The Observer and the Observed: A Selection of Passages from the Teachings of J. Krishnamurti

by J. Krishnamurti

“The Observer and the Observed highlights one of the central explorations of Krishnamurti’s teaching: the division we feel between ourselves and everything else, and that it means to question this division, not as a philosophy, but in everyday life. “To free the mind of the observer, no escape is possible. Don’t escape; don’t seek. Face the fact of what you are; don’t translate in terms of what you think you are, of what you should be, which is again an escape. When you face the fact of what you actually are, without escaping, without naming it, without the word, then the fact becomes totally different. When you do that with every reaction, with every movement of thought, then there is a freedom from the observer; then there is a totally different dimension of space.”

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.