Individual & Society: A Selection of Passages from the Teachings of J. Krishnamurti

by J. Krishnamurti

By focusing on the fact of our entrenched conditioning and the necessity for the psyche to undergo a revolution, Krishnamurti brings us to the interface, to the source of both the individual and society.

In his answers to questions such as these, Krishnamurti invites us to examine anew our relationship as human beings to ourselves and each other. "The individual is essentially the collective, and society is the creation of the individual. The individual and society are interrelated, are they not? They are not separate. The individual builds the structure of society, and society or environment shapes the individual. Though environment conditions the individual, he can always free himself, break away from his background... The individual is important only in the sense that he has the capacity to free himself from his conditioning and understand reality." - J. Krishnamurti, commentaries on Living, Series II, Chapter 19

Jiddu Krishnamurti, was a world renowned figure both in the West and in the East. He was born on May 11, 1895 and died on February 17, 1986. He remains today one of the most important philosophical and spiritual thinkers of the 20th century. In the West he is most commonly classified as a philosopher and an educator. Yet in a very real sense he is not easy to categorize as his unique work is truly Trans disciplinary and is not grounded in any particular tradition or school of thought. His singular probing work into the nature and limits of thought and knowledge would touch many fields from philosophy to quantum physics to religion. In terms of philosophical questions proper he would have important contributions to make all the way from religion to ethics and even aspects of philosophy of mind.