On Right Livelihood by Krishnamurti

Author:Krishnamurti [Krishnamurti]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperSanFrancisco
Published: 2017-05-28T04:00:00+00:00

Saanen, 24 July 1973

Questioner: Would you go into the question of earning a livelihood because that requires capacity, that requires thought, that requires knowledge? Would you go into that?

Krishnamurti: As the culture and the civilization of which we are part now exist, we are brought up to work for our life; work, work, work, all day long. Right? What a horror it is! To be told, to be under somebody, to be directed, to be insulted, to be beaten down. That is the culture in which we have grown, in which you have been moulded. And to conform to that mould, we are educated. We are educated mainly to acquire knowledge, to cultivate memory so as to earn a livelihood. That is the primary function of education as it is now. And therefore in that education there is conformity, competition, imitation, ambition, success. Success implies more money, better position, a better house, and so on. That is the structure in which we have been brought up. Knowledge and the cultivation of memory have become tremendously important to function in this field, and you totally discard the rest of existence. That is a fact.

Now you say, ‘How am I to earn a livelihood, though I need knowledge, and yet I see the limitation of knowledge?’ I need to earn bread and butter, I need to have food, clothes, and shelter; whether the State supplies it, or I work for it, it is the same thing.

Knowledge is very limited; it is mechanical, and we try to escape through religions, through sex, through idiosyncrasies, through neuroticism, through the desire to fulfil ourselves in something apart from this world. But yet what am I to do? How am I to live in harmony, having knowledge, functioning in knowledge, and also freeing the mind from this mechanical process of learning, so that the two run together? So that the mind lives, going to the factory, working without competition, because it is not concerned with achieving a position. It is only concerned with achieving a livelihood. I don’t know if you see the difference. Also it sees very clearly the freedom from the known, which is the knowledge, which is the past. Can these two streams move together harmoniously all the time? That is our problem. Not the problem of earning more, and more, and more, which society wants, which is consumerism, commercialism—all the tricks played on the mind to make you buy, buy, buy. I won’t. I see the falseness. And I see at the same time the freedom, from the known that is knowledge. Can these two work together all the time, so that there is no friction?

Now what is harmony? You understand, that is the problem. I see I must earn a livelihood. I won’t fight, I won’t compete, I will work because I have put my brain, my capacity into it, therefore I work very efficiently because I have no psychological problems with work; I will not compete with anybody, therefore my capacity, my energy, my way of writing, producing, whatever it is, is complete.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.