The Core of the Teachings

Written by Krishnamurti in 1980 at the request of Mary Lutyens.

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 philosophical 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. 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 humanity. So he is not an individual.

Freedom is not a reaction; freedom is not choice. It is man’s pretence 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.

Copyright ©1980 Krishnamurti Foundation Trust Ltd.

Kernen i the Teachings

Skrevet af Krishnamurti i 1980 på opfordring af Mary Lutyens

Sandheden er et land uden stier. Man finder det ikke gennem nogen organisation, nogen tro, noget dogme, nogen præst eller noget ritual, og heller ikke gennem filosofisk viden eller psykologisk metode. Man finder det kun ved at se sig selv i det spejl forholdet til andre udgør, ved at forstå sit eget sinds indhold, ved at iagttage og ikke gennem intellektuel analyse eller minutiøs selvransagelse.

Man har, for at beskytte sig selv, dannet et hav af billeder – religiøse, politiske, personlige. De manifesterer sig som symboler, idéer, meninger. Disse billeder er en byrde og dominerer menneskets tænkning, dets relationer og daglige liv. Disse billeder er årsagen til vores problemer for de skiller menneske fra menneske. Vores opfattelse af livet formes af de begreber, der allerede er etableret i vores sind. Indholdet af menneskets bevidsthed er hele dets tilværelse. Individualiteten er det navn, den form og overfladiske kultur man får fra traditionen og miljøet. Det unikke ved mennesket ligger ikke i det overfladiske men i fuldkommen frihed fra indholdet i dets bevidsthed, som er fælles for hele menneskeheden. Så man er ikke et individ.

Frihed er ikke en reaktion. Frihed er ikke valg. Man foregiver at  fordi man har valg, er man fri. Frihed er ren iagttagelse, uden retning, uden frygt for straf eller belønning. Frihed er uden motiv. Frihed findes ikke for enden af menneskets udvikling, men ligger i dets eksistens første skridt. I iagttagelsen begynder man at opdage manglen på frihed. Frihed findes i den ikke-valgte opmærksomhed på vores daglige eksistens og aktivitet.

Tanke er tid. Tanken er et resultat af erfaring og viden, som er uløseligt forbundet med tid og fortid. Tiden er, i sin psykologiske form, menneskets fjende. Vores handlinger er baseret på viden og derfor tid, så mennesket er altid en slave af fortiden. Tanken er generelt begrænset, og derfor lever vi i konstant konflikt og kamp. Der er ingen psykologisk evolution. Når man bliver opmærksom på sin egen bevidstheds bevægelse, vil man se skellet mellem tænkeren og tanken, iagttageren og det iagttagne, den der oplever og oplevelsen. Man vil opdage, at dette skel er en illusion. Først da er der ren iagttagelse, som er indsigt uden en skygge af fortid eller af  tid. Denne tidløse indsigt skaber en dyb, radikal mutation i sindet.

Total negation er essensen i det positive. Når der er negation af alle de ting, som tanken har skabt psykologisk, først da er der kærlighed, som er medfølelse og intelligens.

Oversat juni 2022

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