Krishnamurti_EN

Krishnamurti Subtitles

How does one learn about oneself?

San Diego - 5 April 1970

Public Talk 1

0:19	Krishnamurti: I would like
	to talk about so many things,

0:27	because wherever one goes

0:34	– Europe, India,
	Australia or America,

0:40	one finds more or less
	the same human problems.

0:49	Most human beings in the world

0:54	are so confused
	and living a contradictory life;

1:01	they are thoroughly unhappy,

1:05	utterly miserable
	and in great deal of sorrow.

1:13	And one’s life seems
	to be a battlefield,

1:20	from the moment you are born
	till you die.

1:27	One finds, right through the world,
	division,

1:34	nationalistic, linguistic,
	religious differences,

1:44	one sect opposed to another,
	one way against another,

1:52	each saying its way is the best
	and the only one, and so on.

2:01	There is division,
	conflict and war.

2:10	There is division
	as the business world,

2:16	the spiritual world,
	the religious world,

2:20	the scientific world,

2:24	or the professorial,
	college world.

2:30	Seeing all this division,
	this utter chaos,

2:39	and a great deal of misery,

2:44	one wonders,

2:47	and I’m sure you do too –

2:50	what is one to do,

2:54	what course of action
	to be followed:

3:00	the left, the centre,
	or the right.

3:14	Or is it a course of action
	dictated by some ideology,

3:23	some belief,

3:26	some authoritarian dictum.

3:32	Or must one follow
	a course of action

3:39	that doesn’t depend
	on any authority whatsoever,

3:45	neither the left, the centre,
	nor the right,

3:50	nor any guru, any teacher,
	any priest,

3:58	or follow any organised religion

4:01	– Catholic, Protestant,
	what you will –

4:05	but follow one’s own
	inclination, tendency,

4:14	or follow one’s own
	experience and knowledge,

4:22	self-reliant, confident,
	and purposeful.

4:33	There is so much contradiction,

4:37	not only outwardly
	but also inwardly.

4:48	And what is one to do?

4:54	I’m sure you must have asked
	this question many times –

5:02	the more serious one is,
	the more earnest,

5:07	and not seeking
	entertainment,

5:11	one must have really, deeply
	asked this question,

5:16	confronted by a world that is
	so chaotic, contradictory, divided,

5:27	knowing very well
	that one has lost faith,

5:34	having no trust in anybody,

5:42	no teacher,
	no professor,

5:47	no priest or authoritarian Utopia.

5:56	If you are at all serious,

6:01	and I hope you are
	at least for this afternoon,

6:08	you must have not only asked

6:15	such a question of yourself,

6:20	but also

6:25	have found a responding answer

6:30	to the challenge:

6:35	what is one to do?

6:39	not having faith in another,

6:44	not be dependent

6:48	on some saviour,

6:52	some teacher, some authority,

6:56	then where are you
	to look for light,

7:04	for an understanding?

7:08	What we are trying to do
	is to find out for ourselves,

7:14	confronted with this extraordinary
	problem of living,

7:19	with all its contradictions
	and complexities,

7:25	what is the course of action
	which will not be contradictory,

7:35	which will be whole,
	complete,

7:42	which will not produce
	more agonies,

7:46	more mischief,
	more confusion.

7:56	And to find that out
	is our problem –

8:02	and I think that is
	the only problem in life.

8:08	An action that is not broken up,
	that is not contradictory,

8:16	that is continuous, whole,
	complete and total,

8:23	so that it doesn’t bring
	more sorrow, more confusion.

8:31	And if you will, we will go together
	into this question,

8:42	bearing in mind that the speaker
	has no authority whatsoever,

8:53	because both of us
	are going to examine, observe,

8:59	this phenomenon
	called life, living,

9:04	and find out the truth
	of the matter,

9:07	if there is an action,
	a way of living,

9:13	not at odd moments
	or in a great crisis,

9:18	but every day,

9:21	every minute,

9:24	a way of living
	in which there is joy,

9:34	there is no violence,

9:38	no brutality,
	no contradiction,

9:45	and obviously no imitation
	and dependency.

9:54	Unless we find such a way of living,

10:00	not an abstract idea,

10:05	a philosophical concept,
	a theory,

10:13	but rather an actual
	way of living,

10:25	whether there can be an action

10:31	so complete, so whole,

10:37	so completely
	non-contradictory.

10:52	And I feel to live that way
	is the only religious way,

11:03	none other.

11:09	We are using
	the word ‘religion’

11:13	not in the accepted
	sense of that word,

11:20	which is to believe
	in something,

11:27	believe in God or no God,

11:31	or believe in some
	conceptual ideation –

11:39	we are using that word
	as a way of life

11:47	in which every action is whole,

11:53	complete and full of ecstasy.

11:59	We’re going to go into that.

12:03	First of all,
	to understand all this,

12:09	we must establish
	right relationship between us,

12:15	between you and the speaker.

12:25	He is not teaching you

12:30	in the ordinary sense
	of that word,

12:40	telling you what to do.

12:43	The word ‘teach’ is
	to give information,

12:51	to make one understand,
	to point out, to inform.

13:13	And one can teach
	mathematics,

13:19	give you some
	scientific information.

13:26	But here there is no teacher,

13:33	and we really mean it,

13:38	because each one of us
	has to be his own teacher

13:43	and his own disciple.

13:50	And this is a very serious matter.

13:55	So that you are listening

14:02	with quite a different attitude,

14:10	you are listening
	to the speaker,

14:18	to the words he is using,

14:23	and understanding those words,

14:28	watching through those words

14:32	all your own reactions,
	and responses, and conditioning,

14:42	so that you yourself,
	through your own observation,

14:48	learn,

14:51	so the speaker
	becomes a mirror,

14:57	in which you are
	observing yourself.

15:02	So our relationship,

15:05	between you and the speaker,

15:14	is of a basic communication,

15:19	communication being
	sharing together,

15:26	understanding together,
	working together –

15:32	that is what the word
	‘communication’ means,

15:38	to commune.

15:45	So, seeing all that,

15:50	not as a theory,

15:53	not something
	that is extraneous to you,

15:58	but actually –
	that is your life,

16:03	your daily contradiction,
	your daily battle,

16:11	your daily irritations,
	anger, hatred, brutality.

16:26	And to see if all that can end,

16:32	so that we can live
	quite a different kind of life,

16:40	a life that is free,

16:43	a life that doesn’t bring
	through action, misery,

16:52	a life that is really, completely,
	totally peaceful.

17:07	So one asks, observing all this,

17:15	what is one to do,

17:19	knowing that you are the society,

17:25	and the society is you –
	you are the world,

17:30	and the world is you,

17:35	which is not just an idea
	but a fact.

17:40	You have created this world,

17:45	by your greed, anger, ambition,
	competition, violence,

17:53	inwardly you are that;
	and outwardly you’ve wars,

17:58	you’ve all these divisions:
	the black, and the white,

18:03	and the pink, and the blue,
	and all the rest of it –

18:12	prejudice, antagonism,
	brutality.

18:30	We know this.

18:32	Either you know it
	as an idea

18:42	or you know it actually.

18:48	You know it through a magazine,
	through a newspaper,

18:52	or somebody has told you.

18:59	Or you have observed it
	in yourself,

19:05	you have seen it in yourself,
	completely,

19:10	and therefore there is
	no need for another

19:14	to tell you what the world is like,

19:19	you don’t have to read
	a single newspaper,

19:23	a magazine or
	listen to any talk,

19:28	if you know for yourself
	what you are.

19:36	Realising what you are, then
	the question is entirely different,

19:40	the question ‘what to do?’,

19:45	because one realises
	what one is –

19:51	one is confused,
	as the world is.

19:59	One lives in contradiction,
	in division,

20:02	as the world is.

20:13	And without
	understanding oneself,

20:17	not only at the conscious level,

20:21	but also very much deeply,
	very profoundly,

20:29	unless there is this understanding,

20:32	not according to some analyst –

20:39	Freud, Jung, or your own
	particular pet analyst,

20:47	but to understand yourself
	as you are.

20:53	And in the understanding of that,

20:56	the question of what you are to do
	becomes entirely different,

21:03	because now you are
	putting the question

21:10	in relation to the world as though
	it were something outside of you –

21:22	to what political party
	you should join,

21:27	to what group,
	the pacifist, and so on,

21:32	to what group,
	to what section.

21:36	So you are putting the world
	as something outside of you.

21:44	But when one realises,

21:47	not verbally,
	not as an idea,

21:52	but actually

21:54	– when one realises
	that one is the world,

22:05	and one’s responsibility
	to the world

22:09	is the responsibility
	of understanding yourself

22:15	so completely.

22:22	Then your question ‘what to do’
	has quite a different meaning.

22:35	So the question is,

22:42	how to observe,

22:50	how to observe oneself,

22:56	oneself being
	the total human being.

23:07	You are not an American,

23:11	though you may have
	the label as the American.

23:18	And a man coming from India

23:21	may call himself an Indian,
	with his particular label,

23:27	with his particular
	superstitions and beliefs.

23:32	But when you scratch
	or push aside all that,

23:37	he is an ordinary human being
	like you and me, like dozen others.

23:44	So the question is,
	how do you observe yourself?

23:55	Because without knowing yourself,

24:00	who is the world,

24:03	not an individual –

24:04	the word ‘individual’ means

24:10	a total entity, indivisible.

24:20	And individual means a human being,

24:24	in whom there is no contradiction,
	no division, no separation,

24:29	is a total unit, harmonious unit.

24:36	That word ‘individual’
	means that – indivisible.

24:43	So you are not individuals,
	you are all broken up,

24:50	contradictory in yourself.

24:59	So how are you to look
	at yourself?

25:04	Please, do listen to this,
	it is quite absorbing, this.

25:12	It demands a great deal
	of intelligence,

25:17	it is great fun,

25:21	much more fun than any book,

25:29	than any religious entertainment,

25:34	than any philosophy.

25:40	As we are broken up
	human beings in ourselves,

25:47	contradictory desires,

25:55	feeling inferior or superior,
	being afraid,

26:05	having no love,

26:09	feeling lonely, fragmented,

26:15	not only superficially
	but deeply –

26:24	how are you to observe?

26:27	One fragment observes
	the rest of the fragments?

26:38	One becoming the censor,

26:42	the examiner, the observer,

26:50	watching over
	the rest of the fragments?

26:58	And what gives him the authority

27:05	over the other fragments?

27:13	So the question is,

27:20	who is the observer

27:26	and who is the censor

27:28	that says,
	‘This I will do, this I won’t do,

27:32	this is right and this is wrong,

27:41	this path I will take
	and I won’t tread that path,

27:48	I’ll be a pacifist
	with regard to this war,

27:55	but I’ve other favourite wars,

28:03	I will follow this leader
	and not that leader,

28:08	I believe in this
	and not in that,

28:14	I will hold this prejudice
	and reject that,

28:21	knowing, if you have
	observed yourself,

28:27	that you are a fragmented
	human being.

28:35	And therefore,
	being fragmented, contradictory,

28:40	living in constant conflict,

28:48	and knowing this conflict,

28:53	one fragment of this many,
	many fragments, takes charge,

29:03	becomes the authority,
	the censor,

29:08	and his observation must
	inevitably be contradictory.

29:14	Right?
	I hope you’re following all this.

29:23	If one fragment,
	one part of you,

29:29	assumes the authority
	of the analyser

29:36	over the other fragments,

29:42	why has he assumed
	that authority?

29:47	And can he –
	one fragment,

29:50	analyse the rest
	of the other fragments?

29:55	You are following all this?

29:56	See how dreadfully complex
	it has all become.

30:07	Whether you are analysed
	by a professional,

30:12	or you analyse yourself,

30:15	it is still the same pattern.

30:21	So it is very important
	to find out how to observe,

30:29	how to observe
	all these many contradictions

30:36	which make up our life,

30:41	how to observe
	the whole of those fragments

30:47	without another fragment
	taking place.

30:55	But this is very important
	to find out,

30:59	because as long
	as there is contradiction,

31:02	division, in oneself,

31:06	there must be conflict,

31:09	there must be violence,

31:12	which expresses itself
	in the world, outside, in society.

31:21	And as long as this fragmentation
	exists within one,

31:29	there can be no peace.

31:33	And a man who really,
	deeply wants to understand

31:38	and live a peaceful life,
	a life of love,

31:45	must understand
	this question completely.

31:53	Therefore it is a very
	serious matter,

31:57	not just an afternoon’s
	listening to a few words –

32:04	we are dealing with
	the whole problem of existence.

32:11	And it is only the mind that can
	give serious attention to this,

32:18	that is able to resolve it.

32:21	So it is very important,
	imperative

32:27	that one understands
	this question.

32:34	How do you observe?

32:42	Do you observe yourself
	as an outsider,

32:47	as a censor,

32:49	saying ‘this is right,
	this is wrong’,

32:52	justifying, condemning,
	approving, storing up?

33:00	And if you do,
	there is contradiction,

33:05	and therefore conflict,
	and therefore violence.

33:17	So how do you observe?

33:21	Do you observe

33:27	through an image?

33:32	When you observe a tree,

33:35	do you observe

33:40	with knowledge
	of that tree,

33:46	the knowledge that separates
	you from the tree,

33:53	divides you,

33:55	brings about a space
	between you and the tree?

34:02	How do you observe?

34:03	How do you observe your wife
	and your husband,

34:08	or your girl or boy,

34:10	how do you observe them?

34:14	Watch yourself, sir,
	please, do it as we are talking,

34:19	don’t make notes,

34:25	don’t fiddle around
	with a tape-recorder,

34:31	but watch it.
	How do you look at another?

34:42	Don’t you look at another

34:48	through the image
	you have built about the other?

34:57	The image that you have been
	building for many years

35:01	or perhaps two days.

35:13	And the image becomes
	the observer.

35:18	Right?
	Are you following this?

35:25	So the image,
	or through the image you look.

35:35	So the censor, the observer,

35:43	is one of the fragments.

35:49	And that censor has an image

35:53	of what is right and what is wrong,

35:56	what should be done
	and what should not be done,

36:00	because he is still
	functioning as a fragment.

36:13	So the question from this arises,

36:19	whether one can observe
	without any fragment,

36:31	to see you, see oneself,
	see the world,

36:39	without fragmentation at all.

36:45	And what brings about fragmentation?

36:50	Not only in oneself

36:54	but also in the world
	of which one is –

37:00	what brings it about,

37:04	why is one fragmented?

37:07	why are there
	contradictory desires?

37:17	Right?

37:22	Now.

37:27	Why is one violent?

37:34	Which is part of contradiction.

37:40	There are many causes
	why human beings are violent:

37:48	lack of physical space;

37:55	human beings who have
	evolved from the animals

37:59	and the animals are
	very aggressive;

38:06	and people love
	being aggressive;

38:14	feeling inferior

38:19	and they want to be superior,

38:24	and so on.
	There are many causes.

38:29	And most of us spend our time
	discussing the causes,

38:40	explaining the causes;

38:43	each professor,
	each specialist, each writer,

38:48	according to his conditioning,

38:53	explains the causes –

38:55	volumes are written
	why human beings are violent.

39:05	But at the end of the volume
	human beings still remain violent.

39:16	So the description is
	not the described,

39:22	and therefore is
	of very little value.

39:29	You know why you are violent
	very well,

39:33	you haven’t got to spend years

39:37	trying to find out
	the cause of your violence,

39:39	which is such a waste of time.

39:48	But to observe
	violence as it is,

39:56	without the censor,

40:04	who then separates himself
	from the fact that he is violent.

40:11	Are we meeting each other?

40:16	Are we communicating
	with each other?

40:24	I am not sure.

40:31	Look, sirs,

40:33	this is really very important
	to understand.

40:40	So let’s go into it a little more.

40:46	Let’s suppose
	I am violent –

40:50	anger,
	jealousy, brutality,

40:55	driving ambition
	that brings about competition.

41:03	And I’m always measuring myself
	against somebody else.

41:14	And this comparison
	makes me feel I’m inferior

41:22	to you who are superior.

41:24	So there is a battle, violence,

41:29	I know all that.

41:32	Then I say to myself,
	‘I must get rid of this,

41:38	I want to live at peace,

41:42	though I’ve lived for thousands and
	thousands of years as a human being,

41:51	there must be a change,

41:55	there must be change in society,

41:59	however rotten it is,
	and it is’.

42:05	So I’ll plunge into social work
	and therefore forget myself.

42:13	And the social work
	and the society is me.

42:22	So I am escaping
	from myself.

42:29	And realising all the tricks
	the mind plays upon itself,

42:36	now, I look at myself –
	I am violent.

42:41	And how do I look
	at that violence?

42:46	As a censor who condemns violence?

42:51	Or justifies violence?

42:58	Or one who is not capable
	of dealing with that violence,

43:04	therefore escapes from it?

43:07	How do I look at myself,
	look at that violence?

43:15	Please, do it.

43:20	Are you looking at it
	as an observer

43:26	who is different
	from violence?

43:35	The observer who is separate,
	who condemns, justifies,

43:39	and says, this is right,
	this is... and so on.

43:42	The observer looks at the violence,

43:45	separates himself from violence
	and condemns it.

43:52	Or is the observer
	the observed?

44:00	You are following?

44:02	The observer recognises violence

44:08	and separates himself
	in order to do something about it.

44:14	But the separation is
	one of the tricks of thought.

44:23	So the observer is the observed,
	is the violence.

44:29	So long as there is a division

44:31	between the observer
	and the observed,

44:35	there must be violence.
	Right?

44:47	So when I realise that,
	not verbally,

44:52	realise with my heart, with my mind,
	with my whole being,

45:04	then what takes place?

45:16	You understand my question?

45:23	You know, when you observe anything,

45:27	there is always not only physical
	separation, distance, space,

45:42	there is also the desire

45:46	to identify yourself with that
	which is beautiful, noble,

45:54	and not identify yourself
	with that which is not.

46:02	So identification is part
	of the trick

46:09	of a mind that has
	separated itself as the censor,

46:14	and is now trying to identify.

46:22	But whereas when the observer
	becomes aware

46:26	that he is part of the observed,
	and he is,

46:36	and therefore no image between
	the observer and the observed,

46:45	then you will find that conflict
	completely comes to an end.

47:01	This is real meditation,
	this is not just a trick.

47:12	Therefore it is very
	important, imperative,

47:18	that one understands oneself,

47:24	deeply,

47:27	understand all the responses,
	the conditioning,

47:35	the various temperaments,
	characteristics, tendencies –

47:42	just to watch without the observer.

47:48	We are meeting now?

47:52	To observe without the observer.

48:01	And that is the act of learning.

48:08	And so that is the action.

48:12	Now there is a difficulty in this.

48:20	One is observing oneself.

48:25	One wants to learn about oneself –

48:29	the more you discover,
	the more you understand,

48:35	the greater the freedom.

48:41	I am using the word ‘more’
	purposely for the moment –

48:49	‘the more’ is
	a comparative evaluation.

48:55	I want to understand myself,
	learn about myself.

49:01	In observing myself –

49:05	please, do this as the speaker
	is going into it, do it actually,

49:09	don’t take it home
	and think about it, do it now.

49:14	No, this is not a group therapy, or
	a confessional – all that nonsense,

49:22	but watch yourself
	as we are working together.

49:27	I want to learn about myself.

49:37	And myself is a living movement –

49:42	each desire contradicts the other,
	they are living, moving,

49:48	they are vital.

49:52	And I observe

49:56	and through that observation
	I’ve learnt.

50:03	With what I have learnt
	I am going to look next minute.

50:08	Right?
	You follow this?

50:14	I am going to look, observe
	with the knowledge

50:21	which I have gathered
	through previous observation.

50:34	Am I learning,
	is there learning then?

50:45	Because when the mind observes

50:50	with an accumulated knowledge
	from its examination,

50:56	that knowledge is
	preventing perception,

51:05	that knowledge is preventing
	the freedom to look.

51:11	See the difficulty.

51:14	So can the mind observe
	without accumulating?

51:25	And the accumulation
	is the observer,

51:29	is the censor,
	is the conditioned entity.

51:38	Therefore, to look

51:45	without accumulating.

51:51	That is, sir, look:

51:58	someone flatters you,
	says how nice you are,

52:04	how beautiful you are,
	how very intelligent,

52:10	or how stupid you are.

52:15	Now, can you listen

52:19	to what he is saying,
	that you are stupid, or very clever,

52:24	or very this or very that,

52:26	can you listen
	without accumulation?

52:34	That is, without accumulating
	the insult or the flattery,

52:46	because if you listen
	with accumulation,

52:54	then he becomes
	your enemy,

52:57	or your friend.

53:01	Therefore that listening and
	how you listen creates the image.

53:08	Right?

53:12	And that image separates,

53:17	and that image is
	the cause of conflict –

53:24	the image that you have
	about the Communist

53:31	and the bourgeois,

53:35	the image you have
	about the Catholic,

53:38	if you are a Protestant.

53:41	And the Catholic has the image
	about the Protestant.

53:46	The image you have
	about your husband or your wife,

53:49	or your boy,
	whatever it is.

53:56	You believe,
	and another does not believe,

54:02	So there is contradiction.

54:07	So can you observe
	without separation?

54:19	Can you observe
	at the moment of violence,

54:26	at the moment of your anger,
	without the censor?

54:34	See how difficult it becomes
	if you are not aware at that moment.

54:47	If you are not aware
	at that moment,

54:49	you have already
	created the image.

55:01	So to observe the cloud,

55:09	the beauty of it,
	the light of it,

55:15	to observe the lovely hills
	in this country,

55:24	to observe the light
	on the water –

55:30	just to observe
	without naming it,

55:38	because the naming,

55:42	the knowledge, the experience

55:52	prevents the mind
	from observing totally.

56:00	So when the mind can look
	without the observer,

56:10	all fragments come to an end
	– in oneself.

56:21	And this is really very important
	to grasp, to understand.

56:29	And this cannot be taught
	by another.