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Krishnamurti:
Would you like to discuss with you the problem of freedom. It
is a very complex problem, needing deep study and understanding. We
hear much talk about freedom, religious freedom, and the freedom to
do what one would like to do. Volumes have been written on all this
by scholars. But I think we can approach it very simply and directly,
and perhaps that will bring us to the real solution.
I wonder if you have ever stopped to observe the marvellous
glow in the west as the sun sets, with the shy young moon just over
the trees? Often at that hour the river is very calm, and then
everything is reflected on its surface: the bridge, the train that
goes over it, the tender moon, and presently, as it grows dark, the
stars. It is all very beautiful. And to observe, to watch, to give
your whole attention to something beautiful, your mind must be free
of preoccupations, must it not? It must not be occupied with
problems, with worries, with speculations. It is only when the mind
is very quiet that you can really observe, for then the mind is
sensitive to extraordinary beauty; and perhaps here is a clue to our
problem of freedom.
Now, what does it mean to be free? Is freedom a matter of doing
what happens to suit you, going where you like, thinking what you
will? This you do anyhow. Merely to have independence, does that mean
freedom? Many people in the world are independent, but very few are
free. Freedom implies great intelligence, does it not? To be free is
to be intelligent, but intelligence does not come into being by just
wishing to be free; it comes into being only when you begin to
understand your whole environment, the social, religious, parental
and traditional influences that are continually closing in on you.
But to understand the various influences - the influence of your
parents, of your government, of society, of the culture to which you
belong, of your beliefs, your gods and superstitions, of the
tradition to which you conform unthinkingly - to understand all these
and become free from them requires deep insight; but you generally
give in to them because inwardly you are frightened. You are afraid
of not having a good position in life; you are afraid of what your
priest will say; you are afraid of not following tradition, of not
doing the right thing. But freedom is really a state of mind in which
there is no fear or compulsion, no urge to be secure.
Don't most of us want to be safe? Don't we want to be told what
marvellous people we are, how lovely we look, or what extraordinary
intelligence we have? Otherwise we would not put letters after our
names. All that kind of thing gives us self-assurance, a sense of
importance. We all want to be famous people - and the moment we want
to be something, we are no longer free.
Please see this, for it is the real clue to the understanding
of the problem of freedom. Whether in this world of politicians,
power, position and authority, or in the so-called spiritual world
where you aspire to be virtuous, noble, saintly, the moment you want
to be somebody you are no longer free. But the man or the woman who
sees the absurdity of all these things and whose heart is therefore
innocent, and therefore not moved by the desire to be somebody - such
a person is free. If you understand the simplicity of it you will
also see its extraordinary beauty and depth.
After all, examinations are for that purpose: to give you a
position, to make you somebody. Titles, position and knowledge
encourage you to be something. Have you not noticed that your parents
and teachers tell you that you must amount to something in life, that
you must be successful like your uncle or your grandfather? Or you
try to imitate the example of some hero, to be like the Masters, the
saints; so you are never free. Whether you follow the example of a
Master, a saint, a teacher, a relative, or stick to a particular
tradition, it all implies a demand on your part to be something; and
it is only when you really understand this fact that there is freedom.
The function of education, then, is to help you from childhood
not to imitate anybody, but to be yourself all the time. And this is
a most difficult thing to do: whether you are ugly or beautiful,
whether you are envious or jealous, always to be what you are, but
understand it. To be yourself is very difficult, because you think
that what you are is ignoble, and that if you could only change what
you are into something noble it would be marvellous; but that never
happens. Whereas, if you look at what you actually are and understand
it, then in that very understanding there is a transformation. So
freedom lies, not in trying to become something different, nor in
doing whatever you happen to feel like doing, nor in following the
authority of tradition, of your parents, of your guru, but in
understanding what you are from moment to moment.
You see, you are not educated for this; your education
encourages you to become something or other - but that is not the
understanding of yourself. Your `self' is a very complex thing; it is
not merely the entity that goes to school, that quarrels, that plays
games, that is afraid, but it is also something hidden, not obvious.
It is made up, not only of all the thoughts that you think, but also
of all the things that have been put into your mind by other people,
by books, by the newspapers, by your leaders; and it is possible to
understand all that only when you don't want to be somebody, when you
don't imitate, when you don't follow - which means, really, when you
are in revolt against the whole tradition of trying to become
something. That is the only true revolution, leading to extraordinary
freedom. To cultivate this freedom is the real function of education.
Your parents, your teachers and your own desires want you to be
identified with something or other in order to be happy, secure. But
to be intelligent, must you not break through all the influences that
enslave and crush you?
The hope of a new world is in those of you who begin to see
what is false and revolt against it, not just verbally but actually.
And that is why you should seek the right kind of education; for it
is only when you grow in freedom that you can create a new world not
based on tradition or shaped according to the idiosyncrasy of some
philosopher or idealist. But there can be no freedom as long as you
are merely trying to become somebody, or imitate a noble example.
(TOTT, pp.12-15)
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Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.........
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