The Link #27 - Editorial Note

This issue of The Link addresses a number of significant questions. Krishnamurti spoke a good deal about measure and the immeasurable, and we reproduce an article by David Bohm that probes into this important topic in connection with the respective cultural orientations of East and West. The theme of violence is discussed and interpretation, an everpresent concern around the teachings, comes in for an exploratory review. The On Education section reproduces a report on Rishi Valley’s School in a Box programme and an article on the dynamic relation between knowledge and dialogue in the educational context.

The challenges facing the so-called 'K world' are many. One of the main ones is whether the teachings offer an answer to the current world situation. People seem to prefer positive thinking when it comes to their happiness and wellbeing and may find K too negative in his approach. Others have said that K is too inward or psychological, that he doesn’t seem to give any concrete solutions to our pressing problems and is, therefore, too impractical or abstract. Still others postulate that he was too advanced or evolved for our time and that it might take a while for humanity to catch up with him. On careful reading, one is bound to find that the teachings meet the test of these criticisms. However, what such objections may be pointing to is the apparent difficulty in actualizing K’s stated observations of fact. The central domain of such observations concerns the psyche and, more specifically, the nature of thought, as it is here that K appears to place the key to the transformation of man: non-dualistic observation. From this we deduce that the inward integrity of the individual is the necessary link between the cosmic and collective or social dimensions. Such a holistic approach may be logically coherent but it would seem to be quite a challenge to confirm it experimentally. It is here that our capacity for creative learning is being put to the test.

The engagement with the teachings is so multifaceted that it is easy to get lost in the details. Our demand for certainty may also lead us at times to assert as absolutely true that which is only a working hypothesis. The fact that the truth of the teachings is not in the words but in direct perception may be a source of frustration as they offer no theoretical haven from the fast current of life. The vulnerability and uncertainty that true observation seems to entail challenge our ingrained demand for security. It seems that for K there was no security in the physical, relational or psychological domains; fear and attachment sustain our false securities and seeing their falseness is the security that intelligence provides. The awakening of such intelligence is one of the most urgent of tasks, for we have reached such a level of participatory existence that not only are we humanity but also the wholeness of this living planet now depends on us.