Talk: J Krishnamurti
Your
religion, your belief in God, is an escape from actuality, and
therefore it is no religion at all. The rich man who accumulates money
through cruelty, dishonesty and cunning exploitation believes in God;
and you also believe in God, you also are cunning, cruel, suspicious and
envious... Because you collect sacred books and symbols of God, does
that indicate that you are a religious person?
Religion is not escape from the fact; religion is the understanding of the fact of what you are in your everyday relationships; religion is the manner of your speech, the way you talk, the way you address your servants, the way you treat your family and neighbours. As long as you do not understand your relationship with your neighbour, society and family, there must be confusion; and the mind that is confused will only create more confusion, problems and conflict.
A mind that escapes from the actual shall never find God; a mind that is agitated by belief shall not know truth. But the mind that understands its relationship with property, people and ideas, the mind which no longer struggles with the problems which relationship creates, and for which the solution is not withdrawal but the understanding of love – such a mind alone can understand reality.
We realise that life is ugly, painful, sorrowful; we want some kind of theory or doctrine which will explain all this, and so we are caught in explanation, words, theories, and gradually, beliefs become deeply rooted and unshakable because behind those beliefs and dogmas, there is the constant fear of the unknown. But we never look at that fear; we turn away from it. The stronger the beliefs, the stronger the dogmas. Beliefs divide people. Each dogma, each belief has a series of rituals and compulsions which bind and separate man. So, we start with an inquiry to find out what is true, what the significance is of this misery, struggle and pain; and we are soon caught up in beliefs, rituals and theories.
Belief is corruption because behind belief and morality lurks the mind, the self growing big, powerful and strong. We consider belief in God, the belief in something, as religion; that to believe is to be religious. If you do not believe, you will be considered an atheist; you will be condemned by society.
One society will condemn those who believe in God, and another society will condemn those who do not. They are both the same. So, religion becomes a matter of belief and belief acts and has a corresponding influence on the mind; the mind then can never be free. But it is only in freedom that you can find out what is true, what is God, not through any belief, because your very belief projects what you think ought to be God, what you think ought to be true…
We are confused, and we think that through belief we shall clear the confusion; that is, belief is superimposed on the confusion, and we hope that confusion will thereby be cleared away. But belief is merely an escape from the fact of confusion; it does not help us to face and to understand the fact but to run away from the confusion in which we are… Belief only acts as a screen between ourselves and our problems. So, religion, which is organised belief, becomes a means of escape from what is, from the fact of confusion
Religion is not escape from the fact; religion is the understanding of the fact of what you are in your everyday relationships; religion is the manner of your speech, the way you talk, the way you address your servants, the way you treat your family and neighbours. As long as you do not understand your relationship with your neighbour, society and family, there must be confusion; and the mind that is confused will only create more confusion, problems and conflict.
A mind that escapes from the actual shall never find God; a mind that is agitated by belief shall not know truth. But the mind that understands its relationship with property, people and ideas, the mind which no longer struggles with the problems which relationship creates, and for which the solution is not withdrawal but the understanding of love – such a mind alone can understand reality.
We realise that life is ugly, painful, sorrowful; we want some kind of theory or doctrine which will explain all this, and so we are caught in explanation, words, theories, and gradually, beliefs become deeply rooted and unshakable because behind those beliefs and dogmas, there is the constant fear of the unknown. But we never look at that fear; we turn away from it. The stronger the beliefs, the stronger the dogmas. Beliefs divide people. Each dogma, each belief has a series of rituals and compulsions which bind and separate man. So, we start with an inquiry to find out what is true, what the significance is of this misery, struggle and pain; and we are soon caught up in beliefs, rituals and theories.
Belief is corruption because behind belief and morality lurks the mind, the self growing big, powerful and strong. We consider belief in God, the belief in something, as religion; that to believe is to be religious. If you do not believe, you will be considered an atheist; you will be condemned by society.
One society will condemn those who believe in God, and another society will condemn those who do not. They are both the same. So, religion becomes a matter of belief and belief acts and has a corresponding influence on the mind; the mind then can never be free. But it is only in freedom that you can find out what is true, what is God, not through any belief, because your very belief projects what you think ought to be God, what you think ought to be true…
We are confused, and we think that through belief we shall clear the confusion; that is, belief is superimposed on the confusion, and we hope that confusion will thereby be cleared away. But belief is merely an escape from the fact of confusion; it does not help us to face and to understand the fact but to run away from the confusion in which we are… Belief only acts as a screen between ourselves and our problems. So, religion, which is organised belief, becomes a means of escape from what is, from the fact of confusion
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