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J. Krishnamurti – Thought and time are the root of fear – Video

J. Krishnamurti – Thought and time are the root of fear – Transcript

Most unfortunately there are only two talksand so we have to condense what we have to sayabout the whole existence of life.We are not doing any kind of propagandawe are not persuading you to think in one particular directionnor convince you about anything.We must be quite sure of that.We are not bringing something exotic from the Eastall that nonsense that goes on in the name of the gurusand those people who write strange things after visiting India.We do not belong to that crowd at all.But we would like to point outthat during these two talksthat we are thinking togethernot merely listening to the talkslistening to some ideaseither agreeing or disagreeing with those ideaswe are not creating any kind of arguments opinions judgementsbut together – I mean togetheryou and the speaker are going to observe what the world has becomenot only in the Western world but also in the Eastwhere there is a great deal of poverty great miseryan enormous amount of populationwhere the politicians as here in the Westare incapable of dealing with what is happening.They are all politicians thinking in terms of tribalism.Tribalism has become the glorified nationalism.And we cannot therefore rely on any politicians or on any leaderor on any books that have been written about religion.We cannot possibly rely on any of these peopleneither the scientists nor the biologists nor the psychologists.They have not been able to solve our human problems.I am quite sure you agree to all that.Nor can we rely on any of the gurus.Unfortunately these people come to the Westand exploit people get very richand they have nothing whatsoever to do with religion.Having said all that it is important that weyou and the speaker think together.We mean by thinking togethernot merely accepting any kind of opinion or evaluationbut together observe not only externally- that is what is happening in the world -but also what is happening to all of us inwardly psychologically.Externally outwardly there is great uncertainty confusion warsor the threat of war.There are wars going on in some parts of the worldhuman beings are killing each other.That is not happening in the West herebut there is the threat of the nuclear warthe bomb and the preparation for war.And we ordinary human beings do not seem to be ableto do anything about all that.There are demonstrations terrorism hunger strikes and so on.This is what is actually going on in the outward world;one tribal group against another tribal group;the West America against another country and so on.The scientists are contributing to all thatand the philosophers though they may talk against all thatbut inwardly they continue in terms of nationalismaccording to their own particular career and so on.So that is what is actually going on in the outward worldof which any intelligent human being can observe.And inwardly in our own minds and in our own heartswe are also very confused.There is no security not only perhaps for ourselvesbut for our future our future generation.Religions have divided human beings as the Christian the Hindusthe Muslims and the Buddhists and so on.So considering all this looking objectively calmlywithout any prejudice observingit is naturally important that we think about all this together.Think together. Not have opinions opposing another set of opinions;or one conclusion against another conclusionone ideal against another ideal;but rather think together and see what we human beings can do.The crisis is not in the economic world nor in the political worldbut the crisis is in our consciousness.I think very few of us realise that.The crisis is in our mind and in our heart.That is the crisis is in our consciousness.Our consciousness which is our whole existence with our beliefswith our conclusions with our nationalismwith all the fears that one has the pleasuresthe apparently insoluble problem of sorrowthe thing that we call love compassionand the problem of deathand what is there if there is anything hereafterand the question of meditationand if there is anything beyond time beyond thoughtif there is something eternal.That is the content of our consciousness.That is the content of every human beingwhether they live in this country or in Asiain India or in America or Russia.The content of our consciousness is the common ground of all humanity.I think this must be made very clear right from the beginning.As a human being living in this part of the world he suffersnot only physically but also inwardly.He is anxious uncertain fearful confusedanxious without any sense of deep security.It is the same in Asia with every human being thereit is the same in India it is the same in America and Russia.So our consciousness is common to all mankind.Please do listen to this.You may be hearing this for the first timeand so please don’t discard it.Let’s investigate it together let’s think about it together.Not when you get home but now.That your consciousness – what you think what you feelyour reactions your anxiety your loneliness your sorrowyour pain the search for something that is not merely physicalbut goes beyond all thought -is the same as a person living in India or Russia or America.They go through the same problems as you dothe same problems of relationship with each other man woman.So we are all standing on\sthe same ground – consciousness.Our consciousness is common to all of us.And therefore we are not individuals.Please do consider this.We have been trained educated religiously as well as scholasticallythat we are separate souls individuals striving for ourselvesbut that is an illusionbecause our consciousness is common to all mankind.So we are mankind.We are not separate individuals fighting for ourselves.This is logical this is rational sane.So we are not separate entities with separate psychological contentstruggling for ourselves.But we are each one of us is actually the rest of human kind.So logically perhaps you will accept it intellectuallybut if you feel that profoundlythen our whole activity undergoes a radical change.That is the first issue that we have to think together about:that our consciousness the way we think the way we liveperhaps more comfortably affluentlywith greater facility to travel and so onapart from that inwardly psychologicallyyou are exactly similar to those who livethousands and thousands of miles away.And so we have to think about these problems together.First the problem of relationship:All life is relationship the very existence is to be related.And when you observe what we have donewith our relationship with each other whether it is intimate or notwhether between two human beings man and womanin that relationship there is tremendous conflict struggle – why?Why have human beings who have lived for over a million yearshave not solved this problem of relationship?That is two people living together without conflict.Apparently we have not solved it.So if we could this morning perhaps for an hourthink together about it.Let’s together observe actually what is that relationshipbetween a man and a womanbecause all society is based on relationship.There is no society if there is no relationshipsociety then becomes an abstraction.So we should together this morningconsider together what our relationships actually are.If one observes it closely there is conflict between man and woman.The man has his own ideals his own pursuits his own ambitionhe is always seeking success to be somebody in the world.And also the woman is struggling also wanting to be somebodywanting to fulfil to become.Each is pursuing his own direction.So it is like two railway lines running parallel but never meetingperhaps in bed but otherwise if you observe closelythey never meet actually psychologically inwardly – why?That is the question.When we ask why we are always asking for the causewe think in terms of causationhoping thereby if we could understand the causethen perhaps we would change the effect.May I ask now – you all understand English I hope.If not I am talking to myself which is rather absurd.One has not been in this country for ten yearsbut one is glad to be back here againbut if we don’t understand Englishthen I am afraid our communication is not possible.So one hopes that you understand English as clearly as possible.Unfortunately one can speak in French or Italianbut that would be equally difficult.So we are asking a very simple but very complex question:why is it that we human beings have not been ableto solve this problem of relationship though we have lived on this earthfor over millions and millions of years?Is it because each one has his own particular imageput together by thoughtand our relationship is only based on two images:the image that the man creates about herand the image the woman creates about him?So we are in this relationship : two images living together.That is a fact.If you observe very closely yourself if one may point outyou have created an image about herand she has created a picture a verbal structure about you the man.So relationship is between these two images.These images have been put together by thought.And thought is not related to love.Is thought love?All the memories of this relationship with each otherthe remembrances the pictures the conclusions about each otherare – if one observes closely without any prejudice -are the product of thoughtare the result of various remembrancesexperiences irritations loneliness.And so our relationship with each other is not lovebut the image that thought has put together.So we have to examine if we are to understandthe actuality of relationshipwe have to understand the whole movement of thoughtbecause we live by thought all our actions are based on thought;all the great buildings of the world are put together by thoughtall the cathedrals churches temples and mosquesare put there by thought constructed by thought.And what is inside all these religious buildings -the inside the figures the symbols the images -are all the inventions of thought.There is no refuting that.So thought has created not onlythe most marvellous architectural buildingsand the contents of those buildingsbut also it has created the instruments of warthe bomb various forms of that bomb.Thought has also put together the surgeonthose marvellous instruments so delicate in surgery.And also thought has made the carpenter.He must study the wood the instruments and so on.So thought has done all this.The content of a church and the surgeonthe expert engineer who builds a beautiful bridgeare all the result of thought.There is no refuting that however much one may argue.So one has to examine what is thoughtwhy human beings live on thoughtwhy thought has brought about such chaos in the world -war lack of relationship with each otherthe great capacity of thought with its extraordinary energy.And also what thought has done through millions of yearsbringing sorrow for mankind.Please observe this together let’s examine it together.Don’t let’s oppose what the speaker is saying but let’s examine itwhat he is saying together so that we understandwhat is actually happening to all human beings.We are destroying ourselves.So we have to go very carefully into the question of thought.Thought is the response of memory.Memory is not only the remembrance of things pastbut also thought which projects itself as hope in the future.So thought is the response of memory memory is knowledgeknowledge is experience.That is there is experience from experience there is knowledgefrom knowledge there is memory or remembranceand from memory you act.So from that action you learn which is further knowledge.So we live in this cycle -experience knowledge memory thought action.In this cycle human beings livealways living within the field of knowledge.I hope this is not boring you.If you are bored I am sorry.If you want something romantic sentimentalsomething that pleases you I hope you won’t listen then.But what we are talking about is very serious.It is not something for the weekend for a casual listeningbecause we are concerned with the radical change of human consciousness.So we have to think about all this look together see if it is possiblewhy human beings who have lived on this earthfor so many million years are still as we are.We may have advanced technologicallybetter communication better transportationhygiene and so on but inwardly we are the same more or less:unhappy uncertain lonely carrying the burden of sorrow endlessly.And any serious man confronted with this challenge must respondhe can’t take it casually turn his back on it.That is why this meeting and tomorrow morning’s meeting is very seriousbecause we have to apply our minds and our heartsto find out if it is possible to radically bring about a mutationin our consciousness and therefore in our action and behaviour.So as we were saying thought is born of experience knowledgeand so there is nothing whatsoever sacred about thought.It is materialistic it is a process of matter thinking.And we have relied on that on thought to solve all our problemspolitical religious relationship and so on.And our brains our minds are conditionededucated to solve problems.Thought has created the problem and then our brains our mindsare trained to solve problems.If you have an engineering problem you solve ita problem of disease one solves it and so on.Our minds are trained to solve problems.These problems are created by thought psychologically inwardly.You follow what is happening?Thought creates the problem psychologicallyand the mind is trained to solve problemsso thought creating the problemthought then tries to solve the problem.So it is caught in the same old process a routine.So problems are becoming more and more complexmore and more insoluble.So we must find if it is at all possibleif there is a different way of approaching this lifenot through thought because thought has not solved our problems.On the contrary thought has brought about greater complexity.We must find if it is possible or if it is not possibleif there is a different dimensiona different approach to life altogether.And that is why it is important to understand the nature of thoughtthe nature of our thinking.Our thinking is based on remembrance remembrance of things past.Which is thinking about what happened a week agothinking about it modified in the presentand projected into the future.This is the movement of our life which is an actuality.So knowledge has become all important for usbut knowledge is never complete.Knowledge about anything is still incompletewill always be incomplete.Therefore knowledge always goes with ignoranceknowledge always lives within the shadow of ignorance.That is a fact.It is not the speaker’s invention or conclusion but that is so.So love is not knowledge.Love is not remembrance.Love is not desire or pleasure.Desire pleasure remembrance are based on thought.So our relationship with each otherhowever close however near if you look at it closelyis based on remembrance which is thought.So in that relationship actually though one may say you loveyour wife or your husband or your girlfriend and so onit is actually based on remembrance which is thought.Therefore in that there is no love.Would you actually see that fact? Or do we say‘What terrible things you are saying. I do love my wife’ -but is that so?Can there be love when there is jealousypossessiveness attachmentwhen each one is pursuing his own particular ambitiongreed envy directionlike two parallel lines never meeting.Is that love?So one has to enquire if one is to pursuethe problem of existence seriously profoundlyone must examine what is desire.Why human beings have been driven by desire.Can the speaker go on with all this?Sorry you have to bear this but it is your fault that you are here!And perhaps also the speaker’s!I hope we are thinking together observing togetheras two friends walking along that roadand seeing what is around usnot only what is very close what is immediately perceivedbut also what one sees in the distancebecause we are taking the journey togetherperhaps affectionately hand in handor as two friends amicable examining the very complex problem of lifein which there is no leader there is no gurubecause when one actually sees that our consciousnessis the consciousness of the rest of mankindthen we realise we are both the guru and the disciplethe teacher as well as the pupilbecause we are all that it is all in our consciousness.That is a tremendous realisation.So that as one begins to understand oneself deeplyone becomes a light to oneself and not depend on anybodyon any book on any authority including that of the speakerso that we are capable of understandingthis whole problem of living and be a light to ourselves.So we must examine together desirebecause if desire is love then desire creates problems.Love has no problems and to understand the nature of lovecompassion with its own intelligencewe must understand together what is desire.Desire has extraordinary vitalityextraordinary persuasion drive achievementand the whole process of becoming success is based on desire -desire which makes us compare with each other imitate conform.So it is very importantin understanding the whole nature of ourselvesto understand what desire isnot to suppress it not to run away from itnot to transcend it but to understand itto look at it to see the whole momentum of it.We can do that togetherwhich doesn’t mean that you are learning from the speaker.The speaker has nothing to teach you. Please realise this.The speaker is merely acting as a mirror in which you can see yourself.And then when you see yourself clearlyyou can discard the mirror it has no importanceyou can break it up.So to understand desire requires attention seriousnessit is a very complex problem.Why human beings have lived on this extraordinary energy of desireas the energy of thought.What is the relationship between thought and desire?What is the relationship between desire and will?Because we live a great deal by will.So what is the movement the source the origin of desire?If one observes oneself one sees the originthe beginning of desire begins with sensation sensory responsessensory responses with its contact sensationthen thought creates the image at that moment begins desire.Please let’s look at it very closely.One sees something in the windowa robe a shirt a car a scarf whatever it is -seeing sensation then touching itand then thought saying‘If I put that dress or shirt on how nice it will look’ -it creates the image then begins desire.Right? Do you follow all this?See it for oneself it is fairly simple.You see something very nicethere is the sensation created through nervous responsesoptical response then thought saying’how nice I would look with that dress or shirt or coat’or whatever it is then desire begins.So the relationship between desire and thought is very close.If there was no thought there would be only sensation -not all the problems created by desire.I hope we are meeting each other.So desire is the quintessence of will.So thought dominates sensation and creates the urgethe desire to possess.Am I talking to myself or are you all in it?Perhaps all this may be new to youbut we have to think about all these things togethernot as separate individual with his own particular conclusionsbut together observe all this and be very clear about all this.So where in relationship thought operateswhich is remembrance creating the image about each otherwhere there is that image created by thought there can be no love.Or where there is desire sexual or other forms of desireprevents – because desire is part of thought – prevents love.And also we should consider in our examination togetherthe nature of fearbecause we are all caught in this terrible thing called fear.We don’t seem to be able to resolve it.We live with it become accustomed to it or escape from itthrough amusement through worshipthrough various forms of entertainment religious and otherwise.So we must together examine again the nature and the structure of fear.Please fear is common to all of uswhether you live in this tidy clean countryor in India where it is untidy dirty over-populated and so on.It is the same problem fear.And man has lived with it for thousands and thousands of yearsand we haven’t been able to resolve it.Is it possible – one is asking this question most seriously -is this at all possible to be totally completely free of fearnot only physical forms of fearbut much more subtle forms of fear inwardly.Conscious fears and the deep undiscovered fearsfears that are deeply in our consciousnesswhich we have never even examined that they are there.Examination does not mean analysis. I know it is the fashionthat if you have any problem turn to the analyst.I hope there aren’t any here!And the analyst is like you and me only he has got a certain technique.But we must examine what is observation and analysis.Analysis implies there is an analyser.Is the analyser different from that which he analyses?Or the analyser is the analysed?You understand the question?The analyser is the analysed. That is an obvious fact.I am analysing myself but who is the analyser in me who says ‘I must analyse’?It is still the analyser separating himself from the analysedand then examining that which is going to be analysed – right?So the analyser is that which he is examining analysing.Both are the same it is a trick played by thought.So when we observe there is no analysismerely to observe things as they are.To observe actually what is not to analyse what isbecause in the process of analysis one can deceive oneself.And if you like to play that gameyou can go on endlessly until you die analysingand never bringing about a radical transformation within oneself.Whereas observation to look to look at the present world as it isnot as a Dutchman Englishman or French or this or thatbut to see actually what is happening.That is observation pure observation of things as they are.So we have to examine or observe what fear isnot what is the cause of fear – we will look at that presently -not what is the cause of fear which implies analysisgoing further further back the origin of fear- we’ll find that out in a minute -but to learn the art of observing not translating what you observeor interpreting what you observe but just to observeas you would observe a lovely flower.The moment you tear it to pieces the flower is not.That is what analysis is.But to observe the beauty of a flowerthe light in a cloud the evening lighta tree by itself in a forest just to observe it.So similarly if we can to observe fear.What is the root of fear not the various aspects of fear?Right? Can we go on with this?That is suppose I am afraid.Suppose – I am not – suppose I am afraidI must make this point very clear.What the speaker says he livesotherwise he wouldn’t get up on a platform and talk about it.He has done it for sixty years he wouldn’t deceive himselfone can but he has gone into it very deeply.So what he says is what to him is a factnot just an illusion an escape.So we are asking if it is at all possible to be free of fearabsolutely.Psychologically inwardly what is the root of fear?What does fear mean?Fear of something that has given you painfear of what might happen.That is the past or what might happen in the future – right?Not what might happen now because now there is no fear.But you can see for yourself fear is a time process – right?Fear of something that has happened last weekan incident which has brought psychological pain or physical painand the fear that it might happen again tomorrow:losing a job not achieving something you wantnot achieving illumination and all that stuff.So fear is a movement in time – right?A movement from the past through the presentmodifying itself to the future.So the origin of fear is thought.And thought is timebecause thought is the accumulation of knowledge through experiencememory response of memory thought action.So thought-time are one and thought-time is the root of fear.That is fairly obvious. It is so.Now it is not a question of stopping thought or time.Of course it would be impossible to stop itbecause who is the entity that says ‘I must stop thought’?Which would be absurd because\sthat entity is part of thought.Are you following all this?So this idea of stopping thought is impossible.That implies a controller who is trying to control thought.The controller is created by thought.So please just listen to this just observe.The observation is an action in itselfnot that one must do something about fear.I wonder if you understand this?Look: suppose I am afraid about something or otherdarkness my wife running away or I am lonely or this or that.I am frightened deeply.You come along and tell meyou explain to me the whole movement of fearthe origin of fear which is time.I had pain or I went through some accidentincident that has caused fear recorded it in the brainand that memory of that past incident might happen againand therefore there is fear.So you have explained this to me.And I listen very carefully to your explanationI see the logic of it the sanity of itI don’t reject it I listen.And that means listening becomes an art.I don’t reject what you are saying nor accept but observe.So I observe that what you tell me about time thought is actual.I don’t say ‘I must stop time and thought’but you have explained to me don’t do thatbut just observe how fear arises it is a movement of thought time.Just observe this movement and don’t move away from itdon’t escape from it live with it look at itput your energy in your looking.Then you will see that fear begins to dissolvebecause you have done nothing about ityou have just observed you have given your attention to it.That very attention is like bringing light on fear.Attention means giving all your energy in that observation.Is this clear somewhat?Sir unfortunately we have only two talksI wish there were more talks.If you begin to ask questions we will become something different.But I hope you don’t mind if I go on.May I?So observation without analysis impliesgiving your total attention to a problem.The problem which is relationship the problem which is fearand also we have to go into the problem of pleasure.May I ask what time it is?Beg your pardon?Quarter past twelve.We have talked for an hour.Do you want to continue another half an hour?Can you bear it?It’s up to you not to me sirs.Also – sir would you mind not taking photographs.Please this is very serious all this.This is not something you play with for a day and drop it.It concerns our lives our whole existence.And if you are at all serious we must give our attention to all this.Why is it that man has pursued pleasure?Please ask yourself why.Is pleasure opposite to pain?Please go into it a little bit.We have all had pain of different kindsboth physical and psychological.Psychologically most of us from childhood have been wounded hurtthat is pain.And the consequence of that pain has been to withdrawisolate oneself not to be further hurt.We are hurt from childhood through schoolby comparing ourselves with somebody else who is more clever.We have hurt ourselves and others have hurt usthrough various forms of scoldings hurtingsaying something brutal terrorising us.And there is this deep hurt with all its consequenceswhich is isolation resistance more and more withdrawing.And the opposite of that we think is pleasure.Pain and the opposite of it is pleasure.Is that so?So we have to examine closely if you have the energyif you have the time if you want tois goodness opposite of that which is not good?If goodness is the oppositethen that goodness contains its own opposite – right?Therefore it is not good.Goodness is something totally separate from that which it is not.So is pleasure – please just listen to this if you don’t mindone is asking this most respectfully -is pleasure something opposite of pain?Or it is a contrast and we are always pursuing the contrastthe opposite.So one is asking is pleasure separate entirelylike goodness – which is not pleasurable? You understand?Or is pleasure tainted by pain?So when you look closely at pleasure it is always remembrance isn’t it?One never says when one is happy‘How happy I am’ it is always afterthe remembrance of that thing which gave you pleasureand the remembrance of that pleasure.Like a sunset when you look at the glory of the eveningfull of that extraordinary lightthere is great pleasure great delight.Then that is remembered then pleasure is born.So pleasure is part of thought too. It is so obvious.So the next problem is- it is very complex like all human problems -is it possible to end all sorrow?Because where there is sorrow there is no love.Where there is sorrow obviously there cannot be intelligence.We will go into that word which is a very complex wordintelligence.You know the understanding of relationshipfear pleasure and sorrow is to bring order in our house.Without order you cannot possibly meditate.You understand that word?Unfortunately that word has been brought to the Westby the Eastern people.Now the speaker puts meditation at the end of the talksbecause there is no possibility of right meditationif you have not put your house psychological house in order.If the house is in disorder psychological house what you areif that house is not in order what is the point of meditating?It is just an escape. It leads to all kinds of illusions.And you may sit cross leggedor stand on your head for the rest of your lifebut that is not meditation.Meditation must begin with bringing about complete order in your house:that is order in your relationship order in one’s desirespleasure and so on.And also one of our causes of disorder in our life is sorrow.This is a common factor common reality in all human beings.Everyone goes through this tragedy of sorrowhere or in the Asiatic world or in the Western world.Again this is a common thing we all share.There is not only so-called personal sorrowbut there is the sorrow of mankindsorrow which wars have brought aboutfive thousand years of historical recordevery year there has been a war killing each otherviolence terror brutality maiming people people have no hands eyesall the horrors and the brutality of warwhich has brought incalculable misery to mankind.It is not only one’s own sorrow but the sorrow of mankindthe sorrow when you see a man who has nothing whatsoeverjust a piece of clothand for the rest of one’s life he is going to be that way.Not in these Western countries but in the Asiatic world it is like that.And when you see that person there is sorrow.There is also sorrow when people are caught in illusion;like going from one guru to another which is escaping from yourself.That is a sorrow to observe this.The clever people going off to the East.Writing books about it praising some guruand we all fall for that nonsense.That is also sorrow.Sorrow that comes when you seewhat the politicians are doing in the world.Thinking in terms of tribalism that is also sorrow.So there is personal sorrow and the vast cloud of sorrow of mankind.Sorrow is not something romantic sentimentalillogical it is there.My son dies and it has shattered one’s life.And we have lived with this sorrow from time measureless.And apparently one has not resolved this problem.When one suffers one seeks consolationwhich is an escape from the fact of sorrow.When there is that grief you try every form of amusementescape but it is always there.And apparently humanity has not resolved it.And we are asking the questionwhether it is possible to be free of it completely?Not avoiding it not seeking consolationnot escaping into some fanciful theory but to live with it.Just let’s understand what we mean by that word to ‘live with it’:not to let it become a habit like most people do;they live with nationalities which is most destructivethey live with their own separate religious conclusionsthey live with their own fanciful ideas and idealsand that again brings their own conflict.So to live with something to live with sorrownot accept it not become habituated to itthat is to look at it to observe it without any escapewithout any question of trying to go beyond itjust to hold it in your hand and look.Which is sorrow is also part of this tremendous sense of lonelinessyou may have many friends you may be marriedyou may have all kinds of thingsbut inwardly there is this feeling of complete loneliness.And that is part of sorrow.To observe that loneliness without any directionwithout trying to go beyond itwithout

J. Krishnamurti – Thought and time are the root of fear – Notes

Please note that this video titled J. Krishnamurti – Thought and time are the root of fear is from J Krishnamurti’s Youtube channel. More information about J Krishnamurti is available on his website at www.jkrishnamurti.org. The transcriptions on this page are automated transcriptions. In case you find any errors please leave a comment below. If you would like to watch this video on the Youtube channel of Jiddu Krishnamurti then please search for J. Krishnamurti – Thought and time are the root of fear on Youtube