Questioning Krishnamurti – In Dialogue with Leading Twentieth Century Thinkers (1996 Edition).
By Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895 – 1986), edited by David Skitt.
255 Pages | Published in 1996. The first Indian edition 2001 is available in our webshop here | Softcover | Thorsons, an Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, London & San Francisco | ISBN: 0722532849.
In the last two decades of his life, Krishnamurti engaged in several discussions with scientists, Buddhist scholars, philosophers, artists, and a Jesuit priest. This Volume contains his conversations with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Renee Weber, David Bohm, Jonas Salk, Walpola Rahula, Bernard Levin, Huston Smith, Iris Murdoch, and Pupul Jayakar. These offer a profound insight into his philosophy of life.
In his Foreword to the book, editor David Skitt says: For the first-time reader, the range and vocabulary of these conversations may seem daunting. Is this philosophy, psychology, or religion? Or all three? Krishnamurti himself did not like giving a name to what he talked about. His agenda was very open-ended, always totally free to cover any aspect of the human condition. For Krishnamurti, a religious view of life is inseparable from exploring whether we mistakenly apply the biological model of evolution to the psychological sphere; and whether the computer is an accurate simulation of the human brain. For him, these are not incidental but crucial issues that determine the quality of our lives, not just topics of intellectual ‘interest’.
From Chapter – ‘What is Your Secret’ (p. 198)?:
“K: Again, what do you mean by ‘individual’?
BL: Well, we’re all independent, separate personalities.
K: Are we?
BL: Well, aren’t we?
K: I doubt it. We’re not individuals, we are the result of a million years of collective experiences, memories, all that. We think we are individuals, we think we are free, we are not. To us, freedom means choice. Choice means confusion, you don’t choose if you are clear.
BL: You said once, one of your most striking phrases as I remember, that your purpose was to set Man free.
K: Yes, it sounds . . . (laughs). “