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subscribe Tell a friend EARLY WRITINGS - 1927 1928 1929
OMMEN CAMP 1929
Ommen, Holland, 1929
To live is far more important than to have the innumerable theories with which everyone is so heavily burdened. To make my position, to make what I say absolutely clear to you, I am going to concern myself with any of your theories, with any beliefs, but only with that which is really important, really vital, really essential, which is Life itself. In order to understand what I say, in its totality, you must first examine the various reasons which have impelled you to come here. By a careful analysis of those reasons you will come down to the fundamental fact that you are seeking -each one individually, not collectively- to realise for yourselves that Truth, that Happiness, that Liberation, that Perfection which is the consummation of individual life. But to arrive at that understanding you must examine all the various enticements, the hopes of salvation or encouragement, which have impelled you to come to this Camp, and to previous Camps.
You have established for yourselves through authority certain beliefs, which I will not call knowledge because they are not based on individual investigation or individual effort, and you have disputed with me time and again over your authoritative beliefs. You have had a set of beliefs, a system of thought, and you have come here to discover what I say, and to twist what I say to suit your particular theories, your particular dogmas, your particular beliefs. The majority of you also are filled with the desire to know who is speaking -if it is Krishnamurti or some other through him. As I have said over and over again, since you know neither me nor the other, your judgment, or the judgment of anyone else, is without value.
And the majority of people who come to the Camp are uncertain in their search; they are not sure of their understanding, and they desire to be well established in their uncertainties, to be confirmed in their little understanding. The majority of you who come to the Camp have a private collection of gods, and you want to add me to your collection. I know this sounds funny, but the fact is ridiculously childish.
Again, the majority of you are so embalmed in your newly acquired prejudices that you hope that I shall comfortably fit into your scheme of things.
These are the main reasons which have prompted you to come here.
I am sorry if I speak frankly, but it is no good for a vast number of people to collect here every year only wanting their little longings satisfied. These can never be satisfied, because they are unessential, they are vain and useless. You want to know what is the right kind of ceremony you should perform, what gods you should worship, what prayers you should say, what kind of beliefs you should hold; with these I have nothing whatever to do. I am not going to deal with them any more. I am not going to deal with your beliefs, your authoritative statements, which you throw in my face at every turn of my discourse, because they are of absolutely no value. From my point of view they are absolutely unessential, none of them will lead you, or anyone in the world, to the absolute, unconditioned Truth. Please do not accept anything I say without understanding because, if you do, that again will become an authoritative belief which, instead of freeing you, will hold you in a narrower cage and will lead you to greater misunderstanding and hence to greater sorrow.
Again, many Star members throughout the world -happily the organisation to which they belong is going to be disbanded- are concerned, not with the essential things of life but rather with the authority behind the one who is speaking. If you do not like what is said, you put it on the shoulders of Krishnamurti; if it is to your liking you say that the Teacher is speaking. Do not seek the personality that embodies the Truth, but Truth itself. You have innumerable prophets, mediators, who will tell you who is who, whether it is ten per cent or sixty per cent of the consciousness of the Teacher which is working through me, or the Teacher himself. That is one of your comfortable theories, which is perverting your clear judgment that is warping your clear perception. You have many beliefs, many theories, and many uncertainties to support you in your uncertainty. A strong man, a free man, a man who has attained, a man who is truly striving after the perfection of life, has no beliefs, because beliefs act as crutches and encouragements. Through fear, through the desire of salvation, through the dependence on externals, you have created innumerable gods, innumerable shrines, temples, and churches and through them you seek that which can never be found by these means. Because you desire to seek salvation from outside, aid from external things, you hoped that I would fit in comfortably and aid you in your trivialities, in your uncertainties, that you could add me to your collection of innumerable gods. That is childish because you can never find that harmony, which is Liberation, from outside; it dwells within you at all times.
And the majority of you are so embalmed in prejudice, in your preconceived ideas of what is Truth, of what is heaven and hell; everything is so clear to you, within such a narrow compass, that when Truth appears you reject it. You do not accept Truth with open arms, you do not take it to your heart, and you do not long for it as a drowning man longs for air.
What I say has nothing whatever to do with any of the unessentials, with your worships, with your prayers, with your rites, with your beliefs, with your innumerable theories.
Are you children playing with toys, calling them by names, or are you seeking the very core, the very heart of life? That search has no value if you can be discouraged or encouraged by the sayings of another. I say again, and please bear it in mind even while I am spearing, that you should not accept anything that I say on authority but rather examine it, analyse it with intelligence and balance.
I say that I am speaking of the whole, the unconditioned, and if you would approach that totality of life, that fulfilment of life, you must not concern yourself with the mouthpiece, the instrument, but with what is said. Because you are weak, you want your weakness strengthened. But we have to create strong men, who will understand the whole and thereby change the sorrows, the trivialities that exist in the world at the present moment. Such men must be born out of this gathering, not weaklings. Weak people produce weak people, superstitious people encourage superstition, but men who have really understood, who are striving after the one essential thing, will alter the appearance of their neighbours and of themselves.
Truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path. So if you are anxious to understand what I am saying -really anxious- then you must put aside all these things without compromise. I am certain, but my certainty should not prejudice or encourage, or urge anyone. But because you are anxious, eager to find out the Truth, you should examine with intelligent care what I am saying. I am speaking about the final fulfilment of all life, to which every singe human being has to come. If you, who gather in thousands at this Camp, are anxious to discover Truth, you must put away all your children toys. It were far better that you should be either playing in the nursery with toys, or destroying all toys, come into the world where there is no illusion, where there is Truth, certainty and that perfection which is Liberation.
You will reply that you cannot put away these toys, that you are too weak, that your morality, your integrity would not stand the storm, that you must have all these crutches to maintain you in your struggle. If you honestly acknowledge that, you are perfectly right. Then your place is in the nursery, and no one should urge you to leave it.
If I speak vehemently, please do not think that I am in any way annoyed, or making a harangue or urging you. I want you to be certain for yourselves, and not play with things that you know nothing about. It were far better to have five people in this Camp who realty understand, who are a danger to all things unreal, than thousands who know nothing, who pretend. To know, you must come absolutely unburdened, putting aside all childish things, free of fear, unconditioned, with the desire to discover.
Either play with toys entirely, or give up all toys.
Either be entirely for one thing or for the other, entirely hot or cold.
Either walk in the land of shadows and unrealities, or be a danger to all unreality and shadow. Don't you see that this is not a question of a vast number of people collecting together and urging each other to do something, but an individual matter? You must decide for yourselves what you will do. You have gathered here for the last six years, and still you are playing with thing that does not matter. Unrealities are surrounding you more and more. You have not had the strength to break away and finish with all compromise.
I maintain, without a shadow of doubt, that I am the whole, the unconditioned, not part of Truth, but the whole. And if you would understand the whole, you must come to it absolutely unburdened. If you would discover whether I am right or wrong, whether I have found that which is eternal or merely the fleeting, you must bring to that discovery an eager, adventurous spirit. How can you be sure if you yourselves are burdened, are overweighed with all these childish things that have no value, that cannot be confronted with that which is eternal. You make innumerable sacrifices, put up with discomfort and many things which are unpleasant physically, but mentally and emotionally you are burdened, heavy, prejudiced, and so you are incapable of discovering for yourselves whether what I am saying is true or false, real or unreal, essential or unessential.
So, if I may suggest it, during this week, while you are sacrificing your physical comforts, which is very easy, you should equally put aside all your childish toys, and try to realise the freedom, the immensity, the incorruptibility of Life. When once you have seen, when once you have caught a glimpse of that vision, then you will know that that of which I speak is neither destructive nor constructive, neither dynamic nor static, because I am speaking about Life, which is the whole, which is the seed of all things, and to understand the whole you must not come burdened by any part, but on the contrary, free, eager in your desire to discover.