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BR80DSS1.1 - Intelligence is to observe authority not revolt against it
Brockwood Park, UK - 1 June 1980
Discussion with Staff and Students 1.1



0:20 Krishnamurti: What shall we talk about?
0:28 Questioner: I wonder if we could discuss what it means to lead a balanced life.
0:33 K: A balanced life.
0:34 Q: One that doesn’t get distorted by immediate pressures that are pulling you in so many different directions.
0:43 K: What does it mean to lead a balanced life. Is that what you want to talk about? What interests you? Are you concerned at all what’s going to happen to you when you leave here? Go to college and university – if you do – then what will you do? Or you’re not bothered with that? That’s in the future, perhaps many years ahead, and so you are not greatly concerned about it. But if you are, as you are fairly – perhaps some of you are 16, 17, 18, 20 – you must be concerned about it a little bit. What are you going to do? You know what the world is like, do you? Not at Brockwood but the world outside – competitive, aggressive, violent, immoral. And you may think that’s all right. You may think that’s the way to live, a life of violence, competitive, a life where you can accept things as they are and slip through it until we die – is that what you are going to do? Or develop one’s own particular talent or tendency. Perhaps you might have a gift as a musician, a painter, a designer, as an architect, or as a scientist, and carve for yourself a place in society and stick there for the rest of your life. Is that what you are going to do?
3:50 And, if I may point out, you are going to have a very, very difficult time. The world is becoming more and more dangerous, more and more violent. Terrible things are happening. I am not exaggerating. Apart from medicine, surgery, technological progress, there are wars threatening, lack of energy, petrol – all that is taking place around you, with ever increasing force and drive and relentless… leading to destruction. I think most people who are intelligent, observing, are facing this, are concerned about this – not only in England but in France, in Russia, in America, in India, Asia. This is a human problem and you have got to face it. Either you face it intelligently, as you are, harmoniously, as a human being who is not merely emotional, not merely intellectual, but a human being that has grown up as a whole, who is balanced, who is capable of observing all this – either taking part in it or have an integrity that can stand against all that. You understand what I am saying?
6:27 And after all, education is meant for that, to make your mind and your heart really capable of dealing with all this complex problem. I know several parents, both in India and in America, here, who say, We don’t want to have children, because the world has become so impossible to live in. But unfortunately or fortunately, you are here. You can’t say, I don’t want to be here, but you are here. And one asks, if one may, whether you are merely repeating some knowledge, some information that you have acquired here through books, or whether your intelligence is being cultivated so that you can meet this terrible world. You are starting examinations next morning, tomorrow morning, so your mind may not be in all this. You may be concerned with your exams, whether you are going to pass, all the rest of it, so perhaps you are not paying or giving sufficient attention to what is being said. But apart from examinations, apart from ‘A’ level and ‘O’ level and all the rest of that, we are human beings, we have got our own problems. And how do you deal with those problems? You understand my questions? You see, if I had a son or a daughter here I would be terribly concerned, not whether he passes examinations or not but what he is going to be in the future, what kind of human being he is going to be, whether he will live a life of torture, struggle, conflict for the rest of his life, or face this world with great intelligence and capacity. Intelligence is not, if I may point out – I am not giving a sermon, I am not preaching, just pointing out for your attention, if you will give it – intelligence is very difficult to come by. We all become very clever. We are all capable of very good arguments, opposing one opinion against another opinion, one set of experiences against another set of experiences – a definite conclusion and holding on to that, and being opposed to that conclusion. We are very clever at that kind of game. We learn the art of arguing, persuading. If that is not possible, then subtly force you to do something against your will, against your wishes. All that is not intelligence. So, one has to find out, if you are interested in it, if you are willing to face this world with this capacity of intelligence, you have to go into it very, very carefully.
12:22 What is intelligence? Can you lead a life of hypocrisy and yet try to be intelligent? You cannot, can you? Say one thing and do something else, think one thing and act totally opposed to your thinking. That’s not intelligence, that’s contradiction. And where there is contradiction there must be conflict. And where there is conflict, whether it is the conflict brought about by yourself or by your environment, that is not intelligence. And to accept authority – I am very carefully... let’s go carefully into this – is very, very destructive. I do not know if you have not noticed what religions have done to the human mind. The religions have made the human mind irrational. You wouldn’t naturally, if you are a healthy man, intelligent, aware – you wouldn’t cross yourself, you know, go through all that performance. You wouldn’t attend the mass, the rituals, accept all the hierarchical world of religion. But the authority of the priest, which has been established in this Western world for 2000 years, you have accepted it, we have accepted it. You understand? You may not be Catholics or you may be Protestant or this or that, but look what authority has done. The authority of war. You understand? You may get angry with somebody, but to deliberately organise killing, which is called war, is totally unnatural, but we accept it. This constant competition, beginning at school, through college and university, and going on to the end of your life – compete, compete. That pattern we have accepted. And the authority of the parents, authority of those people who say they know, all these authorities are forcing our minds and our hearts in a particular direction. To be aware of that authority, to know the consequences of that authority and to understand it and not be persuaded by any authority, is intelligence.
16:38 Here at Brockwood, do you study naturally, happily, or you are persuaded in a very subtle manner? Think about it, sirs and ladies. So, your mind then becomes narrow, not alive. If you talk to any religious person, who belongs to some institution, which is called religion, their minds are crippled by this enormous weight of authority of 2000 years. It is the same in India, same in Asia, same in the totalitarian world. I wonder if you are listening to all this. So, intelligence means the capacity to observe authority, not revolt against it, to observe it, to see how it arises and the consequences of it. Because most of us like authority. You may rebel against it, but we like it. Because in that authoritarian world, we feel safe, we feel protected. You may not like it, you may feel it’s absurd, but unconsciously, the desire to be safe. And that’s how these religions exist. I used to know somebody, a very famous author – not Aldus Huxley but another one. He was coming to the end of his life. Before that end, he used to laugh at all the religions – he said how stupid they were. But as the days of his life were coming to an end he became a Catholic. You understand what I am saying? Because there you are safe. At least, you think you are safe. And the consequences of such authority is that your mind, which should be free, alive, full of energy, is crippled, and one becomes a hypocrite. Do you think any of those high dignitaries actually believe in all what they are saying? If they did, it would be incredible. You understand? So utterly irrational the whole thing is, not only in the religious world but also in the world of everyday existence. We accept patterns. Because living in patterns, living in a routine, living in a closed mind is quite... we think is safe. But it isn’t, it is the most destructive way of living. Or we learn certain phrases – because some of you have heard me, I am afraid, for some time – so you learn the phrases and you keep on repeating them and you think you have understood. So you are again, in that repetition, your mind becomes dull, incapable of investigating, observing, feeling. So, again that is an indication of lack of intelligence. So when you see all this, not only in oneself but also in the world, either you accept things as they are or unintelligently revolt against them, or in observing it intelligently, that is, seeing how it has arisen, what are the consequences of it – seeing it, observing it very carefully – out of that comes that quality of intelligence which will meet life. Does all this mean anything to you?
23:11 Mrs Smith asked how to live a harmonious, non-contradictory life. You see, you can create a pattern, a framework, a definite direction, and walking towards that direction feel harmonious, safe, protected. But that’s not harmony. Sir, it requires… first you must have freedom. Not freedom to do what you like, that’s what everybody is doing, anyhow. Right? The whole world is doing that. That is, feeling free and to express our own desires, our own pleasures, our own aggression, competition – we are doing that, everybody is doing that, in Asia, in this country, in America, everybody is self-centred and expressing that centre. And that’s called freedom, which is really an abuse of freedom. So, to be really free, both inwardly and outwardly, one must have a great deal of intelligence. And that intelligence comes – it will actually come, I am not pretending, I am not telling you, I am not saying something that you can’t prove it for yourself – it comes when you understand yourself completely. You are a very complex human being, and to understand that complexity, not just say, ‘Well, I understand myself’, and go away from it, because the more you understand what you are, why you are, the deeper you go into it, which is quite arduous, which requires a great deal of observation – you have to be aware of your acts, your feelings, your thoughts. Just to watch them. You understand? Not try to change them because that leads to another conflict. Say, for example, I observe that I am greedy and my conditioning says, ‘Don’t be greedy’. Right? So I have immediately created in myself conflict. I am greedy and also at the same time I say, ‘I mustn’t be greedy’. You are following this? So, I am in a state of conflict. But if I saw, if I observed how greed arises – observe it, not try to change it, but observe how greed arises and the consequences of greed. And if you say, I like to be greedy, that’s all right. That’s what everybody is doing. And that’s why all the commercial world is flourishing. That’s why consumerism is becoming more and more all-important. But if you observe how it arises and know, see the consequences of it, and if you say, All right, I like to be greedy, then you are free. You understand? It’s right. Then you move in that direction and you have a great deal of conflict in there. If you accept all that, that’s also partly aware, partly… partly – a very small part of intelligence. You understand what I am saying? To be aware of what you are doing and say, I like what I am doing, whatever the consequences are I like that, then you face it, then you go through with it. That’s also slight... there is a slight intelligence in that action. But not to be aware of it, how it arises, the consequence, and just to be greedy, is silly, it has no intelligence even there. But to be aware of the arising of greed or anger or envy, or whatever you like, and see how it arises and the consequences of it. If you are aware of all that, you will have no struggle. After all, you see, what we are saying is, we accept conflict, as human beings, as natural. Conflict between man and man, between woman and man – the conflict, struggle, at all the levels of our life. We accept it, natural, inevitable, rational, but we never question it, whether what we have accepted is rational at all. It may be utterly irrational to live the way we are living.
31:15 So we begin to question, because questioning is part of intelligence. You begin to question, not the obvious things, which are... but to question your whole activity of yourself – why you feel this way, why you think that way, why you yield to your reactions instantly, why one gets angry – inquiring into all that. You know, when you do that your mind becomes extraordinary alert, extraordinarily alive, full of energy, because you are ending conflict. You understand? Because now we are wasting our energy in struggle, in conflict, in competing, in aggression, in being jealous, angry and all that. Those are all the waste, ways of expending energy, which is wasteful. Whereas if you observe all this, aware of both, of the beginning and the ending, and the consequences, then you will find if you go into it, if you want to, that your mind is never confused, never in doubt. It is so. You understand what I am saying? And I think that’s the part of our education which we all miss. To us, knowledge has become tremendously important – either book knowledge or the knowledge acquired through experience. And if you observe, knowledge creates a pattern, a framework in which you are operating. Not that you mustn’t have knowledge about driving a car, speaking a language, learning a technique and so on, but this peculiar accumulation of psychological knowledge. You understand what I am talking about or is this too difficult? (Inaudible) You know, that’s why knowledge becomes as dangerous as any war. Because we are always acting in the field of knowledge. Look, I will show you something, I will tell you. When we are very young, as we are now, here, you get easily hurt, don’t you? Yes? We know that. You all get very easily bruised – not physically so much, but inwardly we get bruised, hurt, wounded. By a word, by a gesture, by a look from the parents, from your fellow friends, and so on, all the way up. And that hurt goes on through life, doesn’t it? You know you are... you know this as an ordinary fact of life. And we never realise how it began, why it began. You understand? And the consequences of that. Because when you are hurt inwardly, you build a wall around yourself, don’t you, not to be hurt anymore. Right? Obviously. So what happens? More and more, as you grow older, more and more you build a wall round yourself, not to be hurt anymore. Right? So you are gradually… you are afraid and isolating yourself. You may be married, you may have children, you may have friends, and all that, but there is always this hurt, which is dictating your action. Haven’t you noticed all this? And you have never asked how it arose, why you are hurt, what is it that is hurt. That’s part of intelligence. You understand? Not to accept hurt and live with it, which is terrible – it’s like living with some physical wound all your life. Just think of it. You understand?
38:52 I do not know if you have ever been in a hospital, in a hospital where the soldiers are kept, who have been through wars. They live with their eternal wounds for the rest of their life. Physical wounds, and also they have psychological wounds. And a person who is wounded is always afraid and therefore there is no love in his heart. He may have a wife and children and say, ‘I love you darling’, and all the rest of it, but that wound is there. So it’s important while you are young now, to see why you are hurt. When you say, ‘I am hurt’, who is hurt? You understand? Follow it up, investigate it, observe it, question it. Who is hurt? I say to myself – you have said something to me, pleasant or unpleasant, and if it is unpleasant, I am hurt. Right? If it is pleasant I say, How lovely! You are my friend. But if I am hurt, I never say, ‘Who is hurt?’ You understand my question? Are you following all this? Are you tired? Who is hurt? You know, when physically you are hurt it is very definite. Your finger is caught in a door and pain of it. The nail becomes black and you have a terrible pain. And you know how it came into being – the door, you were unaware of it and you slammed it. But you don’t know, you are not aware how this inward hurt has come. You accept the hurt, which is so utterly irrational and unintelligent. So, to find out what it is that is hurt and why it is hurt. Have you found out? Or you haven’t time for all that kind of stuff, because you have exams, you are talking, you are playing, you are doing this and that. Doing many things except the one thing that is absolutely important. I will tell you what’s hurt, but my telling you is of no value, is it? ‘Yes’, you say, ‘quite right, quite right’, but to find out for yourself, then it’s your direct perception, a direct understanding, not the understanding of somebody who tells you what it is. First of all, you are hurt aren’t you? Right? We can take that for granted. All human beings get hurt from childhood. And as they grow older that hurt is either unconsciously kept or increased. Right? Now, we are going to ask together – I am not going to tell you, but together we are going to find out – which is, what is hurt and who is hurt? When you say, ‘I am hurt’, have you asked who is the ‘I’ that says, ‘I am hurt?’ You understand? I am not giving you a lesson. You follow? This is not a class, this is not a sermon, this is nothing of that kind. And if you say, I am bored with this, I don’t want to listen, it is perfectly right. I don’t want to talk. I like to live a quiet life by myself a great deal, but since we are talking together, since you have asked that question how to live a life that is really balanced, sane, rational, intelligent, we are going into that.
45:36 When you say, ‘I am hurt’, who is the ‘I’? Your name? Your ideas about yourself? Your experience that you have had, however little or however great? And that memory of experience, is that hurt? And you have a belief as a Catholic, Protestant, as a Hindu or Buddhist, and when that is questioned, shaken, you feel uncertain, hurt. So, who is the ‘I’ that’s hurt? Comes on, sirs, discuss with me. Isn’t it that you have an image about yourself? Right? You have an image, put there either by your parents who say, ‘You must be this’, or, ‘You are not as clever as your brother’, or your aunt, or your great grandmother. So, gradually this image is formed. Right? And somebody comes along and treads on that image puts a pin into that image and you get hurt. Right? So the image that you have built or help to be built, you have that, and that image gets hurt, and that image is you. You understand? You are not separate from that image. You are following all this? So, as long as you have that image, which is yourself, you are going to get hurt. And the consequences are, of that hurt, more fear, you build a wall around yourself not to get hurt, and so gradually you isolate yourself and your actions become perverted, unhappy. Or to cover that unhappiness, that wound, you become aggressive, and so on. So, if you see that, not a verbal description of it, but you actually see that, then you see you will never be hurt again. Never. Because you have no image about yourself. You are what you are. You understand what I am saying? But it’s very... you have to do this. And the question then arises, a much more complex question which we won’t go into, whether it is possible to live in a life, surrounded by this mad world, without any image whatsoever – either of God, of Jesus or Buddha, no image about anything. That’s real freedom. I have talked for fifty minutes. Shall we have a dialogue about it? Dialogue means conversation between two people. And there are so many, you can’t have that, but we will call it for the moment a dialogue. If you have understood it, it is finished, you don’t have to ask questions about it. Shall we stop? Enough of this?
51:14 Q: Sir, I don’t fully understand all that you are saying, I am afraid.
51:24 K: I am afraid so too.
51:30 Q: I get… my understanding seems to stop when you talk about the image of the self. This means both physically and psychologically. And I don’t understand how the image...
51:54 K: Why should you understand me? I am not saying anything that you can’t understand about yourself. I am not trying to say you must understand me – which is silly. But he is saying understand yourself. Right? So, look at yourself. Not through my words, not through my language or my expression – look at yourself. Why this division between the wound and myself? Right? Why? That’s our pattern of thinking, this division. It may not be a fact. The fact is the wound is ‘me’. I am not different from the wound. You know, I talk, unfortunately or fortunately, in India, here, Saanen, I have done it a great deal in America, for sixty years. And people say, ‘I don’t understand you’. I say, ‘I am glad’. Because I am not saying anything which you can’t prove for yourself. Look at yourself. Why should you understand me? You don’t have to understand me to look at the sun. Right? It is there. The beauty of the sky of an evening, it is there. But we are blind, we are not interested. So I say, ‘Look at it’. Sir, the story of yourself is there in your heart and mind for you to read it. The book of yourself is there. But most of us are so lazy, indifferent, put up with everything, carry on. We never say, ‘Let me read the book’, slowly, carefully, right to the end of the last page. It’s very exciting. Much more exciting than any detective story or a thriller. And I am good at thrillers and the detective stories!