"We are human beings whatever country we belong to. We are human beings facing a very dangerous world, facing a great deal of uncertainty, confusion. And when the mind is confused, we seek some kind of authority as a means of security. So, we are first going to consider, if you will, what is happening here. As one observes the country going through a great confusion, great uncertainty, there is chaos; people have no direction. But unfortunately, we are conditioned— when we are confused, uncertain, insecure—to try and find a solution in the past, go back to our old traditions. This is what is happening throughout the world. There are the fundamentalists who accept the Bible as their authority, the fundamentalists of Islam who look to the Koran. There are the fundamentalists who look to Marx. So when we are uncertain, confused, greatly disturbed, we look to some kind of authority, some kind of book, to the past, to find a direction... [A]ll the leaders, all the gurus, all the so called saints have not helped humanity, because we are actually what we are at the moment.

So, what is the root cause of all this confusion? Because when one can find the cause then we can end it. A cause has an end. Right? I hope we are following each other. So we are asking what is the cause or causes of this confusion, this lack of integrity, this sense of desperate degeneration. What is the root of all this? Most of us play with symptoms. We say it is the overpopulation, bad governments, right throughout the world it is the same – lack of leadership, lack of morality. These are all symptoms. But one never asks what is the cause of all this. And when you begin to enquire into the cause of it, each one of us will give different opinions. The more learned you are, the greater assertion of the cause or causes. But we are not very learned people. We are ordinary people. We are laymen. We are not very bright, nor very intelligent. But we are caught in this, in this great turmoil that exists in the world, and here, there are wars. Every nation, every group is preparing for war. I wonder if you are aware of all this. Every country, specially the industrial countries, are supplying armaments to the rest of the world. The other day in London on television, an industrialist was being interviewed and the industrialist said, ‘We send abroad 80 percent of our armaments and 20 percent we keep’. This is happening in all the industrial countries. And nobody says why do we have to have war, why do we have to kill each other, murder each other. They are talking about stopping nuclear war but not ending all wars.

Why have human beings reduced themselves to this condition? Please, this is very important to ask. Why do we have to kill other people, for what? For your nation, for your particular group? The idea of war is a great historical process which we have accepted and it has become a great reality. But the root of it is, we live in an illusion, illusion that our country must be protected. What is your country? Please ask these questions! What are you protecting – your house, your home, your ideas, your bank account? When the whole world is degenerating, going to pieces and we are not inquiring into fundamental causes.

So we are going together as two friends – please bear this in mind – as two friends who are not against each other, who are friendly, who have certain affection for each other and are facing this problem, which is: why have we human beings become what we are – confused, uncertain, following any leader that comes along, country breaking up, fragmentation going on – the Sikhs, the Muslims, the Hindus and so on. What is the cause of this? Are you waiting for the speaker to tell you or is your mind, your brain, active enough to enquire, not depend on the speaker to tell you? We will talk it over together, which means your mind, your brain, must be as active as that of the speaker. And it can only be active if you are not saying: I am a Hindu, Buddhist, whatever it is. We are free to enquire. Enquiry means first looking at what is actually going on, not a theory of what is going on, actually observing with your heart, with your mind, with your capacity, with your energy to look."

J. Krishnamurti
First Public Talk, New Delhi
October 30, 1982

Sincerely,

 Jaap Sluijter
Executive Director