The author says that the world is in great despair. There is so much conflict, violence, greed and envy. There is so much division in the world, based on race, religion, nationality, caste and so on. The world is sitting on the brink of a nuclear war that threatens to destroy the very essence of humanity. Man is at war not only with his fellow man, but also with his inner self. All our existing systems, be it religion, science, democracy, communism etc. have failed to solve this problem. What is needed is not a new system, but a new mind. A mind that sees clearly, without any prejudice.
The author talks about education as the means to bring about this new mind. Education, that not only makes a person a good engineer or lawyer or be good in any other profession, but also makes him sensitive towards fellow human beings and the nature around us. A person that not only has the external knowledge, but also knows about his inner self, and the two go together.
The human mind is conditioned to think as a Hindu, as a Muslim, as a Christian, as an atheist, as an Indian, as an American, as a Russian, over years and years. When we think in this way, we carry with us lot of prejudices. Our education needs to be such that it breaks this conditioning. It should help us to see the facts clearly for what they are, with an unbiased perspective. It should capacitate us to think and not just blindly conform to the existing patterns in our society. It should develop a mind that questions everything (even what the author is saying) and analyzes critically.
This type of education is possible only in an environment that has no authority or fear. Teaching learning is a life-long process. There is no teacher or student (no hierarchy). In teaching learning, all people come together and discover knowledge. Everyone has something to learn in that process. The knowledge of mathematics, science, language and history is very important, but the very process of teaching these subjects should be such which develops logic, reasoning, ability to think critically, sensitivity towards others (which the author refers to, as intellect). Also, the person should know about his inner self, the working of his mind (also a part of intellect). Both knowledge and intellect are important and should be focused together. The author laments that in the present times, education is focused solely on developing knowledge and completely ignores the intellect part. This problem of education is not specific to a country, but is present everywhere.
First, we as teachers, parents or educators, have to realize this problem. We should shun all our prejudices and biases. Only then, we can make the coming generation of students understand the same. And, this problem needs to be addressed immediately. “Otherwise your house is burning, and you are not doing anything about it.”
J. Krishanmurti floats an idea of “world”, of “education”, not to be followed, but to be debated and analyzed. He says, if I say something and you follow it, then it is totally useless. You have to critically analyze the fact, the thought or the idea and then decide what to do with it. When, I first thought on this idea, I felt it is perfect. As I pondered further, the question that came to my mind was, “Is it ever achievable?”
Imagine a scenario where everyone becomes a rational being (By rational being, I mean a person who looks at everything critically and is sensitive to fellow human beings and nature), in a particular society. What will be the consequence of this? The very first thing that comes to my mind is that all hierarchy will be lost. Let us focus on the process (change) which happens that leads to the said outcome. Imagine, there are people in this society, who are very rich and powerful, who have a large number of people working for them, which in turn have people working for them, obeying the orders, without question. Such people, have built an image of themselves, in which they are all powerful and important. As, this process (change) gradually begins, it starts to threaten their self “image”. Now, everything comes to the capacity of these people to understand and accept this change. Some will understand this change and go with it. On the contrary, some of them will do everything in their power to protect that self “image” and resist the change, at all cost.
I feel a similar thing is happening in our present times. There are forces which are working against this very change. They do not want people to become rational, independent thinkers, otherwise they will lose their godly status. On change, Krishanmurti himself has written, “Very few people want to change the world and still fewer want to change themselves, because they are the centre of the world in which they live.” But the hope lives on, in the fact that some people have already started thinking and acting towards the direction of this change.
The above point also leads me to “conflict”. Krishnamurti says that division creates conflict which leads to violence. Coming back to our imagined society, during the process (change), a group of “rational beings” will be formed. Conflict is inevitable between this group and the people who are resisting this change. Krishanmurti writes, “A man who is really free, not in ideas, but inwardly from greed, ambition, envy, cruelty, is considered a danger to people, because he is entirely different from the ordinary man. So, society either worships him or kills him or is indifferent to him.” The question of how to address this conflict will always remain. One thing is for certain – this change cannot be forced on people. One can only work to make them realize the need for this change and then, they bring out this change from within themselves.
Personally, I feel that the idea of J. Krishanmurti is like “infinity”. We can only tend towards (get closer to) it but never achieve it. However, the closer we get, the more we will realize how beautiful it actually is. But, again to see that beauty, we have to first let go of all our prejudices. For those who are trying (to do so), the path ahead is not going to be easy and we still have a very long way to go.
When I first read J. Krishnamurti, I could not fully decipher his ideas. But, his ideas were so interesting that I was forced to read them again. The above views are based on 2 books "On Education" and "Why are you being educated".