J Krishnamurti Santa Monica 3
In the third of four meetings in Santa Monica, J. Krishnamurti discusses the importance of freedom and begins by saying that it is important that we find out for ourselves what is freedom. In his introduction he recaps the issues covered in the previous talk: the idea that one must be a light to oneself, and not depend on anybody for guidance, for understanding psychologically, and to find out for oneself a way of living in which every form of conflict, within and without, comes to an end. Most of us have accepted life as a conflict, a way of life in which there is constant battle, struggle, suffering, pain, disorder. One of the problems is that freedom itself includes the freedom in our particular individual lives to do what we like, to pursue our own particular form of pleasure, in the name of God, in the name of religion, in the name of truth, in the name of country, economically and socially. He says that the ‘freedom that one wants and the freedom that one pursues is totally egotistic, selfish, and that has produced a totally unbalanced world, an insane world.’ This is why he believes it is so important to find out for ourselves what is freedom. This is but a preface to the deeper currents of a discussion that soon moves on to consider what role the notion of order plays in freedom, be cause surely, he says, in freedom there is order because otherwise it’s not freedom. From here he takes his audience on a philosophical journey into the relationship and significance of order and discipline in the context of freedom.
