| "Most of us, in this very confused and rather brutal world, try to carve out a private life of our own, a life where we can be happy, somewhat peaceful and yet abide with the things of the world. We seem to think that our life, the daily life one leads, the life of struggle, conflict, pain and sorrow is something separate, away from the whole world of travail, misery, confusion. We seem to think the individual, the you, is different from the rest of the world, the world with all its atrocities, wars, the world of riots, the world of inequality and injustice, is something entirely different from our particular, individual life. When you look a little more closely, not only at your own life but also at the world then you will see what you are, your daily life, what you think, what you feel, is the external world, the world about you. The world about you is not different. You are the world. You are the human being that has made this worldâthe world so utterly in disorder, the world that is crying, in great sorrow, helpless. It is you, the human being have built this world. So that world outside you is not different from the world in which you live, your world, your private life. So this division between the individual and the society doesn't really exist at all. Though one tries to carve out a life of our own, in spite of that the individual is no different from the community in which he lives. For the individual, the human being, has put together the community, the society. So I think we ought to be very clear from the beginning that this division is artificial, is utterly unreal.
So, in bringing about a radical change in the human being, in you, in the individual, you are naturally bringing about a radical change in the structure and the nature of society. I think that must be very clearly understood, that the human mind with all its complexity, with all its intricate work is part of this world, of the external world. The 'you' is the world and in bringing about a fundamental revolution, if I may use that word without being misunderstood, in bringing about a fundamental revolution, not the communist, not the socialist, but a totally different kind of revolution, a revolution in the very structure and nature of the psyche, of yourself. Then it seems to me you will bring about a social revolution. It must begin not outwardly first but inwardly, because the outer is the result of our private, individual, inner life."
â J. Krishnamurti
Students Talk 1 San Juan, Puerto Rico - 10 September 1968 |
