Total Freedom: The Essential Krishnamurti
When we look to a system for the transformation of society, we are merely evading the question, because a system cannot transform man; man always transforms the system, which history shows. Until I, in my relationship to you, understand myself, I am the cause of chaos, misery, destruction, fear, brutality. Understanding myself is not a matter of ti... See more
J. Krishnamurti • Total Freedom: The Essential Krishnamurti
The individual is of first importance, not the system; and as long as the individual does not understand the total process of himself, no system, whether of the left or of the right, can bring order and peace to the world.
J. Krishnamurti • Total Freedom: The Essential Krishnamurti
Truth is in what is—and that is the beauty of it. But the moment you conceive it, the moment you seek it, you begin to struggle; and a man who struggles cannot understand. That is why we have to be still, observant, passively aware. We see that our living, our action, is always within the field of destruction, within the field of sorrow; like a wav... See more
J. Krishnamurti • Total Freedom: The Essential Krishnamurti
The individual is the maker of the very environment to which he becomes a slave; but he has also the power to break away from it and create an environment that will not dull his mind or spirit.
J. Krishnamurti • Total Freedom: The Essential Krishnamurti
“To what extent can a person control his own actions?” A person does not control his own actions if he has not understood environment. Then he is only acting under the compulsion, the influence, of environment; such an action is not action at all, but is merely reaction or self-protectiveness. But when a person begins to understand environment, see... See more
J. Krishnamurti • Total Freedom: The Essential Krishnamurti
If you look closely you will see that your search is nothing but a search for comfort and security and escape; not a search for understanding, not a search for truth, but rather a search for an evasion and, therefore, a search for the conquering of all obstacles; after all, all conquering is but substitution, and in substitution there is no underst... See more
J. Krishnamurti • Total Freedom: The Essential Krishnamurti
Not the intelligence that is obtained from a book, or out of experience; that is not intelligence at all. Intelligence has nothing whatsoever to do with thought. Intelligence operates when the mind sees the whole, the endless whole—not my country, my problems, my little gods, my meditations. It sees the whole implication of living. And this quality... See more
J. Krishnamurti • Total Freedom: The Essential Krishnamurti
Most parents, unfortunately, think they are responsible for their children and their sense of responsibility takes the form of telling them what they should do and what they should not do, what they should become and what they should not become. The parents want their children to have a secure position in society. What they call responsibility is p
... See moreJ. Krishnamurti • Total Freedom: The Essential Krishnamurti
If there are only five people who will listen, who will live, who have their faces turned toward eternity, it will be sufficient. Of what use is it to have thousands who do not understand, who are fully embalmed in prejudice, who do not want the new, but would rather translate the new to suit their own sterile, stagnant selves? If I speak strongly,... See more
J. Krishnamurti • Total Freedom: The Essential Krishnamurti
The mind, which is really intelligent, is free of self-discipline, for intelligence is born out of the questioning of environment and the discovery of the true significance of environment.