The roots of conflict.

April 15, 2003 11:03 AM

Krishnamurti discussing war, belief, and the desire for security in response to the question "How can we solve our present political chaos and the crisis in the world?" "As long as each one of us is seeking psychological security, the physiological security we need - food, clothing and shelter - is destroyed. We are seeking psychological security, which does not exist; and we seek it, if we can, through power, through position, through titles, names - all of which is destroying physical security. This is an obvious fact, if you look at it."
posted by bathtime (5 comments total)

On a semi-related note, my great-uncle Nathan was a follower of Krishnamurti for quite a while and went to India to meet him. My grandmother tagged along. She was a bit disappointed, however, when she saw that the donations they had been sending apparently went to buy Mr. Krishnamurti a pair of Gucci Loafers. This ended most of my family's dalliance with Krishnamurti. My cousin even wrote a book that talks about it.
posted by charlesv at 11:28 AM on April 15, 2003

Did they bother to ask Krishnamurti if he had used the money to buy the loafers? How did they know the loafers were not a gift from someone?

Come on, we're talking loafers! As many Italians know, it's better to buy nice clothes that last rather than cheap clothes that fall apart.

Anyway, this quote summed it up for me:
"Obviously what causes war is the desire for power, position, prestige, money; also the disease called nationalism, the worship of a flag; and the disease of organized religion, the worship of a dogma. All these are the causes of war; if you as an individual belong to any of the organized religions, if you are greedy for power, if you are envious, you are bound to produce a society which will result in destruction."
posted by strangeleftydoublethink at 12:18 PM on April 15, 2003

I look at the 2 comments posted to this thread and I note that wisdom is not sexy. Certainly not compared to Blockbuster late fees. I suppose if wisdom were sexy, it wouldn't be wisdom.

*watches the breath*
posted by divrsional at 8:56 PM on April 15, 2003

Truth is a pathless land: “You may remember the story of how the devil and a friend of his were walking down the street, when they saw ahead of them a man stoop down and pick up something from the ground, look at it, and put it away in his pocket. The friend said to the devil, “What did that man pick up?” “He picked up a piece of Truth,” said the devil. “That is a very bad business for you, then,” said his friend. “Oh, not at all,” the devil replied, “I am going to help him organize it". I own eight or so of his books and get a lot out of them...his stuff is different, very straightforward and unsugarcoated. He's been mentioned here before but I'm not sure a lot of MeFites have heard of him.
posted by Mack Twain at 11:34 PM on April 15, 2003

So lemme get this straight, this is basically a religious guy whose dogma is that religious dogma is bad.

Oooookay.
posted by Foosnark at 9:49 AM on April 16, 2003