4. Division (as the major cause of external conflict)

Krishnamurti again said that, conflict exist as long as there is division. He strongly argues that, the major cause of external conflict is division. ‘That is natural and eternal law.’^[1] In nature there is conflict. Everything is struggling to reach higher and bigger, even the animals do so. As human being is part of nature, one must live in conflict. Human beings accept this not only as a tradition but have been encouraged, instructed and educated to carry on with conflict. Every individual think of being separate from another. This sense of division and fragmentation within us is the basic cause of conflict. Each one is trying to express, fulfill oneself, pursue one’s own ideals, own ambitions, pleasure and desires, which creates conflict. Human beings could not realize how deeply we are in conflict with each other and even conflict in ourselves. One accepted conflict as a way of life which is the glorification of tribalism and destroying millions of people. Despite religion preaching about peace on earth, they killed each other. There is competition and aggression, each seeking one’s own success and fulfillment. According to Krishnamurti, there are various man made factors which lead to division of mankind. They are religion, politics and nationalism. Attempt has been-made to discuss them in details.

1 Religion:

One element which breeds division is religion. In Krishnamurti’s approach, religiousness is free of religion. He firmly believed that what is sacred or truly religious could not be conditional, culture-bound or time-bound. He said what is religious cannot be contained or subjected to any dogma, rituals, belief or authority.

Man has always sought something more than the daily living, with its pain, pleasure and sorrow, and has always wanted to find something more permanent. And in his search for this unnamable thing, he has built temples, churches, mosques. Extraordinary things have been done in the name of religion. There have been wars for which religions are responsible, and people have been tortured, burned, destroyed etc.

Krishnamurti says, unless one believes in God or some supreme principle, he or she is considered to be irreligious or not religious. The Hindu, the Muslims or the Christians have its own symbols, rituals, dogmas, beliefs, superstitions etc. All these hierarchical structure of a religious society is called religion. Belief is more important than truth, dogma more vital than the direct perception. When belief becomes all-important then one is willing to sacrifice everything for that, whether that belief is real or has no validity does not matter as long as it gives comfort, security and a sense of permanency.

Religion in the sense is a belief. But ‘belief divides people, doesn’t unite people.’^[2] By the way one lives, it produces order or chaos, peace or conflict, happiness or misery. Belief separates one group of people from the others. People are classified by Hindu belief, Christian belief and Buddhist belief etc. One is either a Hindu or Muslim or Christian or Jew.

According to Krishnamurti,

‘All the religious organizations, with their beliefs, with their rituals, with their dogmas, are really separating people, which we can see obviously. If you are a Hindu and I am a Muslim, we must be against each other. We may tolerate each other for a few days, but basically, inwardly, we are against each other. So where there is division, there must be conflict, not only outwardly but also inwardly.’^[3]

Through the negation of what is the so-called religion, one come to the positive. One is going to find out, what thing is that man has sought not through any belief, not through any saviour or through a guru or through the speaker. One is going to find out for oneself if there is or if there is not, something that is not the projection of one’s own hopes, of one’s own fears, something that is not invented by a cunning mind or is formed from one’s intense loneliness.

To find out one must be free of belief, for belief is the quality of mind that invests in something that would give it some hope, comfort, security and a sense of permanency.

‘Belief is idea crystallized. If one looks at a thing with a fixed notion then rather than seeing the true nature of things one look at it through the eyes of a believer. It prevents one to look at what is really the case. One interprets things through the medium of the belief one hold.’^[4]

Krishnamurti tries to show that whatever the case is, one would fail to see its nature if one look at it with preconceived notion.

Since life is so miserable, uncertain and ugly one say that there must be something more which is protecting and which is giving and which is creating. So, thought creates the idea based on books and tradition and it is programmed to believe in God, which Krishnamurti said is not a religion. All these belief and worship divorced and separate an individual from daily life.

There are many people who believe in God and take consolation. One believes because it gives satisfaction, consolation, hopes and gives significance to life. But one’s belief has very little significance because one’s belief exploits, kills and murders.

The rich man also believes in God but exploits ruthlessly, accumulates money and then builds a temple or becomes a philanthropist. So,

‘Belief is a denial of truth, belief hinders truth; to believe in God is not to find God. Neither the believer nor the non-believer will find God; because reality is the unknown, and your belief or non-belief in the unknown is merely a self-projection and therefore not real’^[5]

Reality is what one is, one does and think and one’s belief in God is merely an escape from the monotonous, stupid and cruel life. Therefore, Krishnamurti says that belief in God is really spreading misery in the world. Though it may brings momentary consolation, in reality it has brought more misery and destruction in the form of wars, famines, class divisions and the ruthless action of separate individuals.

Krishnamurti further says that what we call religion is the outcome of fear. He says that, one notice that parents, grandparents or relatives go to temple, worship idol or perform some rituals. All these things and believing in something is what is called religion.

He wrote,

‘Going to the temple, putting flowers at the foot of an idol made by the hand, doing some ritual day after day, year in and year out till you die—is that religion?’^[6]

So, out of fear of being lonely, of not being helped, one believes in God which is going to help, which is an invention of the mind. One is afraid and wishes to be guided and told what is right and what is wrong.

2 Politics:

According to Krishnamurti, politics is merely an instrument of exploitation. Karl Marx also regarded politics as an instrument of exploitation by one class over another. Political conflicts and struggles are being witnessed all over the world every now and then. It has been experienced that division, confusion, conflicts and interest which exist in society, in some way or the other find their reflection in the political aspect. It is also a fact that the power holders, that is, the dominant groups would tend to use power to further their own interest. They safeguard their power through various institutions within the society and similarly the suppressed groups, through that power, form other social groups and they struggle against each other for sharing of power.

Krishnamurti says that we see some political groups come into power and seem to have extra ordinary power and position and accordingly we follow them. They tell people what to do, and people accept them. The question remains as to why that sense of trust is put in them and people accept their judgment. Citizens are sent to war by rulers, governments officials and thousands of people are being killed. As majorities have voted them into power, they set position and directions and we merely follow them according to it. Crowds gather round political leader, watching them as if they were trying to solve the socio-economic and political problem, independent of the total process of man. However, those problems could not be tackled separately unrelated to the whole psychological problem of man. Krishnamurti says, one may have a perfect system that one may think would solve the political problem and similarly other may also have another perfect system and the two systems, representing two different ideologies, will fight each other.

One could notice that among other news political news predominate and the economic and political life has become more important.

Krishnamurti said,

‘The outward circumstances–comfort, money, position and power–seem to dominate and shape our existence. The external show–the title, the garb, the salute, the flag–has become increasingly significant, and the total process of life has been forgotten or deliberately set aside.’^[7]

To be associated with any organized thought like political or religious activity, offers a respectable escape from the malice and strife of everyday life. Politics therefore, is the reconciliation of effects and most of us are concerned with effects. The external has assumed dominant significance. By manipulating the effects, one hopes to bring about order and peace which is not as simple as one think.

However, Krishnamurti holds that life is not dependent only on political or economic activity, that is, not a mere outward show. It is a total process which is to be discovered only in its integration. This integration does not take place on the superficial level of political and economic reconciliation, and is to be found beyond causes and effect. Integration does not come into being through any ideology or by following any particular authority whether religious or political. It comes into being only through extensive and deep awareness. If one does not pursue by acting integrally but merely confine oneself to political, economic or social change then one creates more misery.

3 Nationalism:

Every nation with all its motives prepares for war and its nation dubs other nations as its enemy. The feeling of envy is developed by the politicians, who cultivate the nationalistic feeling in people from childhood. The division of the world into nations stands against the possibility of uniting humanity. Every nation is strong in its commitment to nationalism.

He says,

‘We are creating a world divided by nationalism, which is a glorified form of tribalism; each tribes is willing to kill another tribe for its belief, for its land, for its economic trade.’^[8]

It is a narrow and primitive conception. Despite giving a certain identity to the individual, nationalism has the tendency to create separation and division. It puts certain group of people in opposition to other groups and this ultimately gives rise to conflict, violence and war. To Krishnamurti, nationalism is basically a product of thought and therefore creates possibilities of making human beings conditioned and destructive.

Thus, Krishnamurti categorically says that,

‘Nationalism is a poison, patriotism is a drug, and the world conflicts are destruction from direct relationship with people.’^[9]

That is, nationalism outwardly brings about division and classification between people which leads to war and destruction. Inwardly, the identification with a particular country or with an idea is a form of self-expansion. By self-expansion, Krishnamurti means identifying oneself with something else or substitution of one thing with another. If one identifies with the larger, with a certain country it flatters one’s vanity in order to achieve gratification, prestige and a sense of well being, and that identification creates conflict and strives between people. Nationalism therefore, creates not only outward conflict but also inward frustration. The nationalistic mind cannot treat the vast movement of life as one unit. As a result, each one has been killing others since hundreds of years in the name of nationalism or the flag and the country. In the present world political situation also, every nation is trying to allocate considerable part of each budget to defense. Even the scientific and technological discoveries are being used primarily for the purpose of war. Since the dawn of human civilization human being is still brutal and violent.

Similarly, the feeling of nationalism, thinking it as separate from the rest of the world, the ideologies of the totalitarian states and the democratic world, and different beliefs are at war. If one believes in certain forms of Christian dogmatism or Hindu and Buddhist dogmatism, this very beliefs and faiths divide human beings. So, ideals and beliefs are at constant conflict.

In his words:

‘The causes of war are fairly obvious, and even a schoolboy can see them–greed, nationalism, the search for power, geographical and national division, economic conflicts, sovereign states, patriotism, one ideology, whether of the left or right, trying to impose itself upon one another, and so on.’^[10]

One identifies oneself with a particular group, national, religion or race, because it gives one a sense of power, and power inevitably brings about conflict. So, where there is division, there must be conflict and one is broken and fragmented. Each one thinks as if separate from another. Krishnamurti holds that, religions throughout the world have encouraged the belief in separate soul, individuality etc.

To Krishnamurti, the understanding of nationalism comes through intelligence, that is, by carefully observing or probing into the whole process. Through careful examination intelligence would begins and there would be no substitution of something else for nationalism. For instance, when one substitute religion for nationalism, religion becomes another means of self-expansion, that is, a means of feeding oneself through a belief. Therefore, Krishnamurti said that, any form of substitution is a form of ignorance.

He said,

‘Substitution is merely a form of self bribery, to attempt you not to do this but to do that.’^[11]

Intelligence comes into being when one understands problems as they arise. So, when there is intelligence there is no substitution and when there is intelligence, nationalism and patriotism disappears.

Krishnamurti totally disagrees with the position that peace is possible only through war. He holds that there can be no peace through war. Any kind of efforts based on ideology and aggression is not useful for achieving peace. In fact, all organizations that are formed to promote peace have proved themselves to be ineffective. So, world peace is myth as long as the desire for supremacy is the heart of every nation. To Krishnamurti, war itself is the outcome of the desire of human beings to be powerful and secure.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Krishnamurti, J. (2011). ‘On Conflict.’ Chennai: Krishnamurti Foundation India, p. 131

[2]:

J. Krishnamurti, (2006). ‘The First and Last Freedom.’ Chennai: Krishnamurti Foundation India, p.26

[3]:

Krishnamurti, J. (2011). ‘The First Step is the Last Step.’ Chennai: Krishnamurti Foundation India, p.104

[4]:

Bora, S. (2010). ‘Essays on Philosophy of Jiddu Krishnamurti.’ Guwahati: Chitrabon Publication p.49

[5]:

Krishnamurti, J. (2008). ‘The First and Last Freedom.’ Chennai: Krishnamurti Foundation India, p.185

[6]:

Krishnamurti, J. (1987). ‘Life Ahead.’ Chennai: Krishnamurti Foundation India, p 176

[7]:

Krishnamurti, J. (2010). ‘Commentaries on Living.’ (First Series ), Chennai: Quest Books, Theosophical Publishing House, p. 25

[8]:

Krishnamurti, J. (2011). ‘The Flame of Attention.’ Chennai: Krishnamurti Foundation India, p. 102

[9]:

Krishnamurti, J. (2011). ‘On Conflict.’ Chennai: Krishnamurti Foundation India, p. 22

[10]:

Krishnamurti, J. (2011). ‘On Conflict.’ Chennai: Krishnamurti Foundation India, p. 18

[11]:

Krishnamurti, J. (2008). ‘The First and Last Freedom.’ Chennai: Krishnamurti Foundation India, p. 133