#Question: You are preaching the idea of one world, of a classless society, which is the basis of Communism. But what are your sanctions, what is your technique for the new revolution?
#Krishnamurti: Now, what do you mean by sanctions? You mean, what is my authority, don't you? Who has given me authority to speak? Or, what is my label? In other words, you are interested are you not? - in the label, in the name, to find out who has given me authority, the sanction. Which means that you are more interested in knowing my label than in finding out what truth there is in what I am saying. Aren't you? Are you listening Sirs, or paying attention to something else? Sir, this is rather an important question, and we will go into it fairly thoroughly, shall we?
Most of us appreciate a thing, or follow a thing, because it has been sanction by authority. So-and-so has painted a picture, therefore it must be beautiful picture. So-and-so has write a poem, and he is well-known, therefore that poem must be good. He has a large following, therefore what he says must be true. In other words, your sanction depends on popularity, on success, on the richness of language, on outward show, Doesn't it? So, when you ask me what my sanction is, you want to know if I am the World Teacher. And I say, don't let us be stupid. Whether I am or I am not, is irrelevant; it is utterly unimportant what my sanction is. But what is, is fundamentally important is to examine what I am saying, to find out for your self without the comfort of authority. That is why I am against organization; that is one of the reasons; because organizations, spiritually, create a back ground of authority; but a man who is seeking truth is not concerned with authority, neither of a book, the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible nor of a person. He is seeking truth, not the authority of a per son. So, as long as you are looking at the label to find out if that label is worth worshipping, listening to, I am afraid that you and I are wasting our time. Because, I have no authority, I have no sanction. I am saying something which to me is true by direct experience, not through reading some books and following somebody. Because, I have not read any of the so-called psychological, religious books; and as it is my direct experience, if you wish to look at it, you are perfectly welcome; but if you look around the corner for the label, you won't find it; and I'm afraid most of us are doing that. That is why this question is asked, "What is your sanction?" Since I have no sanction, since I have no authority, I am not acting as a guru, or as an authority for you or for any other person. So, if you are interested, you will listen to what I am saying directly and find out the truth of what is being said; which means you must strip your mind of all authority and be capable of looking at things directly and simply.
Now, the questioner wants to know also, what is the new technique that I propose. Now, Sir, let us again understand that word technique. Is revolution a matter of technique? A political revolution, a sociological revolution, may need a certain technique, because you can pursue a certain ideology to produce a certain result; and to produce that result, you must know that ideology and the way to work out that ideology whether the communistic ideology, or the fascist, or the capitalist, you must learn a technique to produce a result; but is that the fundamental revolution? Will a technique produce the true revolution? There must be a radical, fundamental revolution sociologically. The whole thing has to be transformed. Now, will a technique transform it, technique being a method, a way? Or, must there be individuals, you and I, who understand the problem, and who in themselves are in a state of revolution? Therefore their action upon society is revolutionary, they are not merely learning a technique of revolution, they themselves are in revolution. Am I making myself clear?
So when you ask what is my method, or technique of revolution, I say let us look first at what you mean by that word technique. Is it not more important, more essential, that you be revolutionary, and not merely try to find a technique of revolution? Now, why aren't you revolutionary? Why isn't there the new process of life in you? A new way of looking at life, a flame, a tremendous discontent? Why? Because, a person that is completely discontented, not merely discontented with certain things, but inherently discontented, need have no technique to be revolutionary. He is a revolution, and he is a danger to society, and such a man you call revolutionary. Now, why aren't you such a person? And for me, what is important is not the technique, but to make you be revolutionary, to help you to awaken to the importance of complete transformation. And when you are transformed, then you will be able to act, then there is the constant flow of newness, which is, after all, revolution.
Therefore, to me, the importance of inward revolution, of psychological transformation, is far greater than the outward revolution. The outward revolution is merely change, which is modified continuity; but inward revolution has no resting place, there is no stopping, it is constantly renewing itself. And that is what we need at the present time: a people who are completely discontented, and therefore ready to perceive the truth of things. A man who is complacent, a man who is satisfied with money, with position, with an idea, can never see truth. It is only the man who is discontented, who is investigating, who is asking, questioning, looking, that discovers truth, and such a person is a revolution in himself and therefore in his relationships. Therefore that which is his world - which is his relationship with people - he begins to transform. Then he affects the world within his own relationship. So, merely to look for a technique, or to inquire what is my technique for the new revolution, seems to me beside the point - or rather, that you miss the importance of being revolutionary in yourself; and to be a revolution in yourself, you must awaken to the environment, to that in which you live.
Sirs, any new culture, any new society, must begin with you. How did Christianity, Buddhism, or any other vital thing begin? With a few who really were aflame with the idea, with that feeling. They had their hearts open to a new life. They were a nucleus, not believing in something, but in themselves they had the experience of reality - reality of what they saw. And what you and I have to do, if I may suggest, is to see things for ourselves directly, not through a technique. Sir, you may read a love poem; you may read what love is, but if you have not experienced what love is, no amount of your reading, or learning the technique, will give you the perfume of love. And because we have not that love, we are looking for the technique. We are jaded we are famished, so we are superficially looking for a technique. A hungry man doesn't look for technique. He just goes after food, he doesn't stand outside the restaurant and smell the food. So when you ask for a technique it indicates that you are really not hungry. The `how' is not important, but why you ask the `how' is important.
So, there can be a revolution, the inward, continuous renewal, only when you understand yourself. You understand yourself in relationship, not in isolation. As nothing can live in isolation, to understand yourself, to have that knowledge of yourself at whatever level, can only be learnt in relationship. And as relationship is painful, is constantly in motion, we want to escape from it and find a reality outside of relationship. There is no reality outside of relationship. When I understand relationship, then that very understanding is reality. Therefore, one has to be extraordinarily alert, awake all the time watching, open to every challenge and to every suggestion and hint. But that demands a certain alertness of mind and heart; but most of us are asleep, most of us are frustrated, most of us have one foot in the grave, though we are young. Because we think in terms of achievement, we think in terms of gain, therefore we are never living; we are always concerned with the end; we are end-seekers, not people with life. Therefore, we are never revolutionary. If you are concerned directly with life, with living, and not with the idea about living, then you cannot help but be a revolution in yourself; you would be a revolution, because you are meeting life directly, not through the screen of words, prejudices, intentions and ends. And the man who meets life directly is a man who is in a state of discontent; and you must be in a state of discontent to find reality. And it is reality that releases, that frees; it is reality that frees the mind from its illusions and its creations. But to find reality, to be open to reality, is to be discontented. You cannot seek reality, it must come to you; but it can only come to you when the mind is completely discontented and ready. But most of us are afraid to be discontented because God knows where that discontent will lead us to. Therefore our discontent is hedged about with security, with safety, with carefully planned out action. And such a state of mind cannot understand truth. Truth is not static, for truth is timeless and the mind cannot follow truth, because the mind is the product of time; and that which is of time cannot experience that which is timeless. Truth comes to him who is in that state of discontent, but who does not seek an end; for the seeker of an end is the person who is seeking gratification; and gratification, satisfaction, is not truth.
January 16, 1949
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