9. Education and the Significance of Life

The first book by Krishnamurti to be published by a commercial publisher was Education and the Significance of Life, appearing in 1953.

The book contains eight essays on education. It argues that the most important aspect of human education is awakening the human capacity for self-awareness, rather than merely self-improvement.

The book criticises current teaching methods for not encouraging people enough to break their bonds and be whole individuals.

Search for the Whole

In the first chapter, K states that independent thinking is not common in a world that worships success. We have produced a type of person who seeks security, status and a comfortable life.

Conformity can lead to mediocrity, and revolting against the societal norms can be dangerous.

In seeking comfort, we tend to find a quiet corner of life where there is minimal conflict, but we are afraid to step out of that seclusion. This fear of life and new experiences stifles our spirit of adventure. We are taught to respect authority and tradition, and are made to accept our fate.

There are two kinds of revolt. One is violent and based on simple resistance to the status quo, while the other is based on a profound vision of the human person and the meaning of life.

If education focuses on training for a profession or honing a specific skill rather than providing an integrated outlook on life, difficulties and contradictions can arise. Specialisation can lead to a blurring of the overall picture and to an over-emphasis on knowledge. What value is there in knowledge if it is used to destroy others?

The right education should guide us in realising that we are all part of a whole, helping us to understand our interdependence.

Our mistake is to approach the whole from the part, from the self. If we were raised to be intelligent, we would erase the barriers between people, and put a stop to the hatred that leads to war.

"The present system of education is making us subservient, mechanical and deeply thoughtless; though it awakens us intellectually, inwardly it leaves us incomplete, stultified and uncreative. The purpose of education is not to produce mere scholars, technicians and job hunters, but integrated men and women who are free of fear, for only between such people can there be enduring peace."

There is nothing mysterious about education. Clearly, there is something radically wrong with the way our children are educated.

This will change when we ourselves undergo a fundamental change. The individual must be more important than the system, and no system will bring order and peace to the world until the individual realises total process of himself.

Becoming a Monster

The second chapter looks at what constitutes good parenting. Anyone who can read is able to gather book knowledge and repeat what others say. Understanding, on the other hand, only comes from self-knowledge. Knowledge of technology does not give us the capacity to understand life, nor does it lead to creative understanding.

K argues that schools focus too much on teaching the skills needed to earn a living, and not enough on helping us to understand ourselves, others, and life.

By placing too much emphasis on technology, education can make us ruthless and destroy the human spirit. Even a specialist can experience life as a total process, but only by ceasing to be a specialist.

"The man who knows how to split the atom but has no love in his heart, becomes a monster."

According to K, ideals have no place in education because they prevent us from comprehending the present. We can only be aware of the present if we do not escape into the future. Pursuing an ideal indicates a sluggish mind and a desire to avoid the present moment.

What we need are integrated, intelligent and free human beings, not idealists or mechanical minds. If we were mechanical entities, we could design a perfect society, and build a perfect utopia. However, we are not, and our actions cannot be based on a definite pattern.

Education in the truest sense is about helping the individuals to be mature, free, and flourish. However, nowadays children are shaped according to some idealistic pattern.

Any method that classifies children according to their temperament and aptitude merely emphasises their differences and does not help them to be integrated human beings.

Children and young people are not mechanical devices that can be quickly repaired. They are impressionable, volatile, sensitive, fearful and affectionate living beings.

Education should help individuals flower in love and goodness. Only love can foster the understanding of others and create a sense of communion with others. However, life cannot be made to conform to a system or be forced into a framework, no matter how noble the conception.

Love and goodness can only flourish in individual freedom. One of the dangers of discipline is that the system becomes more important than the individuals within it. Discipline then becomes a substitute for love. When our hearts are empty, we cling to discipline.

One purpose of education is to cultivate respect for human life and for the right relationship in society. However, demanding respect from children can lead to indifference. Without mutual respect and sensitivity, genuine co-operation is impossible.

Fear Prevents Intelligence

Seeing the essential requires intelligence, as well as understanding and transcending oneself.

Fear prevents intelligence. When we are young, fear is instilled in most of us at home and at school. Parents often lack the time, patience, or wisdom to dispel their children's fears.

Being without fear is the beginning of wisdom, and the right kind of education can free us from fear, resulting in deep and creative intelligence.

Once you understand that intelligence can never be awakened by compulsion, this awareness alone will dispel your fears. However, we cannot get rid of fear as long as our goal is success, dominance, and ruthless competition. The desire to succeed inevitably breeds the fear of failure. This is why the young people should not be taught

to worship success. The wish to be at the top creates constant conflict, both within ourselves and in our relationships with others.

The role of education is not to instil prevailing values, but to create new ones. Children should be encouraged to awaken their own capacity for discovery rather than being held back. They should be taught in such a way that enables them to deal with all human problems wisely as they grow up.

This requires educators to understand themselves and avoid resorting to ideologies. An educator's insight is more important than their knowledge of a particular teaching method. Children must always be at the centre of education.

When children are forced to conform to ideals, they grow up with conflict and fear of failure. It is only in freedom from fear that deep and creative intelligence can flourish.

Finding Your Vocation

The third chapter looks at the differences between intellect and intelligence. Those who are educated are not necessarily peace-loving, integrated people, and they too are responsible for the confusion and misery in the world.

While the world is falling into ruin around us, we are discussing theories and engage in vain political debates, and toy with superficial reforms. The right kind of education awakens intelligence and fosters an integrated life.

If you want to make a difference, you must start with yourself. This means breaking away from values that focus on self-protection and lead to violence. Even a single individual can make a huge difference, but they must have a deep awareness of the nature of the problems.

Neither religious nor political leaders can provide us with the key to understanding. We must be aware and change not only our relationships with other people, but also with property, ideas, and nature. Relationships act as a mirror in which we can see the self and all its activities.

Education does very little to help us find our individual vocation. Once we have passed our exams, we get a job and start working endlessly. We have to work for a living, even if we dislike it.

Frustrated, we seek an escape, we seek escape through sex, drink, politics, or fanciful religion.

When our ambitions are thwarted, we attach undue importance to what should be normal, which can develop a psychological twist. Faced with the realities of everyday life, we either become dissatisfied and embittered, or we start looking for alternatives.

If we refuse to accept authority, we must activate our own thinking and intelligence.

To have an open mind is more important than learning. Wisdom comes with the abnegation of the self, not from cramming your mind full of information. It comes from being aware of our own thoughts and feelings, paying attention to our surroundings, listening to others, and observing ourselves, listening to others, observing the rich and the poor.

Being specialised we become less and less integrated. While knowledge is necessary and science has its place, if the mind is suffocated by knowledge, life becomes vain and meaningless.

Knowledge is limited, but wisdom is infinite. The deep layers of our being are only revealed to those who look beyond the surface. By prioritising intelligence over feeling, we have become like a three-legged stool with one leg longer than the others, there is no balance.

Intelligence is the integration of reason and love. Undue emphasis on any part leads to a distorted view of life. Integral human beings see themselves as a whole and do not allow their intellect to dominate.

"Without a change of heart, without goodwill, without the inward transformation which is born of self-awareness, there can be no peace, no happiness for men."

Struggle for Eternal Happiness

Chapter four discusses the relationship between education and world peace.

Few educators feel they can contribute much to world peace. Krishnamurti's assertion that they are fully responsible seems unfair.

The world crisis stems from misguided values and our dependence on authority. Peace begins with self-realisation, not by placing our trust in leaders and authorities.

Perhaps we don't even want peace or an end to exploitation. We only want small changes and are happy to pass the buck to others.

We don't want to abandon our beliefs, even if they create hostility towards others. We are flattered to belong to a group or a nation, and we are encouraged to fight proudly for our beliefs.

Once you realise that nationalism is an obstacle to happiness, you no longer have to struggle against this false sense of happiness. Fear creates the desire to defend concepts that make brotherhood
and unity impossible.

The desire to identify with something greater than oneself can cause wars. Nationalism is a disease that forces us to remain perpetually armed. Property and ideas have become more important than human life. By maintaining the sovereignty of our country, we are destroying our children.

Parliaments that uphold national separation will never bring an end to war. Education has not prevented mass murder occurring in the name of the country or God. Religions are the outcome of our ignorance and fear, of our make-believe and egotism; we crave security and so create institutions to provide it.

Groups accuse each other of inciting fear and, regardless of the consequences, we are preparing for war by fostering a militaristic spirit. If children are to be raised to kill, then military training is necessary.

"If we are living only to have endless strife within ourselves and with others; if our desire is to perpetuate bloodshed and misery, then there must be more soldiers, more politicians, more enmity – which is actually happening."

Modern civilisation is based on violence and is therefore courting death. As long as we worship force, violence will be our way of life.

One of the main causes of hatred and conflict is the belief that one social class or group is superior to another.

Children are not class- or race-conscious; it is the home or school environment in which they are raised that makes them feel separate. A child does not care about the origin of their playmates until they are taught to do so by adults.

Without Labels We Are Alike

Differences between people are based on beliefs. Remove the label and we are all alike. Children must be raised to understand how stupid all prejudices are. They should be encouraged to listen to intelligent conversations and to develop a spirit of enquiry to help them distinguish what is true and what is not.

We are all discontented when we are young, but as we grow older, our position in society tempts us to support the destructive elements of society because they offer a sense of security.

Conditioning a child's mind to fit a particular ideology breeds enmity. In a competitive society, brotherhood is impossible, and cannot be achieved through reform.

If we wish to build a truly enlightened society, we need educators who understand the ways of integration and can impart that understanding to children.

"Such educators would be a danger to the present structure of society. Any teacher who, perceiving the full implications of peace, began to point the stupidity of war, would soon lose his position. Knowing this, most teachers compromise, and thereby help to maintain the present system of exploitation and violence."

War is the bloody projection of our everyday living. We precipitate war out of our daily lives. Without a transformation within ourselves, brutalities and organised murder will continue.

Peace by Patchwork Reforms?

Education has failed everywhere in the world. Governments are training young people to be efficient soldiers and technicians, forcing them to cultivate and enforce prejudices and accept regimentation. Environment can turn a child into a brute or an unfeeling specialist, or it can help them to become a sensitive, intelligent human being.

"We are all brains and no heart; we cultivate the intellect and despise humility. If we really loved our children, we would want to save and protect them, we would not let them be sacrificed in wars."

But we want arms; we like the show of military power, the uniforms, the rituals, the drinks, the noise, the violence. Our everyday life is a reflection in miniature of this same brutal superficiality, and we are destroying one another through envy and thoughtlessness.

We want to be rich, and the richer we get, the more ruthless we grow. After robbing the victim, we return a little of the spoils, calling it philanthropy. We don't see the catastrophe we are preparing!

If the purpose and end of life is to destroy or be destroyed, then education must encourage ruthlessness. Perhaps this is what we inwardly desire, as ruthlessness goes hand in hand with the worship of success.

States do not want their citizens to be free or to think for themselves; they want to control and manipulate them through propaganda and distorted historical interpretations. Rather than teaching us how to think, we are taught what to think.

Right education is obviously a danger to sovereign governments, as free institutions and individuals. might turn out pacifists and encourage criticism of the existing regime.

The more irresponsible we are in these matters, the more the state takes over all responsibility. We are not confronting a political or economic crisis, but a crisis of human deterioration.

"The building is crumbling, the walls are giving way, and fire is destroying it. We must leave the building and start on new ground. Peace will not be achieved by patchwork reform, nor by rearranging of old ideas and superstitions. We must stop this wave of destruction which has been unleashed by our own aggressiveness and fears. Only then will there be hope for our children and salvation for the world."

Search for Truth

K thinks that mass education is not the right way to raise a child. To educate them properly, we must carefully study and understand the difficulties, tendencies and capacities of each child.

Also, each teacher should feel responsible for the whole. In a flourishing school, the teaching staff should come together regularly to discuss a variety of issues. Teachers should not be afraid of the headmaster, nor should the headmaster feel intimidated by the older teachers or parents. Happy agreement is only possible when there is a feeling of absolute equality among everyone.

Teachers should be confident in their own vocation and interests. Otherwise, they expend their energy on trivial details and fruitless arguments. Talking things over together helps everyone to understand what is right, rather than arguing over who is right.

Conversely, education should help students to discover their interests and ensure that they don't waste their lives. If someone wants to be a soldier, for example, he or she should be helped to discover whether a military career benefits humanity as a whole.

Unfortunately, most parents don't care enough about their children to help them solve this. They find time for making money, for amusements, for rituals and worship, but not for considering what
is the right kind of education for their children.

Educators are not just givers of information; they point students the way to wisdom and truth. Truth is far more important than the teacher. It does not belong to any country or religion, nor can it be found in any temple, church or mosque. Without the search for truth, society soon decays.

The right kind of education begins with the educator, because they give what they are. If they have not been rightly educated, they will pass on the same mechanical knowledge with which they were brought up.

To K, it is "really extraordinary that, while people are rigorously trained to be lawyers or doctors, they may become parents without undergoing any training whatsoever to fit them for this all-important task".

Repetition and habit encourage the mind to be sluggish. A shock is needed to awaken it, but the awakened mind quickly falls back to sleep again and tries to solve problems using well-worn explanations, justifications and condemnations.

Sex as an Escape

In chapter seven, K discusses sex and marriage. He asks why sex is a problem for so many people. One reason may be that we are not very creative, and also that our culture is based on the development of the intellect.

However, the intellect is only a small part of life. Since most of us only feel and experience through the brain, we live exclusively through words and mechanical repetitions. This is obviously not creativity.

Our lives are therefore hollow, empty, repetitive and dull, and we rarely experience a creative state of being. Sex becomes our only outlet, offering a state of happiness when the self is absent.

The problem is not sex itself, but the desire to recapture that pleasure. This is because the self is small and petty, and a source of pain. We want to lose ourselves in excitement and lofty thoughts, in some form of sensation. Escapes become important yet problematic to us.

It is only when there is no love that the sensation becomes a consuming problem. Books, advertisements, and cinema emphasise different aspects of sensation and incite us to pursue our passions.

Love is not of the mind; it is wholly independent of thought. When there is love, sex is never a problem; it is the lack of love that creates the problem.

Filling an Empty Heart

In the final chapter, K suggests that art provides an easy and respectable escape from our worries and suffering. In the desire for self-forgetfulness some turn to art, take to drink, while others follow mysterious and fanciful religious doctrines.

If we are not aware of the significance of existence, the emphasis and importance on the self can take over, making us self-centred and separative.

Although depending on a person or a poem as a means of release from our worries and anxieties can be enriching in the moment, it only creates further conflict and contradiction in our lives.

The right kind of education should help us to face our problems, rather than glorifying the ways of escape. It helps us to naturally understand and eliminate conflict.

Worshipping success is detrimental to sensitivity and intelligence. Sensitivity is numbed when ability becomes personal, as in the phrases 'I paint', 'I write', or 'I invent something'.

"Mind has the power to create illusion; and without understanding its ways, to seek inspiration is to invite self-deception. Inspiration comes when we are open to it, not when we are courting it. To attempt to gain inspiration through any form of stimulation leads to all kinds of delusions."

The capacity for creativity emphasises the self, which can make individuals self-centred and separative. They may feel that they are superior beings, separate to others.

A true artist transcends the vanity of the self and its ambitions. Praise and adulation inflate the ego and are obviously detrimental to intelligence.

Sensitivity to beauty and to ugliness comes with love and an absence of self-created conflict. Those who are inwardly poor, surround themselves with objects that manifest wealth, power, and possessions.

However beautiful an object may be, its appeal soon fades. Our minds become dull and withered. We forget how to look at the stars and trees, instead we seek stimulation from pictures and jewels.

"Sensations can be bought, but not the love of beauty. If there is joy, the creative fire, it will find a way to express itself, one need not study a method of expression. When one really wants to write a poem, one writes it. When there is love in our hearts, we do not search for a way of putting words together."

Great artists may be creators, but we are not; we are mere spectators. We read books and listen to music created by others. In order to sing we must have a song in our hearts.

"To be creative is not merely to produce poems, or statues, or children; it is to be in that state in which truth can come into being. Then there is complete cessation of thought and the self is absent."

Formulas Do Not Liberate

In April 1953, K gave six talks in London. He began by stating that the mind cannot change itself; we need direct experience of reality.

We are trying to confront what lies beyond the mind. Facing reality requires a completely silent mind that does not desire anything. Without self-awareness, that miracle will not happen.

Most people don't know how to be quiet. We don't listen to others, we don't see things as they are and we don't know how to do nothing. When we try, we try too hard.

Once we realise that our problems are caused by the conditioning of our mind, we want to free ourselves from that burden, either through our own efforts or with the help of others.

However, it is difficult to see that both approaches are doomed to fail. They may lead to superficial change, but deep change in the mind requires a completely different approach.

Of course, no formula can free the mind from formulas, and changing one's beliefs does not remove it and reveal reality.

Krishnamurti rarely spoke about the levels of the mind. In his third London talk, however, he said that, at the most superficial level, we seek well-being, money, love, and certain experiences.

At a slightly deeper level, we want to be happy, free, and to fulfil our potential by using our talents to achieve great things. On an even deeper level, we want to understand what love is and what happens after death.

At the deepest level, we want to understand what reality really is, what God is like and where all life began. Even the most greedy among us want to experience all this in one lifetime. Yet what we do and think can easily feel small and empty.

Clarity in Confusion

In the fourth talk, K spoke about true religion. All religions are based on man-made dogmatic ideas, superstitions, and rituals. We cling to these ideas because we have lost the ability to live.

We need stimuli and beliefs to ease our anxiety. We want routines that bring regularity to an uncertain life. We need clarity in our confusion.

However, liberating the mind takes all this away. Most people won't take the risk; they cling to their faith and shun those with different beliefs. Consequently, we never live in harmony with others. We condemn all those with different beliefs, or no beliefs at all.

We don't have to believe in reality, it reveals everything to those who can see it.

In the sixth talk, the theme was rebirth, renewal. K hoped that those present would observe their own minds and not just listen to his words, because that is the only way to truly understand deep things and the quickest way to renew yourself from within.

The mind lives in the past and spins in a narrow circle. This is why it never gives birth to anything new. To be reborn, the mind must free itself from the cycle of time, the accumulation of experiences, and the endless pursuit. It must live anew from moment to moment.

As long as we worship knowledge, memories, and intellect, nothing new will be experienced. The mind is stuck in its old ways.

Where Did Respect Go?

The series of ten talks in Ojai in the summer of 1953 began with familiar themes. K addressed the subject of fear. Life cannot be understood if our mind is plagued by fear.

The second talk was about the fear of change, while the third focused on the authorities whose job it is to frighten us.

Fear triggers a fight-or-flight response, which only makes things worse. We fear both losing what we know – the known – and facing the unknown.

In the fifth talk, someone asked why people in America no longer respect each other.

K said that, in fact, in no country everyone is respected. In India, respect is shown to the so-called saints, whereas in America it is shown to the rich. However, in both cases, this respect is selective and based on personal values. Neighbours, servants and animals are treated badly in every country.

Our tendency to judge makes us treat others unfairly; we either worship or despise. Whether we place ourselves above or below others, determines how we judge them. When we get rid of this bad habit, we treat everyone fairly.

Self-knowledge and self-observation without judgement will solve this dilemma. Without a self-image, we are neither above nor below anyone else. When we fear nothing and no one, we can show everyone respect, regardless of their social class or wealth.

If You Must Choose, Choose Truth

In the sixth talk, someone said that human history is a struggle between traditional and reforming forces. K was then asked which side one should belong to if one wants to promote human well-being.

Neither, he answered, if we really want to tackle the essential issues and not just sidestep them. If we really have to choose sides, it's better to choose the truth and find out how things actually are. It's easy to twist facts to suit our assumptions, but then we just end up arguing.

In the next session, K asked what it means to live simply. The more information we collect, the more we move in the wrong direction. The more information we have, the more complex our thinking becomes.

At the end of the last talk, K returned to the theme of fear when answering a question about death. He said that by accepting the uncertainty of the world, we cease to be afraid.

When we are open to the unknown, including death, there is nothing to be afraid of. When the mind dies to the known, time ceases and we encounter the timeless, the eternal.

You Cannot Know the Other

Krishnamurti's year changed again in India, where he delivered eight talks in Madras from December 1953 onwards. During the first talk, he was asked what the point of the talks was if no one had changed.

K wondered if anyone really thought they would change by listening to talks. Conversely, how can we know if someone else has changed or not? We do not even know ourselves, because truth and freedom lie beyond the conscious mind.

In the second talk, K said that the revolution of the mind is not about finding a new answer or solution, but about seeing problems in a completely new light.

We have always approached everything through ideas and beliefs. Unfortunately, many people are blind to psychological reality and try to solve human and global issues through economics and politics. Money and power offer no help if you are poor inside and do not understand yourself.

We make another mistake tackling one problem at a time. Everything in life is interconnected, so it is important to focus on the essentials given our limited time.

The solution to everything lies in breaking down the centre of all experience: the self. Then there are no problems.

We have learned to see life as something that is passing us by; and we no longer know how to live in the moment. We are always on a journey moving forwards, backwards, up, down, in or out.

Blinded by the Paths

Perhaps our worst mistake is that, on this journey called life, we do not follow our own path, but follow others relatively blindly. We think other people's thoughts and imitate their feelings.

Our minds are unable to see, and we no longer know how to be authentic. We want to be led, and we follow blindly – even when it leads us towards a precipice. We have been promised lands, moons, and heavens, yet we are heading for the bottom of a ravine.

In January 1954, K spoke three times at the Hindu University. He reiterated his view that education has failed because it has not prevented wars, and that people at school do not learn how the human mind works. This is a disgrace and a disaster.

Many people have read and can repeat what others say, but studying and understanding how our own mind works is quite another matter. Repeating words is a memory function that transforms everything we experience into concepts.

Life is not a concept; it is a bold reality and the absolute truth.