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Jiddu Krishnamurti on living a
Spiritual Life
Question: Is it possible for the ordinary individual
to lead a spiritual life without having a set of beliefs or taking part
in ceremonies and ritual?
Jiddu Krishnamurti : I wonder what we mean by a spiritual life? Do you
become spiritual by performing ceremonies and rituals, having
innumerable beliefs, or by having principles according to which you are
trying to live? Does that make you spiritual? Ceremonies and rituals
sometimes, perhaps at the beginning, give a certain sensation, so-called
uplift. But they are repetitious, and every sensation that is repeated
soon wearies of itself.
The mind likes to establish itself in a routine, in a
habit; and rituals, ceremonies, provide this and give to the mind an
opportunity to separate itself, to feel itself superior, to feel that it
knows more, and to enjoy the sensations of repetitious pleasures. Surely
there is nothing spiritual about rituals and ceremonies; they only
divide man against man. Since they are repetitious, they do not free the
mind from its own self-projected sensations. On the contrary, for a
spiritual life - a free life, a free mind, a mind that is not burdened
by the ego, the 'me' - it is essential to see the falsity of ceremonies.
To find reality or God or what you will, there must be no ceremonies, no
rituals round which the mind can wrap itself and feel itself different,
enjoying the sensations of oft-repeated action.
And a mind burdened with belief - is such a mind capable of perception,
of understanding? Surely, a mind burdened with belief is an enclosed
mind - no matter what belief it is, whether it is in nationalism, or any
particular principle, or the belief in its own knowledge. A mind that is
burdened with beliefs, either of the past or of the future, is surely
not a free mind. A mind crippled with belief is incapable of
investigation, of discovery, of looking within itself. But the mind
likes beliefs because belief gives to it a certain security, makes it
feel strong, energetic, aloof, separative.
We know all this as an everyday fact. And yet we continue in our beliefs
- that you are a Christian and I am a Hindu - I with my set of
idiosyncrasies, traditions, and experience handed down from the past,
and you with yours. Obviously, belief does not bring us together. Only
when there is no belief, only when we have understood the whole process
of belief - then perhaps we can come together. The mind desires
constantly to be secure, to be in a state of knowledge, to know; and
belief offers a very convenient security. Belief in something, belief in
a certain economic system for which one is willing to sacrifice oneself
and others - in that the mind takes shelter; it is certain there. Or,
belief in God, in a certain spiritual system; there again the mind feels
secure, certain.
Belief, after all, is a word. The mind lives on words; it has its being
in words, and there it takes shelter and finds certainty. And a mind
that is sheltered, secure, certain, is surely incapable of understanding
anything new, or receiving that which is not measurable. So belief acts
as a barrier, not only between man and man, but also, surely, as a
block, as a hindrance, to something that is creative, that is new. But
to be in a state of uncertainty, of not knowing, of not acquiring, is
extremely difficult, is it not - perhaps not difficult, but it requires
a certain earnestness, without any distraction, inward or outward. But
unfortunately most of us inwardly want to be distracted, and beliefs,
ceremonies, rituals offer good, respectable distractions.
So, what is important in this question is, is it not, to free the mind
from its own self-created habits, from its own self-projected
experiences, from its own knowledge - which is, from the entity which is
gathering, accumulating. That is the real problem - to be free inwardly,
to be in that state when the mind is no longer inviting or accumulating
experience. That is extremely arduous. And it is for everyone, not for
the few, to free themselves from the process of time, which is the
process of accumulation, gathering in, the desire for the 'more'.
This is only possible when we understand the ways of
the mind, how it is constantly seeking security, permanency, either in
beliefs, in rituals, in ceremonies, or in knowledge. All these are
distractions, and a mind that is distracted is incapable of quietness.
To go into this problem very deeply, one has to be aware inwardly, both
at the conscious and at the unconscious level, of those attractions and
distractions that the mind has cultivated - to observe them, and not try
to transform them into something else but merely observe. Then begins
the freedom in which the mind is no longer acquiring, accumulating.
Source - Jiddu Krishnamurti Talk April 8, 1952
Related Jiddu Krishnamurti Talks:
Jiddu Krishnamurti on Prayer,
Concentration and Meditation
How can one be
aware of an emotion without naming or Labelling it
Meditation is not a means to
an end. It is both the means and the end
In spite of
your talks about following, you are aware that you are being continually
followed by us
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