Why Identification is Violence

Krishnamurti has probably been one of the most influential philosophers during the 1900’s and I think he has said some awesome things which are really worth thinking about. Oh, if you wonder…yes, I do see that he uses ‘man’ meaning ‘person’. It’s OK! I try to listen beyond the convention of the time. Gosh! If I wouldn’t…I wouldn’t have read any of the most fabulous philosophers of all times. I wonder what Jesus or Buddha said? 

During the French revolution Madame de Gouge tried to make the text of the ‘Declaration des droit de l’homme’  (Declaration of the Rights of Man) include the words ‘…et femmes’ (and women), but the revolutionary fighters were not that revolutionary. She was executed on the guillotine for her annoying attempt to be seen as a human. History is full of these murdered women we’ve never heard of. They weren’t the preferred writers on the publishers lists.

Maybe Ingvar Gens is right. He is one of the most prominent researchers on human behaviour. He means that we don’t even have a language that allows us to be socio-cultural or gender equal. As soon as you name your child you have put a label on him or her. But then that isn’t the real problem, is it?  It is about the meaning we put into the identification; man-woman, BMW-Skoda, Asian-European, Muslim-Catholic, Punk-Rasta, etc. Those ground values in society is where the change has to occur for an equal and non violent society to exist. It is in all of our minds and we need to start detoxing our own. The Asthanga is one way to learn and a changing experience (see previous blog this week).

Here is another one of those excellent quotes from Krishnamurti even if they are not always ‘nice’. This is on the theme of thought vs just feeling our intuition, in each moment, not being lead by societies values or interests. If we can do this we get Prana; we get happy and healthy. When we understand how often we manipulate, without knowing we do, we also see how easy it is to unconsciously buy peoples kindness, with money, by caring, with our words, etc. That’s unhealthy.

”Can the mind which is caught in the activity of thought with its conditioning, its mechanical repetition, be compassionate at all? It can talk about it, it can encourage social reform, be kind to the poor heathen and so on; but is that compassion? When thought dictates, when thought is active, can there be any place for compassion? Compassion being action without motive, without self-interest, without any sense of fear, without any sense of pleasure.”

I leave you with Krishnamurti, and go for an Olive meeting/picknick on the beach.

Have a lovely weekend!