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Word Gems self-knowledge, authentic living, full humanity, continual awakening
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Public Talk 7, Bombay - 01 Mar 1953 excerpts Creativeness is a state of aloneness. When the mind is not completely alone there is no creativeness. It is only when the mind is capable of shedding all influences, all interferences, of being completely alone, without dependence, without a companion, without any moulding influence and judgment, that in that state of aloneness there is creativeness... In the world, more and more technique is being developed - the technique of how to influence people through propaganda, through compulsion, through imitation, through examples, through idolatry, through the worship of the hero. There are innumerable books written on how to do a thing, how to think efficiently, how to build a house, how to put machinery together; so gradually we are losing initiative, the initiative to think out something original for ourselves. In our education, in our relationship with Government, through various means we are being influenced to conform, to imitate. And when we allow one influence to persuade us to a particular attitude or action, naturally we create resistance to other influences. In that very process of creating a resistance to another influence, are we not succumbing to it, negatively? Are we not the result of innumerable influences? Is not our mind, our structure, our being, a network of influences - economic, climatic, social, cultural, religious? It is a mind that is put together, and with such a mind we want to find out what we want to create. But such a mind can only imitate; it can only put other things together; that is why the world is developing more and more technologically. A man who is technologically trained can never be a creative human being. He may produce a marvellous house, put an aeroplane together; but he is not a creative entity. Because his mind is put together, his mind is not a whole mind, it is not an integrated mind. How can there be an integrated mind when we are segments of various forms of influences? Our mind is the result of these influences; our mind is conditioned by all these influences, as a Hindu, as a Mussulman, as a Christian. And being conditioned, being subjected to various kinds of influences, we say, `I will choose a particular influence, a guru, the good, the noble; and I will cultivate through various practices, various methods, that nobility.' But our mind is still a mind influenced, controlled, shaped, pursuing a deliberate end; and such a mind can never be in revolt, can it? Because the moment such a mind is in revolt, it is in a state of chaos. So a mediocre mind can never be in revolt, it can only move from one conditioned state to another, from one influence to another. Should not the mind always be in revolt so as to understand the influences that are always impinging, interfering, controlling, shaping? Is it not one of the factors of the mediocre mind that it is always fearful and, being in a state of confusion it wants order, it wants consistency, it wants a form, a shape by which it can be guided, controlled; and yet these forms, these various influences create contradictions in the individual, create confusion in the individual. You are conditioned as a Hindu or a Mussulman; and there is another who is conditioned in being noble, or who is conditioned by certain ideas, economic or religious. Any choice between influences is surely still a state of mediocrity. A mind that chooses between two influences and lives according to that particular influence is still a mediocre mind, is it not? Because, it is never in a state of revolt, and revolt [from one's conditioning] is essential to find out anything. When the mind is never alone, can it be creative? When you examine your mind, you will find how fearful it is of going wrong, of making a mistake. The mind is constantly seeking security, certainty, safety in a particular consistent pattern of thought; and can such a mind which is never alone, be creative? By alone, I do not mean that loneliness in which there is despair; I mean that aloneness in which there is no dependence of any kind on anything on tradition, on a custom, on a companion.
************************* Compare this item from the 'marriage' page:
Editor’s note: Does a woman who desires to be with a man represent the conformity, the dependence, the security-seeking fearful mind of which K speaks? It’s possible, but not necessarily - we find people selling themselves to co-dependency everywhere in society; and I think it's worse among the males because Woman is often psychologically more sturdily put together than her Neanderthal friend. However, if she does this the right way, acting from her sacred center, then her pledge to follow becomes an act of realizing destiny, fulfilling a cosmic role, unlocking the highest heights of creativity. ****************************
And must not the mind be in such a state in which there is no fear of any kind? Because, the moment I depend, there is the birth of fear; and all initiative, all originality - not eccentricity but the capacity to think out - is lost. Must not the mind have the capacity to fathom - not to imitate, not to be shaped - and to be without fear? Should not such a mind be alone and therefore creative? That creativeness is not yours or mine, it is anonymous.
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