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OJ49T7 - To understand ‘what is’ there must be no prejudice
Ojai, California - 6 August 1949
Public Talk 7



0:00 This is J. Krishnamurti’s 7th public talk in Ojai, California, 1949.
0:07 Krishnamurti: For the last three weekends we have been discussing in different ways the problem of self-knowledge and how it is necessary to understand the process of our own thinking and feeling.
0:33 Without understanding oneself clearly and definitely it’s not possible to think rightly.
0:42 But unfortunately it seems to have left an impression among many, or at least those who are committed to a particular form of prejudice, which they call thinking, that this approach is individualistic and utterly selfish and self-centred, and does not lead to reality…
1:22 (pause in recording) many paths to reality, and this particular approach of self-knowledge must invariably lead to inaction, to self-centeredness and individual ruggedness.
1:48 Now, if you go into it very clearly and thoroughly, with intelligence, one sees that to truth there can be no path.
2:06 There is no path as yours and mine - the path of service, the path of knowledge, the path of devotion, and the path of… and any other innumerable paths that philosophers have invented, depending on their particular idiosyncrasies and particular neurological system.
2:35 Now, if one can think clearly about this matter, without prejudice - I mean by prejudice committed to a particular action of thought or belief; being utterly unaware that one particular form of thinking, one particular approach must inevitably limit, whether it is the path of knowledge or path of devotion or path of action.
3:16 Any particular path must invariably limit and therefore cannot lead to reality, because a path of action or a path of knowledge in itself is not sufficient, surely.
3:37 A man of learning, however erudite, however encyclopaedic his knowledge may be, if he has no love, surely his knowledge is worthless, is merely book-knowledge.
3:57 A man of belief, as we discussed, must inevitably shape his life according to the dogma, tenet, that he holds, and therefore his experience must be limited, because one experiences according to one’s beliefs.
4:29 And such experience can never be liberating; on the contrary, they’re binding.
4:39 And as we said, only in freedom can we discover anything new, anything fundamental.
4:52 So the difficulty with the majority of us is, it seems to me, that as we are committed to so many beliefs, dogmas, that they prevent us from looking at anything new, afresh, and therefore, as reality or God, what you will, must be something unimaginable, must be something immeasurable that the mind cannot possibly understand.
5:39 Do what it will it cannot go beyond itself. It can create reality in its own image but it’ll not be reality, it’ll be only its own self-projection.
5:53 And therefore to understand reality or to… for that immensity to come into being, one must understand the process of one’s own thinking.
6:09 That is surely the obvious approach. It is not my approach or your approach; it’s the only intelligent approach. And intelligence is not yours or mine; it’s quite beyond all countries and all paths, all religious and social, left or right activity; it doesn’t belong to any particular society or group.
6:41 Therefore without that intelligence, which surely comes into being only with the understanding of oneself - which does not mean, surely, emphasis on the individual; on the contrary, the insistence on a path or a belief or any ideology emphasizes the individual, though that individual may belong to a large group, identified with a large group.
7:12 It’s only mere identification with the larger does not mean that one is free from the limited individuality.
7:21 So it is important, surely, to understand that reality, or God, or what you will, is not to be found through any particular path.
7:46 The Hindus have very cleverly divided various types of human beings… human beings into various types, and established paths for them.
8:15 And surely any path - which is the emphasis of individuality and not the freedom from individuality - does not lead to reality because it cultivates a particularity, and it’s not the freedom from selfishness, from prejudice, which is so essential to understand.
8:54 Therefore we have been discussing for the last three weeks the importance of self-knowledge, and which is not emphasis on individuality at all, on the personal.
9:28 If I do not know myself, I have no basis for thinking.
9:36 Whatever I think is merely an imposition, external acceptance of various influences, circumstantial enforcement; surely that’s not thinking.
9:49 Because I’ve been brought up in a particular society, left or right, and accept their ideology from childhood does not mean that I am capable of thinking of life anew.
10:05 I merely function in that particular pattern and reject anything that is given to me.
10:16 Whereas to think rightly, truly, profoundly, one has to begin by questioning the whole environmental process, and the influence of the environment from the outside, of which I am.
10:43 And without understanding that process in all its subtlety, surely I have no basis for thinking.
10:53 So it is absolutely essential, is it not, that the mind must be… the process of the mind must be thoroughly understood; not only the conscious, the upper level, the superficial level of the mind but the deeper levels of the mind.
11:22 Because it is comparatively easy to understand the superficial mind - watch the reactions, responses, how one spontaneously acts and thinks, and watch it.
11:45 But that is only a beginning, is it not? It is much more difficult to go more profoundly, more deeply, into the question of the whole process of our thinking.
12:03 And without knowing the whole process, the total process - what you believe, what you don’t believe, what you think, whether you believe in masters, don’t believe in masters, whether you believe in God or don’t… is really irrelevant, is almost immature.
12:31 Now, our problem is not only to listen to another, use another as merely in relationship as a mirror in which we discover ourselves, but also to go much more profoundly, and that’s where our difficulty lies.
13:10 Few of us can throw off our prejudices, beliefs, and give up a few societies and join new organizations, or what you want, the many things that one does, but surely it is much more important, isn’t it, to go below to the deeper layers of consciousness and find out exactly what is taking place.
13:33 What are our commitments, of which we are so unconscious, of our beliefs, of our fears, of which we are utterly unaware, which actually guide and shape our action?
13:47 Because the inner always overcomes the outer; you may cunningly shape the outer, but the inner eventually breaks down the outer.
14:09 In any utopian society you may build a social order very carefully and very cunningly, but without this psychological understanding of man’s whole makeup, the outer is always smashed.
14:33 Now, how is it possible then to go into the deeper layers of consciousness?
14:47 Because that is where most of our idiosyncrasies, most of our fears that create beliefs, most of our desires, ambitions, all lie hidden.
15:06 How is it possible to open them up, to expose and understand them? Isn’t it? If we can go… if we can have the capacity to delve into that and really experience these things, not verbally merely, then it is possible to be free of them.
15:38 Take, for example, anger.
15:47 To experience anger and be aware of anger without giving it a name.
16:01 I do not know if you have ever tried, if you have ever experienced a state which is not named.
16:16 If we have an experience, we give it a term, and we term it in order to explore it, or to communicate it, or to strengthen it.
16:30 But we never experience a thing without naming. That’s extremely difficult, isn’t it, for most of us; verbalization comes almost before experience.
16:53 And if we do not name, then perhaps it’s possible to go into the deeper layers of consciousness.
17:02 And that’s why we must be aware, even at the superficial level, of our prejudices, fears and ambition, of our fixations in a particular groove, whether we are young or old, whether left or of the right.
17:23 Therefore there must be a certain discontent, which is obviously denied to the older because they don’t want to be discontent.
17:40 They are fixed; they are going to disappear slowly, therefore establish, crystallize in a particular groove, and deny everything new.
17:54 But surely discontent is necessary; not the discontent that is easily canalized into a particular groove or a particular action and particular belief but discontent that is never satisfied, because most of our discontent arises from dissatisfaction.
18:27 Moment we have found satisfaction, dissatisfaction ceases, discontent comes to an end.
18:35 So most of our discontent is really a search for satisfaction, whereas discontent is surely a state in which there is no search for satisfaction.
19:00 Moment I’m easily satisfied, the problem is over. If I accept the left ideologies or the right, or some particular belief, my dissatisfaction is easily gratified.
19:16 But discontentment is of another quality, surely.
19:25 Contentment is that state in which what is is understood.
19:39 To understand what is there must be no prejudice.
19:54 To see things as they are requires enormous alertness of mind.
20:01 But we are easily satisfied; that alertness is dulled, made blunt.
20:16 So our problem is in all this - which is a question of relationship - is to be aware of ourselves in action, in what we are thinking, in what we are saying, so that in relationship we discover ourselves, we see as we are.
20:59 But to superimpose our beliefs on what we are surely does not help to bring about understanding of what we are, and therefore it is necessary to be free of this imposition - political, sociological, or religious - and which can only be revealed in relationship.
21:37 And as long as that relationship is not understood, there must be conflict, whether between two or between many.
21:53 And for the ending of that conflict there must be self-knowledge.
22:03 And it is only when the mind is quiet, not made quiet, then only is it possible to understand reality.
22:19 Many questions have been given, and naturally they cannot all be answered, but I will try to answer as many representative questions as possible, though sometimes the questions may be put in different words, change the terms.
22:46 So I hope you will not mind. 1ST QUESTIO

N: I believe, if I am perfectly honest, I have to admit that I resent and at times hate almost everybody.
23:12 It makes my life very unhappy and painful. I understand intellectually that I am this resentment, this hatred, but I cannot cope with it.
23:29 Can you show me a way?’ (Repeats question).
23:51 Now, what do we mean by ‘intellectually’?
23:59 When we say that I understand something intellectually, what do we mean by that?
24:09 Is there such thing as intellectual understanding?
24:20 Or, merely, we understand the words because that’s the only way to communicate with each other - the mind.
24:37 Do we understand anything verbally? So that is the first thing we have to be clear, whether the so-called intellectual understanding is not an impediment to understanding.
25:01 Surely understanding is integral, not separate, not partial - either I understand something or I don’t understand something.
25:23 So to say to oneself that I understand something intellectually is surely a barrier to understanding.
25:37 It’s a partial process and therefore no understanding at all.
25:49 Now, the question is this: ‘How am I, who am resentful, hateful, how am I to be free, or cope with that problem?’ How do we cope with a problem?
26:17 What is a problem? Surely, a problem is something which is disturbing.
26:32 Please, may I suggest something? You just follow what I am saying. Don’t try to solve your problem of resentment and hate, just follow it - because it is difficult to go into this - so that at the end of it you are free of it, if we can do it now.
27:04 It’ll be a rather interesting experiment to try with each other. I am resentful, I am hateful, I hate people, and it causes pain.
27:16 And I’m aware of it. What am I to do? It’s a very disturbing factor in my life. What am I to do? How am I to really be free of it, not just kind of momentarily slough it off but fundamentally be free of it?
27:33 How am I to do it? Now, it is a problem to me because it disturbs me.
27:50 If it wasn’t a disturbing thing, it wouldn’t be a problem to me, would it? Because it causes pain, disturbance, anxiety, I think it’s ugly, therefore I want to get rid of it.
28:07 Therefore the thing that I am objecting to is the disturbance, isn’t it?
28:16 I give it different names at different times, according to different moods. I call it one day this, and one day another thing, but the desire, basically, is not to be disturbed, isn’t that it?
28:33 Because pleasure is not disturbing, that’s why I accept it. I don’t want to be free from pleasure because there is no disturbance, at least, for the time being.
28:50 But hate, resentment, are very disturbing factors in my life, and I want to get rid of them.
29:03 So what I am concerned is not to be disturbed.
29:22 And I am trying to find a way in which I shall never be disturbed.
29:43 And why shouldn’t I be disturbed?
29:54 I must be disturbed to find out, mustn’t I? I must go through tremendous upheavals, turmoil, anxiety, to find out, mustn’t I, because if I’m not disturbed, I shall go to sleep.
30:13 And perhaps that’s what most of us do want, to be pacified, to be put to sleep, to get away from any disturbances, to find isolation, seclusion, security.
30:29 So if I do not mind being disturbed, really, not superficially - I don’t mind being disturbed because I want to find out - then my attitude toward hate, toward resentment surely goes, doesn’t it; then if I do not mind being disturbed, then the name is not important, is it?
31:35 Then the word hate is not important, is it? Or resentment against people is not important, is it, because then I am directly experiencing that state, that word, which I call resentment, that experience which I call resentment.
32:01 I do not know if I am explaining myself. That is, anger is a very disturbing quality, as hate and resentment, and very few of us experience anger directly, without verbalizing it.
32:39 If we do not verbalize it, if we don’t call it anger, surely there is a different experience there, is there not?
32:49 Because we term it, we reduce a new experience or fix it in the terms of the old.
33:01 Whereas if we do not name it, then there is an experience which is directly understood, and this understanding brings about a transformation in that experiencing.
33:27 Am I making myself clear? Please, it’s not simple.
33:40 Take, for example, meanness.
33:52 Most of us are unaware of it, if we are mean - mean about money matters, mean about forgiving people; you know, mean, being mean.
34:02 I’m sure we are familiar with that.
34:11 Now, being aware of it, how is one to be free from that quality?
34:18 Not become generous, that’s not the important point. To be free from meanness implies generosity; you haven’t got to become generous.
34:29 First, obviously, one must be aware of it.
34:39 You may be very generous in giving a large donation to your society, to your friends, but awfully mean in giving a bigger tip.
34:51 You know what I mean by ‘mean’: one is unconscious of it.
35:00 When one becomes aware of it, what happens? Then we exert our will to be generous; we try to overcome it.
35:20 But if we do not do that - which is, after all, the exertion of will - to be something is still part of a meanness in a larger circle.
35:40 And if one is aware of it, one tries to overcome it, discipline oneself to be generous, and so on and so on.
35:52 If we do not do any of those things, but merely be aware of what are the implications of meanness, and do not give it a term, then you will see that there takes place a radical transformation.
36:13 Anger: if you do not give it a term, but merely experience it - not through verbalization, because the verbalization is a process of dulling the experience.
36:33 But if you do not give it a term, it is acute, it becomes very sharp; then it acts as a shock, and it is only then that it is possible to be free.
36:55 Please, experiment with this. First, one must be disturbed. It’s obvious that most of us do not like to be disturbed.
37:14 We think we have found a pattern of life, the master, the belief, whatever it is, and there settle down, like having a good bureaucratic office, job, and there function for the rest of one’s life.
37:35 With that same mentality we approach various qualities of which we want to be rid.
37:46 But if we see the importance of being disturbed, being inwardly insecure, not being dependent, because, surely, it’s only in insecurity that you discover, that you see, that you understand.
38:09 Like a man with plenty of money, at ease - surely he will never be disturbed; he doesn’t want to be disturbed.
38:23 So disturbance is essential for understanding.
38:35 And any attempt to find security is a hindrance to understanding. And when we want to get rid of something which is a disturbing quality, it surely is a hindrance.
38:54 And if we can experience a feeling directly without naming it, I think we’ll find a great deal in it.
39:17 Then there is no longer a battle with it, because the experiencer and the thing experienced are one, and that is essential.
39:31 As long as the experiencer verbalizes the feeling, the experience, then he separates, then he acts upon it, and such an action is an artificial, illusory action.
39:51 But if there is no verbalization, the experiencer and the thing experienced are one, and that integration is necessary to be radically free.
40:09 I hope that’s clear. If not, we’ll discuss it at other meetings.