While you are all at it,check for Robert Anton Wilson regarding worshipping the model,artistic"experts",objectivity,general semantics,and awareness of one's surroundings.
jgibson, I am just talking about receiving different perspectives of philosophy.
ttt for lllaaattteeerrr
The video "Problems of Living," available at the kfa.org bookstore (under the documentary heading), would serve as a pretty good introduction in my judgement (it's about thirty minutes long).
As for books, I agree that Think on These Things is a good one. A lengthier book with several dialogues is The Awakening of Intelligence.
Personally, I would think one or two books would suffice to get the main points if you read them carefully. Here is something I think you might find interesting (from kfa.org).
"The following statement was written by
Krishnamurti on October 21, 1980.
“The core of Krishnamurti’s teaching is contained in the statement he made in 1929 when he said: ‘Truth is a pathless land’. Man cannot come to it through any organization, through any creed, through any dogma, priest or ritual, not through any philosophic 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 fence of security – religious, political, personal. These manifest as symbols, ideas, beliefs. The burden of these images dominates man’s thinking, his relationships, and his daily life. These images are the causes of our problems for they divide man from man. His perception of life is shaped by the concepts already established in his mind. The content of his consciousness is his entire existence. This content is common to all humanity. The individuality is the name, the form and superficial culture he acquires from tradition and environment. The uniqueness of man does not lie in the superficial but in complete freedom from the content of his consciousness, which is common to all mankind. So he is not an individual.
“Freedom is not a reaction; freedom is not a choice. It is man’s pretense that because he has choice he is free. Freedom is pure observation without direction, without fear of punishment and reward. Freedom is without motive; freedom is not at the end of the evolution of man but lies in the first step of his existence. In observation one begins to discover the lack of freedom. Freedom is found in the choiceless awareness of our daily existence and activity.
“Thought is time. Thought is born of experience and knowledge, which are inseparable from time and the past. Time is the psychological enemy of man. Our action is based on knowledge and therefore time, so man is always a slave to the past. Thought is ever-limited and so we live in constant conflict and struggle. There is no psychological evolution.
“When man becomes aware of the movement of his own thoughts, he will see the division between the thinker and thought, the observer and the observed, the experiencer and the experience. He will discover that this division is an illusion. Then only is there pure observation which is insight without any shadow of the past or of time. This timeless insight brings about a deep, radical mutation in the mind.
“Total negation is the essence of the positive. When there is negation of all those things that thought has brought about psychologically, only then is there love, which is compassion and intelligence."
After reading I'm immediatly hit with a number of personal thoughts and feelings. In the spirit of the thread I'll share. They are in the form or observations and further questions, perhaps someone can point me in the direction of further thoughts Krishnamurti had on my questions, or offer their own insights. It's all good with me.
"Thought is born of experience and knowledge, which are inseparable from time and the past. Time is the psychological enemy of man...."
Is this statement saying that Thought is the enemy?Since he says thought is inseperable from Time and the past?
What about time bringing about the reorganization of thought into realization(a timeless moment), which improves our relationship with the here and now?
Is "thought" being defined as that which references memory for the purpose of abstraction into dialog? (internal or external) Does "intent" constitute "thought"? Does body language constitute "thought"?
"Thought is ever-limited and so we live in constant conflict and struggle. There is no psychological evolution."
Is Krishnamurti saying that the minds interaction with memory constitutes a process that takes one out of the reality of the present into the images and illusions of memory and personal perspective?
Does the reconciliation of "past conflicts" constitute a "de-evolution" process in the human being? Getting in touch with the inner child?
"...timeless insight brings about a deep, radical mutation in the mind."
Does this contradict the previous statement of there "...not being any psychological 'evolution'..."?
Or is this saying rather that learning to live in harmony is a "de-evolution" from the tendancy to live in the "time mind" which replays and compares past events with present, regardless of whether these events are percieved as good or bad?
Highest Regards,
Dave Copeland
PS- What connection does Awareness itself have with producing thought? I.E. What is it that awareness is aware of? If it really only aware of Other thought, even if that means a 'universal thought', what role does that awareness of 'other' play in producing thoughts inside of us? Any thoughts? (lol) ;o)
Dave