Jiddu Krishnamurti - To resolve a problem, one must see the problem very clearly. Clarity and observation are necessary To observe there must be clarity, light - artificial light or sunlight. Outwardly, if you would see a leaf clearly, you need light and you must visually observe it. It is fairly easy to observe a leaf objectively, given a light - artificial or otherwise.
But it becomes much more complex when you go inwardly, where one needs also clarity to observe. We may wish to observe the whole phenomenon of human beings - his sorrows his miseries, his everlasting conflict within himself; the greed, the despairs, the frustrations, the mounting problems, not only mechanical but human. There, too, one needs clarity, which is light, to see this mechanism within the human being. And to observe, choice is not necessary. When you see something very clearly, as you do this microphone or that tree or your neighbour
sitting next to you, there choice is not necessary, conflict is not necessary. What brings about conflict within and without is when we do not see clearly, when our prejudices, our nationalities, our peculiar tendencies and so on block clarity, prevent light. And when there is light, you can observe.
Observation and light go together, otherwise you cannot see. You cannot see that tree, the trunk, the sides, the nature of it, the curve of it, the beauty of it, and the quality of it, unless there is a
great deal of light. And your observation must be attentive. You may casually look at that trunk and pass it by. But you have to look at it, to observe it in detail, carefully, with a great deal of care and affection and tenderness; only then can you observe.
Then, observation with clarity needs no choice. I think we must understand this very clearly, because we are going to go into problems or issues that need a great deal of observation, a great
deal of detailed perception, seeing, listening. We always deal with symptoms - like war, which is a symptom. And we think we understand the symptoms, if we examine the cause or understand
the cause. So between the symptom and the cause we are everlastingly vacillating, backward and forward, not knowing how to deal with the cause; and even if we know how to deal with the
cause, there are the innumerable blocks, the innumerable influences that prevent action.
So our issue then becomes very simple: to see very clearly you need a great deal of light; and the light does not come except through observation, when you can see minutely every movement
of your thought, of your feeling; and to see clearly, there must be no conflict, no choice.
But it becomes much more complex when you go inwardly, where one needs also clarity to observe. We may wish to observe the whole phenomenon of human beings - his sorrows his miseries, his everlasting conflict within himself; the greed, the despairs, the frustrations, the mounting problems, not only mechanical but human. There, too, one needs clarity, which is light, to see this mechanism within the human being. And to observe, choice is not necessary. When you see something very clearly, as you do this microphone or that tree or your neighbour
sitting next to you, there choice is not necessary, conflict is not necessary. What brings about conflict within and without is when we do not see clearly, when our prejudices, our nationalities, our peculiar tendencies and so on block clarity, prevent light. And when there is light, you can observe.
Observation and light go together, otherwise you cannot see. You cannot see that tree, the trunk, the sides, the nature of it, the curve of it, the beauty of it, and the quality of it, unless there is a
great deal of light. And your observation must be attentive. You may casually look at that trunk and pass it by. But you have to look at it, to observe it in detail, carefully, with a great deal of care and affection and tenderness; only then can you observe.
Then, observation with clarity needs no choice. I think we must understand this very clearly, because we are going to go into problems or issues that need a great deal of observation, a great
deal of detailed perception, seeing, listening. We always deal with symptoms - like war, which is a symptom. And we think we understand the symptoms, if we examine the cause or understand
the cause. So between the symptom and the cause we are everlastingly vacillating, backward and forward, not knowing how to deal with the cause; and even if we know how to deal with the
cause, there are the innumerable blocks, the innumerable influences that prevent action.
So our issue then becomes very simple: to see very clearly you need a great deal of light; and the light does not come except through observation, when you can see minutely every movement
of your thought, of your feeling; and to see clearly, there must be no conflict, no choice.
