Theos-Talk Archives (February 1997 Message tl00150)

Hi

Many times the question arises as to how a single human being can affect the
world. Here is an excerpt from a talk almost over 50 years ago.

..MKR

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STONE MAY ALTER THE COURSE OF A RIVER


Question:

I had a son who was killed in this war.  He did not want to die.  He wanted
to live and prevent this horror being repeated.  Was it my fault that he as
killed?

Krishnamurti:

It is the fault of every one of us that this present horror is going on.  It
is the outward result of our everyday inner life of greed, ill will, and
lust, of competition, acquisitiveness, and specialized religion.  It is the
fault of everyone who, indulging in these, has created this terrible
calamity. because we are nationalistic, singularistic, passionate, each one
of us is contributing to this mass murder.  You have been taught how to kill
and how to die, but not how to live.  If you wholeheartedly abhorred killing
and violence in any form, then you would find ways and means to live
peacefully and creatively.  If that were your chief and primary interest,
then you would search out very cause, every instinct that makes for
violence, for hatred, for mass murder. Are you so wholeheartedly interested
in stopping war?  If you are then you must eradicate in yourself the causes
of violence and killing for any reason whatsoever.  If you wish to stop
wars, then there must take place a deep, inner revolution of tolerance and
compassion; then thought-feeling must free self from patriotism, from its
identification with any group, from greed and those causes that breed enmity.

A mother told me that to give up these things would not only be extremely
difficult but also would mean great loneliness and utter isolation which she
could not face.  So was she not responsible for untold misery?  You might
agree with her, and so by your laziness, thoughtlessness, add fuel to the
ever-increasing flames of war.  If, on the contrary, you attempted seriously
to eradicate the causes of enmity and violence in yourself, there would be
peace and joy in our heart which would have immediate effect about you.

We must reeducate ourselves not to murder, not to liquidate each other for
any cause, however righteous it may appear to be for the future happiness of
mankind or for an ideology however promising; not merely be educated
technically which inevitably makes for ruthlessness, but to be content with
little, to be compassionate and to seek the supreme.

The prevention of this ever-increasing destruction and horror depends on
each one of us, not on any organization or planning, not on any ideology,
not on the inventions of greater instruments of destruction, not on any
leader, but on each one of us.  Do not think that wars cannot be stopped by
so humble and lowly a beginning - a stone may alter the course of a river-
to go far you must begin near.  To understand the world chaos and misery,
you must comprehend your own confusion and sorrow, for out of these come the
magnified issues of the world.  To understand yourself there must be
constant meditative awareness which will bring to the surface the causes of
violence and hate, greed and ambition, and by studying them without
identification, thought will transcend them.  For no one can lead you to
peace save yourself; there is no leader, no system that can bring war,
exploitation, oppression to an end save yourself.  Only by your
thoughtfulness, by your compassion, by your awakened understanding, can
there be established goodwill and peace.

July 16, 1944 - Ojai, Califomia





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