Jiddu Krishnamurti - You learn a great deal by Watching
- Jiddu Krishnamurti: You learn a great deal by watching, watching the
things about you, watching the birds, the tree,
watching the heavens, the stars, the constellation
of Orion, the Dipper, the Evening star. You learn
just by watching not only the things around you but
also by watching people, how they walk, their
gestures, the words they use, how they are dressed.
- You not only watch that which is outside but also
you watch yourself, why you think this or that, your
behaviour, the conduct of your daily life, why
parents want you to do this or that. You are
watching, not resisting. If you resist you don't
learn. Or if you come to some kind of conclusion,
some opinion you think is right and hold on to that,
then naturally you will never learn. Freedom is
necessary to learn, and curiosity, a sense of
wanting to know why you or others behave in a
certain way, why people are angry, why you get
annoyed.
-
Learning is extraordinarily important because
learning is endless. Learning why human beings kill
each other for instance. Of course there are
explanations in books, all the psychological reasons
why human beings behave in their own particular
manner, why human beings are violent. All this has
been explained in books of various kinds by eminent
authors, psychologists and so on. But what you read
is not what you are. What you are, how you behave,
why you get angry, envious, why you get depressed,
if you watch yourself you learn much more than from
a book that tells you what you are.
- But you see it is easier to read a book about
yourself than to watch yourself. The brain is
accustomed to gather information from all external
actions and reactions. Don't you find it much more
comforting to be directed, for others to tell you
what you should do? Your parents, especially in the
East, tell you whom you should marry and arrange the
marriage, tell you what your career should be. So
the brain accepts the easy way and the easy way is
not always the right way.
- I wonder if you have noticed that nobody loves
their work any more, except perhaps a few
scientists, artists, archaeologists. But the
ordinary, average man seldom loves what he is doing.
He is compelled by society, by his parents or by the
urge to have more money. So learn by watching very,
very carefully the external world, the world outside
you, and the inner world; that is, the world of
yourself.
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