| J. Krishnamurti from the book: BEYOND VIOLENCE Questioner: Is it possible for continuous harmony to exist in this life ?. KRISHNAMURTI: Continuous harmony in this life is a contradiction, is it not ? The idea that it must be continuous prevents the discovery of anything new. Only in ending is there a new beginning. So the desire to have continuous harmony is a contradiction. You are harmonious - full stop. We are slaves to the word �to be� . If anything which you call harmony has continuity, it is disharmony. Therefore, sir, do not wish for anything continuous. You want your relationship with your wife to be continuous, happy, lovely - all the romantic things. And it never happens. Love is not something that is of time. So do not let us be greedy. Harmony is not a thing that can continue. If it continues it becomes mechanical. But a mind that is harmonious �is� - not �will be� or �has been�. A mind that is harmonious - again, �is� the wrong word - a mind that is aware that it is harmonious does not ask the question, �Will I have it tomorrow ?"? Questioner: What is the ultimate reason or purpose of human existence ? KRISHNAMURTI: Do you know any purposes ? The way we live has no meaning and no purpose. We can invent a purpose, the purpose of perfection, enlightenment, reaching the highest form of sensitivity; we can invent endless theories. And we are caught in those theories, making them our problems. Our daily life has no meaning, no purpose, except to make a bit of money and lead an idiotic kind of life. One can observe all this, not in theory but actually in oneself; the endless battle in oneself, seeking a purpose, seeking enlightenment, going all over the world - specially to India or to Japan - to learn a technique of meditation. You can invent a thousand purposes, but you need not go anywhere, not to the Himalayas, to a monastry, or to any Ashram - which is another form of concentration camp - because everything is in you. The highest, the immeasurable, is in you, if you know how to look. Do not asssume it is there - that is one of the stupid tricks we play upon ourselves, that we are God. that we are the perfect and all the rest of that childish stuff. Yet through the illusion, through "what is", through the measurable, you find something that is immeasurable; but you must begin with yourself, where you can discover for yourself how to look. That is: to look without the observer. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- J. Krishnamurti from the book BEYOND VIOLENCE Chapter - THE RELIGIOUS MIND "The religious mind is a light to itself. It's light is not lit by another - the candle that is lit by another can be put out very quickly" When you observe a cloud look at it without the word and therefore without thought, look at it without the division as the observer. Then there is an awareness and attention in the very act of looking; not the determination to be attentive, but looking with attention, even though that look may only last a second, a minute - that is enough. Do not be greedy, do not say, "I must have it for the whole day". To look without the observer means looking without the space between the observer and the thing observed - which does not mean identifying oneself with the thing that is looked at. to be cont'd |