Krishnamurti Subtitles home


BR82DSS1.1 - Can you live without a single problem?
Brockwood Park, UK - 30 May 1982
Discussion with Staff and Students 1.1



0:19 Krishnamurti: What shall we talk about?
0:25 Questioner: Sir, it seems to me that one of the most important things in life is really to discover what one really loves to do, because if one doesn’t know that, one will be in constant struggle and battle. Something that doesn’t change with circumstances and other things. And it seemed that the whole process of how we approximate from this completely wrong, because if you look at a problem like most of us do, scientifically, we get nowhere.
1:14 K: All right. Any others? Perhaps we shall answer what he was asking in a different way. What is your response to all that is happening in the world? What’s your reaction to it? This country at war with another country, what is happening in the Middle East, and the extraordinary technological advance of Japan, and all the nationalistic divisions in the world? When you are going to face all that, or when you are facing all that, what is your natural response to all that, your reaction to all that? Do you meet it, if I may ask, as a challenge that you must answer, that you must respond, not just to be vague about it. How do you meet this?
2:47 Q: I think it is something…

K: No, wait, let me finish. He has asked that question which I am coming to presently. What is your feeling about all this? Do you respond traditionally, as a British, as a Frenchman, as a German, Italian, and so on, as a woman or a man, or totally indifferent to all this, unconcerned or unaware? If you are aware of, that is, all that is happening – the brutality, the killing, the monstrous behaviour of the politicians, of the religious people, and hierarchy of the religious group, the scientist – when you look at all that, how do you feel about it? Or you are too young? Or do you say, ‘I will face it when I grow up’. When you do, when you do grow up you will have the same issue, same problem, the same challenge only in a different way. Or you say, No, I am not ready for that yet. I am preparing for it. I am too young, I am too… I want to play around. I want to enjoy life. I want to pass exams and get on. It doesn’t concern me. Do you meet it all from your own point of view, from your own prejudice, from your own bias as an Englishman, Frenchman, Argentinean, or American, or whatever it is? Have you asked this question at all? They all want peace. Everybody talks about peace. The Catholic hierarchy, the protestant bishops and archbishops, the politicians, everybody talks about peace and everybody says, ‘We must have peace’. But to have peace is one of the most difficult things in life. How can there be peace in the world, which all of us want, when there are tribal groups, as the British, as the French, as the Italians, Germans, Americans, Russians? They are tribes, glorified, but they have tribal attitude towards a global world. So, please, I am asking this if I may ask seriously: how do you respond to all this?
7:48 Q: To try and deal with it sanely and intelligently, with an open mind, not stuck.
7:58 K: Yes, you have an open mind but how do you even… if you have an open mind, you must respond to it. You can’t say I have an open mind and sit back. How do you meet such confusion? Everybody wanting peace – at least all of them talk about it, the politicians, everybody, newspapers, magazines. To have peace one must live peacefully. Right? You cannot live peacefully if you are separated. If you divide the world into different groups, each fighting the other, you can’t have peace. You can’t have peace if you are preparing for war. You can’t have peace if you are economically, socially, morally, ethically divided. Apparently, none of them ask this question. So, please use your mind, your brain, your heart to find out how you would answer it, because it’s very important. You are going to face all this when you grow up in couple of years, and you are facing it now. As we said, to have peace in the world is one of the most complex problems. We cannot have peace if each… big powerful nations are gathering terrible instruments of war and the little nations all over Africa, all over Asia, accumulating armaments, and these armaments were sold by the big industrialists. England sold a few months ago or a year ago to Argentina, and so on, so on, all the way down, the tiniest group. How can you have peace? You understand my question? How do you meet it intelligently? Please discuss with me, will you?
11:34 Q: It may be if we all took a… we stop trying to be tribalistic. If we stop trying to be… saying, We are British, they are… It’s all them, not us.
11:50 K: Will you have any influence on the politicians? All of us, say for example, are fairly intelligent, we don’t want to belong to any groups, any nations, we don’t want to have armaments – you follow? – we won’t… So, will we affect the…
12:10 Q: The mass affects the government.
12:12 K: Will we?

Q: Yes.
12:13 K: Really? You are going to affect Mrs Thatcher? And Mitterrand, and Schmidt?
12:22 Q: If the majority of the public say that, you can change.
12:26 K: No, just think it out, sir. Look at it. How and what… You and I may agree, we won’t kill another human being. Under all circumstances – for nation, for ideal, for this or that, we won’t kill another human being. Another human being is as sacred as air. You follow? I won’t kill. Now all of us agree, suppose – I don’t know if you all agree to this – suppose – will we affect anything that’s going on? And even if we can’t affect the governments, does it matter? Doesn’t it matter that there should be a group of people ever expanding? You follow? Not just a small tiny group – expanding. They are only concerned with the tremendous responsibility of not killing anybody. For me, all life is sacred. I won’t kill even if my sister is attacked. I haven’t got a sister, but… So, how do we, if we all agree to this, which means – you understand what it means? Probably you haven’t thought about all this. You telephone to your parents. You pay a certain… something to the telephone. A part of that goes to armaments. You buy a car, you buy petrol, you put on a stamp, buy clothes, ride on a bus – part of it goes to armaments. So, go into it, sirs. Look at it, examine it. I used to know somebody, highly intellectual, moral, and he says, ‘Whatever I do, even buy a stamp, I support war. Traveling I support war’. So he gradually drove himself into a corner. You understand? He won’t travel, he won’t write, he won’t telephone, he won’t use the roads. You understand? Is that an intelligent act?
16:13 Q: Of course not.
16:15 K: No. So what will you do, or not do?
16:25 Q: But, sir, isn’t it that… is that the problem for us, really a challenge, something that this is really burning to us?
16:36 K: I am asking you.
16:38 Q: Maybe it is not.

K: So why not? If it is not a serious problem to you, why isn’t it a serious problem? You say, ‘Well, sorry, it doesn’t affect my life. I live for myself. I am satisfied with the little things’, but you are part of the world. You can’t say, ‘Well, I don’t care’. You are related to all that’s happening. When you eat the food that you get here, you are paying something. You follow? Out of that money you are paying… support the war. So what is your action which is intelligent, consistent, diligent, and not just sporadic – you follow? – but throughout your life? Our question is: how will you meet these issues intelligently? You might ask: what do you mean by that word ‘intelligent’? Right? What to you is intelligent, to be intelligent? Not clever – intelligent. You understand? What does it mean to you?
18:45 Q: To act sanely. To act sanely and practically. Sanely, to be sane.
18:52 K: What does that word mean to you, to be sane? Go on, sir. What does it mean to you?
19:10 Q: But does not intelligence have to do with knowing? For example, I have a problem, anything it could be, a scientific problem, and…
19:19 K: Here is a problem, sir, tremendous problem – the atom bomb, the neutron bombs, they are talking about it, they are preparing for it, piling up the terrible thing. It is there under your nose. Isn’t it a problem to you?
19:47 Q: Isn’t it that we are more concerned with our inner problems rather than with the world problems?
19:56 K: You mean to say you are concerned with your problems.
19:58 Q: Yes.

K: Now, all right. Is that problem separate from all other problems?
20:06 Q: That is not…

K: Think it out carefully. Is your problem, one problem, separate from all other problems? Or one problem is related to all the other problems. Think it out, don’t answer me yet. Look at it. I have a problem. What is it, I don’t know? Give me one problem, will you?
20:45 Q: You haven’t paid this month’s tax.
20:47 K: I haven’t paid this month’s tax. That’s rather abstract. I haven’t. I never have in my life!
20:59 Q: Suppose you don’t get on very well with your wife or husband.
21:04 K: Oh, that’s a good idea! As he suggested, I don’t get on well with my wife. I am not married, but suppose I have a wife. I don’t get on – right? – we quarrel, we kind of annoy each other, we are jealous of each other, and so on, so on, so on. That is, suppose I have a problem of that kind. Is that problem disconnected with all other problems?
21:46 Q: Maybe you deal with them…
21:47 K: Think it out, sir, don’t answer too quickly. Go into it little bit. If you want it, I will go into it, but I want you to think it out. I don’t get on well with my life… with my wife. With my life, I should say, much better than with my wife! And which means I have no proper relationship with my wife. Right? Right relationship. What does right relationship mean? You understand? Watch it carefully. I have a problem. I think it is totally disassociated with other problems and so I am only concerned with that solution of that problem. So, my mind is narrowed down hoping that’s the only problem I have. But I ask myself: is that problem unrelated to other problems? Which means – my relationship with my wife is not right so I begin to inquire: what is relationship? Am I related rightly to my neighbour, who is black, white, purple, whatever it is? Am I related rightly to South Americans or to the Asiatics? You follow? What does relationship mean? Come on, sir, discuss with me. You see, I am afraid most of us think our problems are somewhat independent from all other problems – business problem, scientific problems, family problems, personal problems, problems of my earning a livelihood, and so on, so on, and so on. Right? Now, what is a problem? What does that word mean?
24:49 Q: It’s something that doesn’t let it be contained.
24:53 K: No, the word, the meaning of the word. It means, according to the dictionary, something thrown at you. Right? Which is a challenge. Right? You have to respond to the problem. So, if I throw something, you either catch it or drop it. You act. Right? A problem means something thrown at you or hurled at you and you have to respond to that. So, this problem, which is, I do not get on well with my wife. I never inquire what is relationship, I just want to get on well with my wife. You follow? I have narrowed it down to a very small thing. Right? Life isn’t just a small affair, it is a vast affair. Agree? But in trying to solve one problem only I have narrowed it down. But if I see that all problems are related to all other problems, then my approach is entirely different. I wonder if you understand all this. Have I made it clear?

Q: Yes.
26:43 Q: But maybe the point is how are you going to give the capacity to really see that our problem, that particular problem is related to the other?
26:55 K: All the others. To see that. I will show it to you. I do not get on well with my wife. That is what he suggested. He thinks I have a wife but I haven’t. So he suggested to me that is a problem: I don’t get on well with my wife or with my girlfriend, whatever it is. Why? I want my way and she wants her way. Right?
27:29 Q: It may be because you have your own ideas of what relationship is.
27:33 K: Yes. So, my idea of relationship, that I must dominate her.
27:40 Q: The image.
27:43 K: And she resents it. So there is a problem. Right? Why do I want to dominate her? Follow all this carefully. One country wants to dominate other countries. One group wants to dominate other groups. So why do I want to dominate her?
28:11 Q: Isn’t it because we are insecure inside?
28:14 K: So, is that so? I am insecure and in the feeling that I am dominating somebody I feel secure. Is that it? Think it out. Go into it.
28:32 Q: Maybe a part of it is the old way of thinking, that the man is the dominant of the partners, the male has the most say, etc., with business and such.
28:51 K: Look, sir, I don’t get on. Is it that I am ambitious? I want to succeed. She says, Please, I am not ambitious, I am rather a gentle person, don’t be aggressive. So there is a conflict. Right? Are you following all this? And she is also ambitious, she wants to become somebody and I also want to become something totally different, so there is conflict between us. Right? So we don’t get on. I want to become a monk, she doesn’t. I want to live a very peaceful life, not turn on the radio all the time, or the television, and she wants it. So we are at it all day long. You follow? So, why? Each of us wants something. Each of us want to be a success, to have a marvellous life – you follow? – and so on, so on, so on. Right? Each one of us is self-centred. You know what that means, don’t you, that word? I want to fulfil through her and she wants to fulfil, either sexually or different ways, through me. And I don’t. You follow? Conflict. So what shall I do? You follow what relationship means now? How can there be a relationship between two people who are diametrically thinking differently, feeling different? I like beauty, or she likes beauty. She is romantic, I am not. She is poetic, I am mundane. You follow? So relationship is a very complex affair. I may get on very well with my life… with my wife, but I may not get on very well with my neighbour, with my boss, with the foreman in the factory. So, is there a relationship – please listen to all this – is there a relationship which is consistent, in which there is no conflict, in which there is no me and her – you follow? – me and they, we and they – we the French, we the Germans, we the British, we the Indians – you follow? Which means wherever there is separation there must be conflict. Agree? Not ‘agree’ – don’t agree. Think it out. You are going to get married. You are going to have wives, husbands, daughters and all the rest of the business. You have to find out. So how can I have a right relationship with my wife, with the people far away or near, so that I don’t live in constant dread, constant fear, constant conflict. If I have a principle – you understand principles? – my tradition says wars are necessary because we have had great empires and we must… all that tradition, all that feeling – and my wife or my neighbour says, I am sorry, I am not that type at all. I am friendly with – it doesn’t matter, whoever it is, black, white, dark, brown, whatever it is – I am very friendly. Therefore, I who have a tradition to maintain in which I believe very strongly, and he doesn’t – we are at each other’s throat. I call him traitor. You understand all this? This is happening. So I must find out. To live a peaceful life demands a great deal of intelligence. It is a very complex thing to be peaceful.
34:49 Q: It is only complicated if you make it complicated.
34:51 K: No, it is complex. I don’t make it; it is. Sir, don’t say no, because when you buy a stamp, when you telephone, you are supporting war. When you pay your taxes. So what will you do, knowing all this? So how will you live intelligently so that you have no conflict with anybody? Which is to have peace. They all talk about peace. The Pope – I haven’t seen him on television – I have seen him once, that is enough – he talked about peace. The politicians, the archbishops, and all the rest of them talk about having peace. Even the politicians talk about peace.
36:02 Q: We say we have to fight to preserve peace.
36:07 K: Yes, of course. ‘We must negotiate from strength’ – which is having more armaments than the other fellow. You understand all this? Are you aware of all this?
36:32 Q: It is quite evident in papers when you read about all these buildups of weapons and nuclear power plants and things like that.
36:39 K: Yes.
36:40 Q: It is just protection against the other fellow.
36:42 K: Yes. So, either you join the demonstrations, which don’t really solve anything. Right? They make a lot of noise, may affect slightly, but behind it in the war there are all the great industrialists. You follow? The whole setup is to fight, to kill people. All the industries support war in one way or another. Right? You see all this. So, how will you act or live intelligently in the midst of all this?
37:42 Q: Krishnaji, I feel that many young people, and older people too, reach a point where they feel the whole thing is so horrific that there is nothing that can be done.
37:53 K: So, all right, if you say you can do nothing, what do you mean by the word ‘nothing’?
37:59 Q: Well, I think generally what is meant is that you just give up.
38:04 K: I won’t give up.

Q: When faced with this situation.
38:09 K: But you are living here. You can’t give it up. You can’t put your head in the sand and say, ‘I have nothing to do with it’.
38:20 Q: Maybe you think you have given up. Maybe you think you have given up but the fact is that all the conflict is in yourself as well as outside.
38:31 K: So, what have you discovered?
38:33 Q: That you think it is your problem but it’s a general problem.
38:37 K: No, you are putting… go into it a little more. Do you want to live peacefully?
38:52 Q: I don’t know, what’s that?
38:57 K: Do you know what that means?

Q: I have a vague idea of it.
39:03 K: I don’t understand.

Q: It is a vague idea.
39:06 K: It is a vague idea. You know what it means to live peacefully? To have no conflict – right? – with your wife, with your husband, with your neighbour, whether the neighbour is near, next door, or miles away, a thousand miles away. Right?
39:27 Q: Or even within yourself.

K: It means to have no conflict. Right? How will you prevent conflict? So you say, ‘I will live without conflict’, but you must know what it means, the depth of it, the superficiality of it, the tremendous responsibility of it. How can I live at peace if I am very selfish? Right? Think it out. How can I live peacefully without conflict if I say, ‘My principle is better than your principle’, my belief is this and your belief is that. You follow? We must be in conflict. The vast Asiatic world that believes in Buddhism, the Buddha, and the Western world that believes in Jesus, the saviour. You understand? They are in conflict. So you say… you see that. So, if you really see it, that it is utterly necessary to live completely without conflict, then you don’t belong to any group? any religious group, whether it is the old Asiatic world, three to five thousand years, or recent two thousand years of Christianity. You are following all this? So, will you belong to any of that?
41:48 Q: No, because it’s the past. It’s the past. I think if you live in tradition, then you are living in the past, you are not living in the now.

K: That’s right. So, it means what? Pursue it further, sir, go into it. If you don’t belong to the right or the left politically, if you don’t belong to Catholicism or Hinduism or Buddhism or Jain, whatever it is, you don’t belong to that, will you be able to stand alone under this tremendous pressure? Think it out.
42:46 Q: I think we are afraid to be alone.
42:49 K: Of course you are afraid to be alone. So you have to go into the question of fear. Why are you afraid? You see, from one problem, how it’s all related? So, it’s stupid, unintelligent to say it’s only one problem I have to solve. That’s what the politicians do. They don’t see the immense complications of life. They daren’t. If they did that and they explained to the voters, the voters wouldn’t understand, they wouldn’t be elected, so they have to… You follow? This is called democracy. And the other side is the totalitarian where you are not allowed to think at all, or think along only a particular line. You understand? It is really very, very complex to live a very peaceful life. That requires tremendous intelligence. And you are not willing to have that intelligence.
44:25 Q: But Krishnaji, we all have, in each one of us, a war, haven’t we? I mean, we have all these negative emotions…
44:32 K: Of course, that’s what I am saying.
44:34 Q: We cannot just say, ‘Go away, sit down, I am not going to think it’ – because they are there, they are, there is.
44:40 K: I agree.
44:41 Q: So how do we redirect them, how do we redistribute it, these negative and bad things?
44:49 K: First of all, as we pointed out, madame, you cannot suppress your problems. Right? You can’t escape from your problems. Escape, which is also very complex because the whole entertaining world is pushing you to escape. You understand this? Did you see the football last night? I saw it only for a few minutes. The tremendous crowd, all yelling, flags, the heroes marching up and down, and it is a marvellous escape – from the Pope, from everything. So, to look at a problem without escape, without suppressing it, with a want to say, ‘Well, I must solve it’. That requires – you understand? – that requires a great deal of vitality, a great deal of examination.
46:24 Q: What do you mean by examining the problem? Is that sort of like the psychiatrist?
46:30 K: I will show you. Examine the problem, what does that mean? How do you examine a problem?
46:40 Q: Surely not with your mind. Surely you don’t examine it with your mind.
46:45 K: No, wait, go into it a little bit more. What do you mean by examining? Who is the examiner? So, when you say ‘examine a problem’, first thing is how do you approach a problem? Right? I have a problem: I don’t get on with my wife. How do I look at it? Right? How do I come close to it to look at it? What’s my approach to that question, that I don’t get on well with my wife? How do I receive that question? You understand? You follow what I am saying? How do I…
47:44 Q: Most of us want a ready answer, Krishnaji. Most people want a ready answer.
47:48 K: Most people want the answer.

Q: A ready answer.
47:53 K: What, sir?

Q: A ready answer.
47:55 K: Yes, a ready answer, of course. A slogan. But it doesn’t solve anything. So I examine. When I say examine a problem, I mean this. First, there is a problem. Am I really concerned with finding an answer or am I examining the problem? See the difference? When I want an answer I am not looking at the problem. Right? Are you clear on this? So, how do I approach the problem? What are my reactions to the problem? Or how do I come very close to it? You understand? Close to it, because I am now separate, because I am looking at the problem, I am trying to examine the problem, as though that problem was separate from me.
49:07 Q: It isn’t. You are the problem.
49:10 K: I am the problem. So how do I approach it? You understand? You have to be awfully quick, subtle about all these things; you can’t just be lazy. You have to be sharp, quick, subtle. So my first question is: how do I approach a problem? Because the way I approach a problem will dictate the answer. Right? Is that clear? If I come to the problem with great fear, I shan’t have answered the problem. Right? Or if I say, This problem pleases me. I am going to have a good time with it, it doesn’t solve the problem. Or if I have a motive – say, ‘I must solve the problem the day after tomorrow’ – you follow? So, approaching the problem matters much more than the problem itself. Have you got that?

Q: Yes.
50:38 K: No, don’t learn from me. See it. See the fact for yourself. I am not your teacher. See the problem for… how to approach it. If you know how to approach it, the problem becomes extraordinarily simple. But if you don’t know it, the problem then becomes more and more complex. You understand, more and more complex, what that means? I may solve one problem that in the very solution of the problem another problem arises – which is happening politically. In this world it is happening. So, please find out for yourself so that you don’t depend on anybody, including myself – including nobody. Life has become a tremendous problem – earning a livelihood, what you will do in the future, whether you will marry, what will happen if you marry – you follow? – it grows, grows. Don’t get depressed by it. And find out how important it is how you come to it, how you come near the problem. You are not near the problem now. You have put the problem there and you want to solve it. Whereas if you say, ‘Look, leave the problem for the moment, I must find out how to come to it, how I approach it’. What are my reactions in facing the problem? Whether I have a motive, whether I want to suppress it, whether I want to escape from it. Why I want – you follow? If I am very clear in my approach, then I can look at the problem; it is very simple. If I do not know how to approach the problem, the problem becomes more and more complex.
53:11 Q: Yes, sir, but you could put it in another way. I mean, if you would have a state of mind to see really how to take a problem there wouldn’t be a problem.
53:22 K: That’s right. So…
53:25 Q: But we want to have problems. I think we want to have problems.
53:28 K: Oh, you want problems?

Q: Yes.
53:30 K: Then have them. That’s lovely! You don’t have to have them, they are there. Remember that phrase, ‘We have seen the enemy, the enemy is us’? So I am the enemy. You understand? No, you don’t see this.
54:09 Q: You are saying we make our problems through our sort of wants…
54:14 K: Yes, sir. You make problems.

Q: Of things that we want to…
54:17 K: So, how will you live? That’s my point. I am coming back to this point. How will you live without a single problem? Oh, you don’t see this. Why do you have problems?

Q: Because we have conflict.
54:41 K: No, – why do you have problems?
54:46 Q: Because it gives us a sense of meaning.
54:49 K: It gives you a sense of living?
54:51 Q: Of living, yes. Yes. A sense of existence.
54:56 K: So, without problems you feel you are dead.
55:00 Q: Yes, you could say that.
55:03 K: What a lovely idea, isn’t it!
55:13 Q: I mean, you don’t know what it would be like without problems, you just know that when you have problems it keeps you very busy and very active.
55:21 Q: Not facing the truth of the problem, the truth of reality.
55:32 K: No, I asked you, please. Is that the reason we have problems, because it gives you a feeling that you are living? Which means what? Perpetual conflict. And you think conflict will help you to live.
55:53 Q: It doesn’t help, it just keeps you.
55:55 K: Keeps you alive. Is that so? There is a conflict going on between South America and this country. It keeps you alive?
56:08 Q: It keeps the governments alive.

K: Whom? Who is kept alive, those soldiers out there?
56:15 Q: No. The people who buy stamps and support the arms and build the arms, and the governments.
56:25 K: So is that… and you think that’s the way of living?
56:30 Q: Well, it keeps what’s already happening going.
56:34 K: Why not keep running all the time, all your life? That keeps you going too. What are you talking about? You are talking superficially, something to talk about – is that it? Seriously you are not saying problems are necessary in life?
56:57 Q: I am not saying they are necessary, I am saying that we are afraid to be without them.
57:03 K: Have you tried it?
57:13 Q: If we try it, it can be very, very empty, no?
57:19 K: Are you all afraid to be completely alone, completely say, ‘I have nothing to do with all this?’ You know what that means? You just agree, but do you know what it means to have nothing to do with murder, killing people? Religions have killed people and they are still doing it. Probably Buddhism is the only religion, and little bit Hinduism, never kill for religious reasons. Now they are beginning killing each other. So is that the way you want to live? In the midst of storms, insecurity, atom bomb, neutron bomb – is that the way you want to live? They are all problems. There they are. You want to live that way?
58:33 Q: It’s not that I want to live that way, it’s that I am afraid what it would be without it.
58:38 K: Good Lord! Have you read what would happen if there is neutron bomb thrown?
58:46 Q: Yes.

K: Yes. Have you read it? And you want… it keeps you alive – right?
58:52 Q: No! I was saying that we put the problems there in order to cover up the fear we have of being without anything.
59:08 K: Yes. No, you mean without becoming something.
59:15 Q: Yes.

K: Don’t agree that quickly. Without becoming something. Right? What are you trying to become? Great artists, great painters, great musicians, great scientists, what are you trying to become? If I am a carpenter, I want to become a master carpenter. Right? Quite right. I want to be very good, produce a marvellous piece of furniture, and so on. Now, inwardly, psychologically, in my being, in my mind, what am I trying to become? The pope? Don’t shake it off. Power, position, status? You are not answering my question. You said you want to become something – what is it you want to become?
1:00:41 Q: You want to become independent financially. You want to be able to live.

K: Ah, yes, I said that. I agree. You have to work for it. Right? I want to be independent if it is possible.
1:00:54 Q: Maybe because the ego doesn’t want to be nothing, doesn’t like it, it has to be something. It likes power.
1:01:02 K: Yes. That is, you want to become nothing. You can’t become nothing. That means you want to become to be nothing. You understand? You are too… no.
1:01:28 Q: Sir, if you see all the problems going on, the wars and so on, you immediately stop contributing to that.
1:01:36 K: You can’t, sir. You are contributing, as I pointed out, by buying a stamp, by flying in an aeroplane, traveling in a train, you are contributing, however little it is, to war. Right?
1:02:12 Q: No, I don’t think people realise that when they want to become something that they are still going to be the same old person. They are trying to escape.
1:02:23 K: Why do you want to become something? Tell me. I want become a good carpenter, I want become a priest or a good businessman or a politician. I want to become something. Right? Take one example. I want to become a good carpenter or a good engineer. There is nothing wrong with that, is there?
1:02:52 Q: Except…

K: No, just think it out. There is nothing wrong about it. I want a good profession, good at electronics. I want to build the best bridge possible.
1:03:14 Q: But it’s why you want to do it.
1:03:17 K: Because I want to do that. What’s wrong with it?
1:03:23 Q: Well, because you are thinking that, you know, that you are going to be something great and you don’t realise that you are still the same person.
1:03:30 K: No. Isn’t it right if I want to be a good carpenter? What’s wrong with it? You are not answering my question.
1:03:36 Q: Yes, you can be.
1:03:38 K: Right. I can be a good carpenter. Now, can I be a good human being?
1:03:45 Q: That’s different.
1:03:47 K: So there is a difference between becoming a good carpenter and a good human being? Right? Now, what does it mean to be a good human being?
1:04:07 Q: It is everything, your relationship…
1:04:09 K: No, think it out. I am not going to help you. Think it out! What is a good human being?
1:04:16 Q: Somebody that cares for others.
1:04:19 K: Yes. Go on. Go into it more.
1:04:23 Q: That is aware of other things than himself. That the person is aware that there are other…
1:04:32 K: Yes, sir, that means care for others. You have said that. That implies that. Go on, sir.
1:04:41 Q: Regard for animals.
1:04:48 Q: Someone without conflict.
1:04:53 Q: Without conflict.

Q: Yes.
1:04:55 Q: Someone who live smoothly. I mean, yes, without conflict, that isn’t in conflict with other people.
1:05:08 K: All right – no conflict.

Q: It’s part of that.
1:05:10 K: Wait a minute. Care for people. That means love. Follow it. Don’t say ‘care’ and just leave it. That means to have affection – right? – to love people. Then what else?
1:05:31 Q: Not to live in the past.
1:05:33 K: Not living in the past. Can you? Is that possible?
1:05:38 Q: Yes. Okay, the past forms the present, all right?
1:05:43 K: Think it out, sir. Not to live in the past – what does that mean?
1:05:51 Q: Not to be stuck with old ideas.
1:05:55 K: Is that possible? Is it possible? What do you mean by the past? Let’s go into that. Yesterday? Two thousand years? And the Asiatic world which believes in five thousand years, with all their traditions, superstitions, and the Western with their superstitions. So what do you mean by the past? Sorry, I am not tripping you, I am not being clever, I want to understand.
1:06:34 Q: I think when I say try to live by the past is that… someone who said, ‘Let’s go and…’ – this is an example – let’s go and take this year’s crop of food from the other tribe because of such and such, and they continue it, and because this person did it that time and let’s say he died in this taking this crop of food…
1:07:16 K: So, the past is history, isn’t it?
1:07:18 Q: Yes. And they continuously did it – they were not sure why. They continuously did it every year just because that is the tradition.
1:07:28 K: Yes. So, the past is building up memories, remembrances. All that knowledge is the past. Right? History is the past – which you have all studied. So how can you be free? Careful. Think it out carefully. Be free of all that – is that possible?
1:08:06 Q: I think we have to live…
1:08:07 K: Not ‘have to’ – you see?
1:08:11 Q: We are part of the past.
1:08:15 K: Are you saying we are the past? Of course.

Q: Yes.
1:08:21 K: Right? How can you forget or put aside what you are? No, don’t say you can’t. Find out.
1:08:34 Q: But if you are completely without fear. If you are without fear, you don’t live in the past. You can leave it.
1:08:43 K: No, sir, first of all understand – please, I am not trying to be facetious – find out what it means to live without the past. What is the past? You had an experience yesterday – some kind, football – some kind of remembrance. Can you forget that?
1:09:16 Q: You can.

K: You can’t. It’s there.
1:09:20 Q: Yes, but you can remember it.

K: You might say, Well, I won’t think about it, but it’s there. I was born in India with all its extraordinary… certain realities, certain truths and a great deal of superstitions and so on, so on, so on. I am conditioned to that, as the British are conditioned to their past… by their past – the French – you follow? – all the way down. Every human being is conditioned. Right? The conditioning is their past. Are you interested or are you going to sleep?
1:10:08 Q: Sir, you can’t forget it, you have to live with it, but at the same time it seems to me that you may be able to face life newly.
1:10:20 K: How will you be able to be free from your conditioning so that you can face life afresh?
1:10:30 Q: If you are not involved in it.
1:10:33 K: But you are the condition – not to say you are not involved in it.
1:10:41 Q: Sir, but the moment – suppose my tradition says I don’t like Catholics or Muslims – the moment I see the meaninglessness, I am not going to…
1:10:50 K: That means you yourself are free from Catholicism, from Islam, from Hinduism, Buddhism. Right? You are free. That is only a very small part of your conditioning. There is a vast – you follow? – it is very complex. Your life, you are that conditioned human being.
1:11:18 Q: Maybe when you see clearly your conditioning you can be free.
1:11:27 K: Think it, sir. Think it out carefully. You are that conditioned human being. As an American, with all their worldliness, affluence, etc., etc. As the British, as the French, as the Germans, as the Italians, East, West, and so on – they are all human beings wherever they live, are conditioned by the climate, by the food they eat, by their literature, by their religion, by their society, by their family and so on. They are conditioned. Right? And when they say, ‘I am different from my condition’, is that so? They don’t say that. Any intelligent man wouldn’t say, ‘I am different from my conditioning’, which means there is a part of you that’s not conditioned. Is that so? Of course not. So, go into it carefully. When you say don’t live in the past, that requires freedom from all conditioning. Right? Which means fear, nationality, sorrow, anxiety, all that. Perhaps that is too much for a morning. Is that enough for this morning? That’s why I began by asking: what’s your reaction? How do you meet all the terrible things that are going on in the world? If you don’t understand it now, clearly, will you understand it in the future? Right? If your brain is not observing, learning, watching, reflecting, seeing what it should – you know, react to all this – if you are not doing it now, will not your brain become a little bit less and less as you grow? You understand? You may be very clever scientists or very good engineers but inwardly you may be gradually dying, and unconsciously knowing that, you want entertainment, amusement. You follow? And the entertaining industry is ready to meet you. So isn’t it important to find out how to live without conflict? Which demands a great deal of inquiry and intelligence, if you want to live peacefully. If you say, ‘Conflict is necessary’, there is plenty of it – everyone is against the other. I think we better stop, don’t you?