Thursday, March 24, 2011

Jiddu Krishnamurti

Jiddu Krishnamurti
This morning, a friend of mine inadvertently tipped-me-off to an Eastern philosopher, Jiddu Krishnamurti.  I had encountered his theosophical writings when I was in bible college in 1996.  In particular, I was launched into many years of socio-cultural reflection by this one quote: "It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society."

Having been reminded of this sage this morning, I sifted through some other material I could find on the net, and came across this quote.  I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to comment on it.
"Truth is a pathless land." Man cannot come to it through any organization, through any creed, through any dogma, priest or ritual, nor through any philosophical knowledge or psychological technique. He has to find it through the mirror of relationship, through the understanding of the contents of his own mind, through observation, and not through intellectual analysis or introspective dissection. Man has built in himself images as a sense of security – religious, political, personal. These manifest as symbols, ideas, beliefs. The burden of these dominates man's thinking, relationships and his daily life. These are the causes of our problems for they divide man from man in every relationship.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow ... I really enjoyed this man's quote. I was, first, thinking of a conversation I had recently with someone who has no problem witnessing violence as it is presented in a fictional format. The conversation made me wonder if there was something "wrong" with me as I abhor violence in any format. That is where the first quote caught my attention, here, about not measuring our health against a society that is sick.
I started reading the second quote, the one featured here, and was thinking, "Relationship!" when he mentioned that. Truth is revealed in our relationships. I would go further to say it is formed in those relationships.
I do not believe relationship is limited to our relationships with people. We relate to everything around us in some way, some unseen but vital to our existence.
This is a fascinating topic.
I am reminded of Jesus' words when He says that we will know the truth and the truth will set us free. As we discover our worth, it frees us in so many ways ...
J

Hendrik van der Breggen said...

Hi Kane,

Re: "It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society." This is good and true—and important.

Re: "Truth is a pathless land," etc. I think Jiddu Krishnamurti is incurring some self-referential incoherence here. By asserting his points after the claim that "truth is a pathless land," Krishnamurti is finding/ discerning a path in the land of truth. After denying all creeds concerning attainment of truth, the author sets out a creed concerning the attainment of truth. After denying all philosophical knowledge as a source of truth, the author sets out some philosophical knowledge as a source of truth. Again, I think there's some self-referential incoherence happening here. Having said this, I quickly add that I agree that relationships, understanding, and observation are deeply important: they allow us to discern whether an organization, creed, dogma, or priest—or sage—is truthful and logically sensible.

Best regards,
Hendrik