alone, naked, is essential. All escapes, all gatherings, all effort to be or not to be, must cease; and then only is there the aloneness that can receive the alone, the measureless.