Krishnamurti: On Self-knowledge

We are sufficiently content with things either produced by the machine, by the hand, or by the mind, by thought, by belief. The things made by the hand or by the mind are both sensate. The things made by the hand soon wear out and so do things produced by the mind. The evaluations of the mind are soon established, fixed in a framework of references, but this standardization cannot be permanent. So, there is constant strife between the search for permanency and the things that soon wear out and pass away. The things produced by the hand are misused by the mind. Food, clothing, and shelter are given wrong values by the mind. It is the false psychological valuations of things made by the mind that breed conflict and misery. So, in the misuse lies our misery. So, the mind with its will and its capacity for valuation, which is the intellect, must be understood. As long as will, which is the expression of desire, and the capacity for evaluation, which is the outcome of craving, are not clearly and wholly understood and their subtlety and significance are not perceived, there will be conflict and misery. This understanding of the ways of desire with its will and evaluation, with its choice and justification, with its identification and denial, is self-knowledge. Self-knowledge makes straight that which is crooked. Self-knowledge makes straight that which is corrupt. So long as there is no self-knowledge but the process of the mind, there must be the wrong valuation which inevitably breeds confusion and antagonism. Self-knowledge is the beginning of wisdom, and without understanding there is no happiness. Thus, the awareness of what-is – however complex a problem may appear – without distorting it, is the dissolution of the problem. To see the problem deeply and swiftly is not possible without self-knowledge. Without meditation there can be no self-knowledge. Meditation is a process of perceiving the truth of every thought, feeling and, so, action. Meditation is not the exclusion of all thoughts and the fixation on a particular object, image, or idea. It is a constant awareness of every thought and feeling as it arises without choice, condemnation, or justification. It is the perception of truth in the problem that frees thought from the problem. With the unfolding of self-knowledge, the sorrow that comes with wrong valuations of things, of people, and of ideas, fades away. This knowledge is not of the higher or lower self, which is still within the field of the mind, which is the false and selfprotected division without any reality. This knowledge is the total process of one’s own being. So, as long as there is no self-knowledge, the multiplication and reformation of our problems will continue. For this reason only, the individual becomes greatly significant. He alone can transform himself. He alone can bring about revolution in his relationship, the necessary regeneration in the world of his relationship. This transformation can only come about through the knowledge of the self; it cannot come about through book knowledge, through inference, through another, however great. This knowledge is not in antagonism to the world about us. It is not a process of self-isolation. Man cannot be without relationship. The understanding of this relationship to things, to people, and to ideas will alone bring happiness. Happiness comes not with evaluation, not with choice; it comes when the chooser, the actor, the mind is not occupied with himself. When the mind is silent, truth and bliss come into being. Such a man is blessed.

J. Krishnamurti, Bombay, 28 March 1948
KFI Bulletin, July-October 2005, pp. 22–24,
© 2005 by Krishnamurti Foundation of America