7/30/2019 Krishnamurti-this Matter of Culture Chapter 26
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THIS MATTER OF CULTURE CHAPTER 26part2
To break out of the prison of belief requires a mature mind, a
thoughtful mind, a mind that perceives the nature of the prison
itself and does not compare one prison with another. To understand
something you cannot compare it with something else. Understanding
does not come through comparison, it comes only when youexamine the
thing itself. If you examine the nature of organized religion you
will see that all religions are essentially alike, whether
Hinduism, Buddhism, Mohammedanism, Christianity - or communism,
which is another form of religion, thevery latest. The moment you
understand the prison, which is to perceive all theimplications of
belief, of rituals and priests, you will never again belong toany
religion; &cause only the man who is free of belief can
discover that whichlies beyond all belief, that which is
immeasurable.
Questioner: What is the real way to build up
character?Krishnamurti: To have character means, surely, to be able
to withstand the
false and hold on to the true; but to build character is
difficult, because formost of us what is said by the book, by the
teacher, by the parent, by the government is more important than to
find out what we ourselves think. To think for oneself, to find out
what is true and stand by it, without being influenced, whatever
life may bring of misery or happiness - that is what builds
character.
Say, for instance, you do not believe in war, not because of
what some reformer or religious teacher has said, but because you
have thought it out for yourself. You have investigated, gone into
the question, meditated upon it, and for
you all killing is wrong, whether it is killing to eat, killing
out of hatred, or killing for the so-called love of one's country.
Now, if you feel this very strongly and stick to it in spite of
everything, regardless of whether you go to prison or are shot for
it, as you may be in certain countries, then you will
havecharacter. Then character has quite a different meaning, it is
not the character which society cultivates.
But, you see, we are not encouraged in this direction; and
neither the educator nor the student has the vitality, the energy
to think out and see what is true, and hold to it, letting the
false go. But if you can do this then you won'tfollow any political
or religious leader, because you will be a light unto yourself; and
the discovery and cultivation of that light, not only while you are
young but throughout life, is education.
Questioner: How does age stand in the way of realizing God?
Krishnamurti: What is age? Is it the number of years you have
lived? That is part of age; you were born in such and such a year,
and now you are fifteen, forty or sixty years old. Your body grows
old - and so does your mind when it isburdened with all the
experiences, miseries and weariness of life; and such a mind can
never discover what is truth. The mind can discover only when it is
young, fresh, innocent; but innocence is not a matter of age. It is
not only the child that is innocent - he may not be - but the mind
that is capable of experiencing without accumulating the residue of
experience. The mind must experience, thatis inevitable. It must
respond to everything - to the river, to the diseased animal, to
the dead body being carried away to be burnt, to the poor villagers
carrying their burdens along the road, to the tortures and miseries
of life - otherwise it is already dead; but it must be capable of
responding without being heldby the experience. It is tradition,
the accumulation of experience, the ashes o
f memory, that make the mind old. The mind that dies every day
to the memories of yesterday, to all the joys and sorrows of the
past - such a mind is fresh, innocent, it has no age; and without
that innocence, whether you are ten or sixty,you will not find
God.
