A Brief Introduction To The Work Of Krishnamurti
By Professor David Bohm
My first acquaintance with Krishnamurti's work was in 1959 when
I read his book "First and Last Freedom." What particularly aroused my
interest was his deep insight into the question of the observer and the
observed. This question had long been close to the centre of my own
work, as a theoretical physicist, who was primarily interested in the
meaning of the quantum theory. In this theory, for the first time in
the development of physics, the notion that these two cannot be
separated has been put forth as necessary for the understanding of the
fundamental laws of matter in general. Because of this, as well as
because the book contained many other deep insights I felt that it was
urgent for me to talk with Krishnamurti directly and personally as soon
as possible. And when I first met him on one of his visits to London, I
was struck by the great ease of communication with him, which was made
possible by the intense energy with which he listened and by the
freedom from self-protective reservations and barriers with which he
responded to what I had to say. As a person who works in science I felt
completely at home with this sort of response, because it was in
essence of the same quality as that which I had met in these contacts
with other scientists with whom there had been a very close meeting of
minds. And here, I think especially of Einstein who showed a similar
intensity and absence of barrier in a number of discussions that took
place between him and me. After this, I began to meet Krishnamurti
regularly and to discuss with him whenever he came to London.
We began an association which has since then become closer as I
became interested in the schools, which were set up through his
initiative. In these discussions, we went quite deeply into many
questions which concerned me in my scientific work. We probed into the
nature of space and time, and of the universal, both with regard to
external nature and with regard to mind. But then, we went on to
consider the general disorder and confusion that pervades the
consciousness of mankind. It is here that I encountered what I feel to
be Krishnamurti's major discovery. What he was seriously proposing is
that all this disorder, which is the root cause of such widespread
sorrow and misery, and which prevents human beings from properly
working together, has its root in the fact that we are ignorant of the
general nature of our own processes of thought. Or to put it
differently it may be said that we do not see what is actually
happening, when we are engaged in the activity of thinking. Through
close attention to and observation of this activity of thought,
Krishnamurti feels that he directly perceives that thought is a
material process, which is going on inside of the human being in the
brain and nervous system as a whole.
Ordinarily, we tend to be aware mainly of the content of this
thought rather than of how it actually takes place. One can illustrate
this point by considering what happens when one is reading a book.
Usually, one is attentive almost entirely to the meaning of what is
being read. However, one can also be aware of the book itself, of its
constitution as made up out of pages that can be turned, of the printed
words and of the ink, of the fabric of the paper, etc. Similarly, we
may be aware of the actual structure and function of the process of
thought, and not merely of its content.
How can such as awareness come about? Krishnamurti proposes that
this requires what he calls meditation. Now the word meditation has
been given a wide range of different and even contradictory meanings,
many of them involving rather superficial kinds of mysticism.
Krishnamurti has in mind a definite and clear notion when he uses this
word. One can obtain a valuable indication of this meaning by
considering the derivation of the word. (The roots of words, in
conjunction with their present generally accepted meanings often yield
surprising insight into their deeper meanings.) The English word
meditation is based on the Latin root "med" which is, "to measure." The
present meaning of this word is "to reflect," "to ponder" (i.e. to
weigh or measure), and "to give close attention." Similarly the
Sanskrit word for meditation, which is dhyana, is closely related to
"dhyati," meaning "to reflect." So, at this rate, to meditate would be,
"to ponder, to reflect, while giving close attention to what is
actually going on as one does so."
This is perhaps what Krishnamurti means by the beginning of
meditation. That is to say, one gives close attention to all that is
happening in conjunction with the actual activity of thought, which is
the underlying source of the general disorder. One does this without
choice, without criticism, without acceptance or rejection of what is
going on. And all of this takes place along with reflections on the
meaning of what one is learning about the activity of thought. (It is
perhaps rather like reading a book in which the pages have been
scrambled up, and being intensely aware of this disorder, rather than
just "trying to make sense" of the confused content that arises when
one just accepts the pages as they happen to come.)
Krishnamurti has observed that the very act of meditation will,
in itself, bring order to the activity of thought without the
intervention of will, choice, decision, or any other action of the
"thinker." As such order comes, the noise and chaos which are the usual
background of our consciousness die out, and the mind becomes generally
silent. (Thought arises only when needed for some genuinely valid
purpose, and then stops, until needed again.)
In this silence, Krishnamurti says that something new and
creative happens, something that cannot be conveyed in words, but that
is of extraordinary significance for the whole of life. So he does not
attempt to communicate this verbally, but rather, he asks of those who
are interested that they explore the question of meditation directly
for themselves, through actual attention to the nature of thought.
Without attempting to probe into this deeper meaning of
meditation, one can however say that meditation, in Krishnamurti's
sense of the word, can bring order to our overall mental activity, and
this may be a key factor in bringing about an end to the sorrow, the
misery, the chaos and confusion, that have, over the ages, been the lot
of mankind, and that are still generally continuing, without visible
prospect of fundamental change, for the forseeable future.
Krishnamurti's work is permeated by what may be called the
essence of the scientific approach, when this is considered in its very
highest and purest form. Thus, he begins from a fact, this fact about
the nature of our thought processes. This fact is established through
close attention, involving careful listening to the process of
consciousness, and observing it assiduously. In this, one is constantly
learning, and out of this learning comes insight, into the overall or
general nature of the process of thought. This insight is then tested.
First, one sees whether it holds together in a rational order. And then
one sees whether it leads to order and coherence, on what flows out of
it in life as a whole.
Krishnamurti constantly emphasizes that he is in no sense an
authority. He has made certain discoveries, and he is simply doing his
best to make these discoveries accessible to all those who are able to
listen. His work does not contain a body of doctrine, nor does he offer
techniques or methods, for obtaining a silent mind. He is not aiming to
set up any new system of religious belief. Rather, it is up to each
human being to see if he can discover for himself that to which
Krishnamurti is calling attention, and to go on from there to make new
discoveries on his own.
It is clear then that an introduction, such as this, can at best
show how Krishnamurti's work has been seen by a particular person, a
scientist, such as myself. To see in full what Krishnamurti means, it
is necessary, of course, to go on and to read what he actually says,
with that quality of attention to the totality of one's responses,
inward and outward, which we have been discussing here.
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