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‘The decisive question for man is: Is he related to something infinite or not? That is the telling question of his life. Only if we know that the thing which truly matters is the infinite can we avoid fixing our interest upon futilities, and upon all kinds of goals which are not of real importance. Thus we demand that the world grant us recognition for qualities which we regard as personal possessions: our talent or our beauty. The more a man lays stress on false possessions, and the less sensitivity he has for what is essential, the less satisfying is his life. He feels limited because he has limited aims, and the result is envy and jealousy. If we understand and feel that here in this life we already have a link with the infinite, desires and attitudes change. In the final analysis, we count for something only because of the essential we embody, and if we do not embody that, life is wasted.
In our relationships to other men, too, the crucial question is whether an element of boundlessness is expressed in the relationship. The feeling for the infinite, however, can be attained only if we are bounded to the utmost. The greatest limitation for man is the "self"; it is manifested in the experience: “I am only that!” Only consciousness of our narrow confinement in the self forms the link to the limitlessness of the unconscious. In such awareness we experience ourselves concurrently as limited and eternal, as both the one and the other. In knowing ourselves to be unique in our personal combination – that is, ultimately limited – we possess also the capacity for becoming conscious of the infinite. But only then!’
Stop trying to fit in a box. The limitations of society, family and ideology prevent you from discovering the world for yourself and finding out what truly is.
The pressure placed upon child stars can be immense and corrosive. Yet they pale in comparison to those placed upon Jiddu Krishnamurti, who, at the age of 14, was informed that he was the saviour of the entire planet! Discovered in 1909 by Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater (who said Krishnamurti had the most ‘wonderful aura he had ever seen’), Krishnamurti became the Theosophical Society’s poster boy as the next ‘World Teacher.’ His discovery led to the creation of the Order of the Star in the East which was founded to prepare the way for this coming messiah.
Initially said to be a rather submissive child, Krishnamurti soon bucked against the rigorous mix of British and mystical education imposed upon him by the Society, as well as the publicity that came with it. The final straw seems to have been the death of his sick brother, whom the Society and its Masters had promised would live.
Krishnamurti soon rejected his mantle and dissolved the Order of the Star in the East, maintaining that everyone should find their own path rather than listening to a World Teacher or organisation. This rejection of the spotlight only seems to have intensified the cultural infatuation surrounding him, leading to a long and successful career as an independent spiritual writer and speaker. Indeed, he continued to teach right up until the month before he died at the age of 90. Multiple anthologies of his lectures and conversations have been compiled, including Think on These Things in 1964.
Amid the instability and ambiguity of life, most of us turn to teachers instead of allowing ‘life itself’ to be our teacher. This is the problem of modern education: instead of learning how to think, we are taught what to think, which is always transmitted through the prism of a particular teacher, philosopher or guru. But there can be no freedom when you attempt to imitate a noble example, for then you are trying to be someone else rather than yourself. The life of truth is one of constant rebellion against others and their cognitive shackles. Submitting to an ideological prison might bring a ‘kind of peace’ BUT it is only ‘the peace of death.'
We should not only avoid all teachers but also all teachings, for traditions and ideologies confine reality to a pre-conceived box and inhibit us from discovering anything genuinely new beyond it. ‘When you have become used to something, your mind is already on its way to the graveyard. If you think as a Hindu, a communist, a Catholic, a Protestant, then your mind is already going down.’
With this in mind, Jiddu evaluates several subjects throughout the book, including shyness, anger, respect, love, beauty, confidence, equality, discipline, cooperation, self-knowledge and duty. In doing so, he aims to reform rather than inform, condemning our false images of such subjects. Echoing Socrates, he believes that anyone who thinks they know something is ‘already dead’, for the life of truth embraces the wild journey of not knowing, rather than settling into a fatal and false ‘arrival’. Ironically, it is when we surrender to the journey – enjoying the moment and simply dwelling in it rather than trying to understand, change or control it – that we come closest to any sort of spiritual catharsis. The goal is not to know something but to simply exist in it, for ‘the moment you are conscious that you are happy, you are no longer happy.’
By reading this report, you are likely seeking to discover for yourself a spiritual path of some kind. According to Krishnamurti, this path is found not in temples, scriptures or the minds of gurus but within your own heart. Now, ‘Think for yourself’ was emblazoned upon the lifeless gates of the Enlightenment, becoming something of a motto for the ‘educated,’ ‘modern’ and ‘civilised.’ Yet when Krishnamurti expresses such a sentiment, it seems so free of the baggage of Western thought, opening one up to not only think but also feel, pray, encounter or meditate for oneself. Accordingly, one might expect him to seek refuge in the East, but instead, he consistently rejects the many ‘-isms’ and ‘ancient Masters’ of his youth. Indeed, Krishnamurti truly refuses to find a place to lay his head and welcomes you to join him in his discomfort. And it is precisely this constant refusal to acquiesce or take the comfortable path that might make him a compelling teacher (or rather, fellow questioner) for the spiritual seeker.
Copyright © Krishnamurti Foundation Trust
