7. Freedom through ending of Thought

In explaining of what one is to do to free from conditioning, where all action, all will, judgement are conditioned in this mechanical state, Krishnamurti said that the very factor of conditioning in the past, in the present and in the future, is the ‘me’ which thinks in terms of time (time according to Krishnamurti has been discussed in chapter 2). And the ‘me’ for Krishnamurti is another name of thought. So the root cause of all conditioning is the ‘thought.’

The ‘me’ is the very essence of the past, the ‘me’ is time, and the ‘me’ is sorrow. The ‘me’ endeavours to free itself from itself, the ‘me’ makes efforts, struggles to achieve, to deny, to become. This struggle to become is time in which there is confusion and the greed for the more and the better. The ‘me’ seeks security and not finding it transfers the search to heaven. The very ‘me’ that identifies itself with something greater in which it hopes to lose itself–whether that be the nation, the ideal or some god–which is the factor of conditioning.

Krishnamurti said that, thinking is a process born out of experience and knowledge. Thinking starts from experience becomes knowledge which is stored in the cells of the brain as memory; then from memory there is thought and action. One lives and behaves according to one’s thinking. Thinking is an activity of the human mind arising from the revival of what is stored in the brain in the form of traces of past experience. Thought binds for it conditions the mind. Human mind as it exists now has programmed itself to function in the cycle of experience, knowledge, memory and thought which again is responsible for experience. Thought is the common factor of all mankind. There is no Eastern thought, or Western thought; there is only the common capacity to think, whether one is utterly poor or most sophisticated, living in a rich society. Whether a doctor, a carpenter, a labourer in the field, or a great poet, thought is the common factor of everyone. One does not seem to realize that thought is the common factor that binds everyone. One thinks according to one’s own capacity, one’s own experience and knowledge; other may think differently according to one’s experience and conditioning. Everyone is caught in this network of thought. So, Krishnamurti think that, this is a fact, indisputable and actual. It is so, because thought is always of the past.

Krishnamurti asserts that,

‘There is only the thought, which divides itself into the thinker and the thought and brings the thinker into prominence. That thought creates the ‘I’ which becomes permanent because, after all, that is what it is seeking–security, permanency, certainty in my relationship with my wife, with my children, with my society; always the desire to be ever certain. Thought is desire; so thought, the desire seeking certainty, creates the thought. Then the ‘I’ is enclosed in permanency. Then that says, I must control my thoughts, I must push away this thought and take on that thought, as though that ‘I’ is separate. If you observe, the ‘I’ is not separate from thought. That is where the importance comes of really experiencing this thing, in which the thinker is the thought. That is real meditation–to find out how the mind is everlastingly operating in dividing the thinker and the thought.’{GL_NOTE::}

So, for him, there is no thought without the thinker. As long as there is the thought there is the thinker. The thinker is not separate from thought. Thought rather creates the thinker and puts him/her a part, because thought is everlastingly seeking permanency. It accordingly creates the ‘I’ as a permanent entity. But without thought there is no ‘I.’ When one does not think, does not recognise and distinguish, there is no ‘I.’ The very process of thinking creates the ‘me,’ and then operates on thought. The struggle therefore, goes on indefinitely.

According to him, the thinker is therefore, not different from the thought. There is no independent existence for the thinker apart from the thought. Thought creates the thinker. There is no division between the thinker and the thought. So long as they are separated or divided, one’s effort is wasted and one is pursuing a false process which is destructive and deteriorating.

In his own words he says,

‘When I find that I am greedy, possessive, brutal, I think I should not be all these. The thinker then tries to alter his thoughts and therefore effort is made to become. In that process of effort he pursues the false illusion that there are two different processes, whereas there is only one process. I think therein lies the fundamental factor of deterioration.’^[1]

It is when this separation takes place that there comes into being the watcher and the watched, the perceiver and the perceived. But all the activities of the thinker are within the field of thought and the thinker adjusts and modifies himself along with his thought.

Thus, it may be said that the thinker, the ‘me,’ the self, is like a dream object which exists only so long as the dream lasts. It has no existence apart from the dream.

Krishnamurti has explained this fact of intangibility of the thinker, the ‘me’ and said that:

‘The ‘me’ is put together by thought... My qualities, my reactions, all the things that are acquired are all put together by thought. Thought is ‘me.’ Time is ‘me,’ the self, the ego, the personality.’^[2]

Krishnamurti also holds that, thoughts arise from memory and memory is the result of knowledge which in turn is the product of experience.

He says,

‘The experience may have been from the beginning of man, which we have inherited. That experience gives knowledge which is stored up in the brain. From knowledge there is memory, and from that memory, thought. From that you act.’^[3]

Mind is the constant repetition of a process of thought and by constantly repeating itself, it acquires a pattern and it learns or perceives mostly in terms of the past. Krishnamurti says, ‘when thought is functioning it is the past, therefore there is no new living at all, it is past living in the present, modifying itself as the present.’^[4] So, he therefore, says that thought is conditioned. The mind, being the storehouse of experiences, memories, from which thought arises, is itself conditioned; and any movement of the mind, in any direction, produces its own limited results. When the mind makes an effort to transform itself, it merely builds another pattern, different perhaps, but still a pattern. Every effort of the mind to free itself is the continuance of thought; it may be at a higher level, but it is still within its own circle, the circle of thought, of time.

In Krishnamurti’s view, knowledge and experience based upon thought is bondage, as the process of thought can diminish freshness and authenticity. Knowledge and experience cultivated in time constitute several kinds of inward authority, which circumscribe one’s freedom, for they do not let a person to see the new. Since the mind is influenced by the past experience i.e. thought, it is burdened and is in bondage and not free.

The discussion on time also assumes significance because knowledge is acquired in time. It depends on time because it is sustained by memory, which is the repository of the past things. Acquired knowledge and experience constitute one of the several kinds of inward authority which limit one’s freedom, because they make a person insensible to the new things. The mind is burdened by the past and by expectations which are based on past experience, sustained by memory and so it is not free.

Krishnamurti asserts that there is a close relationship between experience, knowledge, memory, and thought. About thought he says:

‘…From experience we acquire knowledge, from knowledge memory; the response of memory is thought…..’^[5]

The statement indicates that, in Krishnamuti’s philosophy, thought necessarily involves memory or remembering. Thought is response that comes about by remembering of experience and knowledge. He makes a distinction between ‘experiencing’ and ‘experience.’ When one first has an experience, there is just the experiencing. Once the experiencing is over, something is retained in one’s mind from that experiencing and these are ‘experiences.’ ‘Experiences’ being the retainment of the ‘experiencing,’ is not the happenings of the present. They are the residue of the past. Therefore, there is a great difference between experiencing and experiences. The mind starts hoarding those past experiences and those hoarded or saved ‘experiences’ are what Krishnamurti calls ‘knowledge.’ There is also close relationship between knowledge and memory. Retained experiences constitute knowledge and knowing their existence is memory. So, memory facilitates the knowledge of available experiences and also helps in constructing apparent new ideas with the available lot. The remembering of experiences and knowledge, constructing new ideas from this knowledge, and responding according to memories of experiences and knowledge, all are included by Krishnamurti in thought. Krishnamurti also seems to be including in his notion of memory the possibility of remembering as well. This can be seen in his talks of ‘thought’ as consciousness which includes sub-conscious for him. The response from sub-conscious is also thought for him.^[6]

Thus, all experiences based on the conditioning of knowledge, of memory, are bound to be limited. Therefore, experience is not a factor in liberation. Every experience is conditioned by the past experience. So, there is no new experience, it is always coloured by the past. In the very process of experiencing, there is the distortion which comes into being from the past. The past itself being knowledge, memory, and the various accumulated experiences, not only the individual, but also the rest community.

Krishnamurti is in direct favour of ending thought process. To him, thought is responsible for the continuity of division, conflict, violence and war. It constitutes the content of one’s consciousness and therefore, there is no independent thought. He asserted that to feel the wholeness of life the mind should be free from thought.

In his own words,

‘Freedom from the known is the ending of thought; to die to thought, from moment to moment, is to be free from the known. It is this death that put an end to decay.’^[7]

The following section would therefore, discussed on the ending of thought.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Krishnamurti, J. (2008). ‘The First and Last Freedom.’ Chennai: Krishnamurti Foundation India, p. 93

[2]:

Krishnamurti, J. (1990). ‘The Wholeness of Life.’ Madras: Krishnamurti Foundation India, p. 188

[3]:

Krishnamurti, J. (2009). ‘The Network of Thought.’ Chennai: Krishnamurti Foundation India, pp. 10-11

[4]:

Lutyens, M. (1983). ‘Years of Fulfilment.’ New York: Avon books, p.173

[5]:

Krishnamurti, J. (2009). ‘The Network of Thought.’ Chennai: Krishnamurti Foundation India, p. 22

[6]:

Krishnamurti, J. (2009). ‘The Network of Thought.’ Chennai: Krishnamurti Foundation India, p. 6-7

[7]:

Krishnamurti, J. (1991). ‘Krishnamurti’s Note Book.’ Madras: Krishnamurti Foundation India, p. 180