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Change the World for the Better by Taking Responsibility for all Challenges in Life

Jason Cooper — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 09:33:00 +0000

We Must all Feel Responsible for Change Within Ourselves and the World

Let me start this post with a couple of questions:

What does it mean to be responsible in life?

How can one feel responsible in a world filled with nothing but irresponsibility?

Allow me to give the late Spiritual Philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti the opportunity to answer the previous two questions in the following quote,

“And if one sees the truth of this matter, then what is our responsibility? Not only one has a family, wife and children, one has to be responsible for those naturally, but what is your responsibility globally? You understand my question? For the whole of mankind, because you are the mankind, you have your illusions, your images of god, your images of heaven and so on and so on. You have your rituals, you know, the whole business, exactly like the rest of the world, only in different names, they don’t call themselves Christians they call themselves Muslims, or Hindus, or Buddhists, but the pattern is the same. Right?

So when you realise that, what is our responsibility? That is, how do you respond to the challenge? You understand my question? How do you answer? What is your reaction when you feel that you are humanity? This is a challenge – you understand? How do you meet a challenge? If you meet it from your old individual conditioning, your response will naturally be totally inadequate. Right? It will be fragmentary, it will be rather shoddy. So one has to find out what is our response to this great challenge? Does your mind meet it greatly, or with your fears, with your anxieties? You follow? The little concern about yourself?

So the responsibility depends, if I may point out, upon the response to the challenge. If one says this is your responsibility, join – not the League of Nations but some other nations, form a group, do this and do that, that is not an adequate challenge. How do you respond to this challenge psychologically? Inwardly? Is it just a flutter, a romantic appeal? Or something profound that will transform your whole way of looking at life? Then you are no longer British, American, French – you follow? Will you give up all that? Or merely play with the idea that it is a marvelous Utopian concept? Right?

So the responsibility to this challenge depends on you, whether your mind is capable of meeting this enormous human wholeness, this human current.”

Eloquently said, my old boy!

As you can see, there will always be challenges in life that will prompt us to respond the best way we can. We can either let certain challenges overwhelm us, or we can assume the mantle of responsibility and show courage by dealing with them head on.

The one thing we should not do is to remain ignorant and shirk all responsibilities in our midst, or we may find worse troubles ahead that can lead to great detriment to our lives.

Maybe this is the main reason why we were put on this seemingly unforgiving planet. Maybe the true purpose of our existence is for our very characters and spirits to be put through their paces with the many trials and tribulations of life.

How one deals with their particular test depends on what permeates through their mind. At one end of the scale, we have a mind filled with ignorance and that will no doubt attach itself to irresponsibility and fail to deal with any major challenges adequately, but at the other end we have a mind filled with wisdom which is capable of responding successfully to any test life throws at it.

The question is, can we develop the presence of mind, individually and collectively, to use wisdom when it’s called upon, so that we can learn from the experience of dealing with challenges? If we do decide to tip the scales in favour of wisdom it should immensely help to cultivate growth and improvement for the better throughout.

Challenges of Parenthood

One such responsibility that challenges me presently in life is parenthood. There is perhaps no greater challenge than bringing up a child to be wise, peaceful and compassionate in a violent nonsensical world. Obviously it requires you to have a healthy relationship with your child and a whole lot of luck.

What I have learned since my boy was born is that not only am I responsible for him, but at the same time, I must also be responsible for myself.

Why? Because children are an impressionable lot, so I must be careful not to set a bad example. If I am somehow found wanting in my efforts of providing positive guidance to my son, then I can have no complaints if he becomes irresponsible in his behavior by the time he reaches adulthood.

So having a responsibility in life can be a motivating factor, but can also cause stress through the pressure of being constantly attentive to something.

This however, should not stop you invoking action in overcoming challenges, as well as it giving you a sense of duty to see through every situation to the end – this will more than likely be to your advantage in the long run.

Challenges of Ourselves and the World

However, other than parenthood, another unavoidable challenge that we will face in our life is ironically ourselves. We seem to think that challenges come at us from only external situations, and if we can somehow conquer these we would have been successful towards our goals. But we seem to forget that it is usually our own minds that can debilitate us and that cause conflict whenever an obstacle needs to be surmounted.

Hence the imperative need to develop the motivation and determination within ourselves to rise above the difficult challenges that lie ahead, especially in regard the problems that we have unwittingly created to begin with.

We as a whole must feel responsible for a world which has suffered by our hands since history began because of the past folly of wars and ignorance which still continues to haunts us today. So there is an urgent need for wise cooperation and not bellicose competition to deal with the present problems that humankind now faces.

We seem to have been forever standing on the brink of the precipice. So trying not to tempt fate, I have no wish for us to fall into the abyss just yet. Peace and wisdom seem to be the only possible solutions for our salvation.

I now leave you with a enlightening quote that perfectly describes the true meaning of why we all should be responsible in life,

“Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answers to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.”

~ Viktor E. Frankl, from the book ‘Man’s Search For Meaning’

Jiddu Krishnamurti Points the Way Toward Wisdom

Jason Cooper — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:27:29 +0000

In the following two videos, Jiddu Krishnamurti advises us to illuminate the way, for ourselves, to freedom, peace, and spiritual enlightenment.

Part 1 of 2

Part 2 of 2

How to Manage your Time doing the Important Things you Love – Part 1

Jason Cooper — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:14:30 +0000

Bob Marley was not the only Reggae Artist to be Wise

Legendary Reggae star John Holt once sang, the hugely successful hit “Time Is The Master”, and he was of course right…well, as far as the title he was.

Finding time to blog is getting harder by the day…baby J is growing by the day…and will soon be wanting me to take him to the park for football practice every evening…and that’s after coming home from work.

Time is the master indeed, and what governs our daily activities whether we like it or not…

“We can never turn back the pages of time, though we may wish to relive a happy moment, or say good-bye just one last time, we never can, because the sands of time continue to fall, and we can’t turn the hourglass over.”

~ Anonymous

As much as I can be impatient with people at the best of times, but in regards of “Time” it makes me look like quite a saint…

“Time waits for no man.”

On the other hand, Jiddu Krishnamurti thought that we should all dispense of the knowledge of psychological time (past, present & future) because it will only delay action towards transforming ourselves for the better…

“Insight is not of time – right? Time is thought, time is memory, time is experience, knowledge, and as long as we depend on time, which is divisive, therefore conflict, and to see this, to perceive the actuality of this, then only is there an insight into it.”

~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

Use your Time for doing Important things you Love in your Life

For me, time is a priceless commodity because we have so little of it and once it has gone we can never get it back. So it is imperative that I put my main priorities in life at the forefront in everything I do. I tend to think that we all waste too much precious time doing the things that doesn’t serve any beneficial purpose to our lives.

My advice is to become “the master of time” and manage it by doing the things that are important in your life, especially the things that you love and that enhance your existence.

Personally, my family are one of the very few things for whom I love and find important in my life, and they prompt me to manage my time the best way I can so that I can spend quality moments with them. I still have some way to go in finding the right balance between spending time with myself and with my family, but I’m getting there.

Now out at the Cinema! ‘Terminator 6: Rise of the Vengeful Neglected Family against Dad The Blogger’

Right! I’ll be taking some much needed time off (before the Mrs kills me) from blogging so that I can spend some valuable time (I owe them that) with the family this coming weekend, so as Arnie would say, “I’ll be back!”

Forget Swine Flu…Just don’t Contract Desire or Fear. Take it away, Jiddu!

In the meantime, I will again leave my blog in the capable hands of the philosopher and spiritual teacher, Jiddu Krishnamurti to impart some of his own observations and wisdom on society being trapped in the movement of time, whilst suffering from fear because of it…maybe they should spend their time reading this post.

More Wise advice to come for my Family Members in the Blogosphere

When I get the chance to re-assume responsibility for this blog (which will be sooner rather than later), I will provide a more in-depth look at time management and will offer conscious ways on how you can better manage your time for you to do the important things that will enhance your own personal development, productivity and life in general.

I will also offer more advice on ways to avoid wasting time on superficial activities (such as striving for the illusions called ‘Status’, ‘Success’ and ‘Power’) that fail to benefit your own personal growth and self-contentment.

So look out for part 2 of the series, “How to Manage your Time doing the Important things you Love” in the near future.

Click here to read Part 2

Living Consciously: ‘Think on These Things’ by Jiddu Krishnamurti

Jason Cooper — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 10:48:07 +0000

Description

“The material contained in this volume was originally presented in the form of talks to students, teachers and parents in India, but its keen penetration and lucid simplicity will be deeply meaningful to thoughtful people everywhere, of all ages, and in every walk of life. Krishnamurti examines with characteristic objectivity and insight the expressions of what we are pleased to call our culture, our education, religion, politics and tradition; and he throws much light on such basic emotions as ambition, greed and envy, the desire for security and the lust for power – all of which he shows to be deteriorating factors in human society.’”

- From the Editor’s Note

“Krishnamurti’s observations and explorations of modern man’s estate are penetrating and profound, yet given with a disarming simplicity and directness. To listen to him or to read his thoughts is to face oneself and the world with an astonishing morning freshness.”

- Anne Marrow Lindbergh

My Review

This book is personally very important for me and I cannot emphasise enough how much it has changed my life. No, it didn’t show me the secrets of getting rich overnight nor did it tell me the meaning of life, but what it did do was to lay down the foundations for me to do the rest of the work towards building my own ‘Tower of Babel’ within touching distance of a heavenly liberated mind.

This is a nice introduction to Krishnamurti’s teachings, and he communicates his wisdom in such a non-complicated and enlightening manner. It is laid out in a Q & A format with the audience asking thought provoking questions and the speaker (Krishnamurti) replying with resonant answers.

In conclusion, ‘Think on These Things’ provides you with the tools to free your own mind which will allow you to perceive yourself and the world in a wiser perspective. This book covers every subject that affects us daily, and Krishnamurti never stops to provide enlightening observations that encourages us to rethink the way we currently live, and for us to transform ourselves into conscious intelligent beings.

Highly recommended!

Rating out of 5 stars:

Download: sample pages [PDF]

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Jiddu Krishnamurti: A Wholly Different Way of Living

Jason Cooper — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 11:46:48 +0000

Yes I know, more Krishnamurti.

You may be right in thinking that I have only gone and created a blog site just for Jiddu Krishnamurti considering recent posts that have mostly featured him, but the reason for me starting with him is because I wish you to start with yourself in regards understanding your own mind and emotions.

As intimated by Krishnamurti in the past, we all must have inward change before there can be any change for the better on the outside. So this is the main reason for my somewhat bias beginnings to my writings.

For us to be able to live a more wise, intelligent and productive life we must begin with liberating our minds and thus transform our attitudes towards each other. So what better way to start this blog than for Krishnamurti to point the way for us to take the important initial steps towards learning about ourselves.

So here I begin with an interview between Jiddu Krishnamurti and Prof. Allan W Anderson which was first aired on PBS in 1974. The following video (‘Knowledge and Human Relationships’, which is in 6 parts) is the second of an 18 part series of conversations between Krishnamurti and Anderson called ‘A Wholly Different Way of Living’.

Summary
At a time of unprecedented outer change in the political and social atmospheres, is there a fundamental inner change that is demanded of each one of us? In the eighteen dialogues with Professor Allan W. Anderson, Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies at San Diego State University, J. Krishnamurti indicates that pinning our hopes on organized religion, science, political ideology or the market economy not only fails to address basic human problems but actually creates them.

The way out of our difficulties, Krishnamurti states, can only start in the mind of each one of us, in awareness of the way we actually perceive life, ourselves and others. Professor Anderson, throughout these dialogues, refers to many passages of Western and Eastern religious scriptures that he believes have been misunderstood and which in fact support Krishnamurti’s statements. The dialogues took place at San Diego State University from 18 to 28 February 1974.

Krishnamurti’s Art of Teaching Without Teaching

Jason Cooper — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 23:37:38 +0000

A prominent scene in the Bruce Lee film ‘Enter the Dragon’ comes to mind when describing the late enigmatic, spiritual philosopher, Jiddu Krishnamurti. The scene in question involved a cocky and brash martial arts expert who challenges Bruce Lee to a fight on a junk boat. Instead of Bruce taking the bait and letting either machismo or an apparent insult on his honour trigger him into conflict, he instead demonstrated the ‘art of fighting without fighting’, which defeated his opponent whilst at the same time avoiding physical combat. In other words Bruce beat him peacefully with his mind without resorting to actual violence. Krishnamurti’s philosophy on the art of teaching is in some ways comparable to the wisdom Bruce Lee used in that scene.

Krishnamurti was a man who had tremendous compassion, intelligence and insight into the huge problems that human beings face in their daily lives. As observed by Krishnamurti, these very same problems are caused by our minds being imprisoned by generation upon generation of conditioning. This conditioning has caused psychological divisions that can lead to violent conflict outwardly, and worse still, serious consequences for the planet in general.

Because of this urgent need to liberate the minds of human beings, Krishnamurti sacrificed the majority of his life traveling the world giving talks and lectures discussing all areas of living, as well as addressing the different emotions that affects us inwardly. The ultimate goal for Krishnamurti was to encourage human beings to liberate their own minds from divisible man-made conditions imposed by an authority in the forms of accepted traditions in their cultural upbringing, and institutions in society.

According to Krishnamurti, for the human race to have any hope of perpetual peace and harmony one must partake in earnest self-observation and self-analysis of the mind so to develop a deep understanding of its workings in respect of the mechanical operation called ‘thought’. Through this observational analysis comes simultaneous ‘action’ and ‘transformation’ (it must be noted that ‘psychological time’ is the enemy of man which delays right ‘action’, as stated by Krishnamurti, hence the need to see, act and transform all in one movement) before we can become sensitive, intelligent and conscious beings. Otherwise, if we cannot understand and change the inner we will be forever in conflict with ourselves and with others.

Krishnamurti enlightened many thousands of human beings worldwide during his lifetime (he died aged 90 in 1986), talking to people from every conceivable social and cultural backgrounds; from rich to poor, young to old, black to white and beggar to prime minister; he did not discriminate. But the first most important thing Krishnamurti stressed before giving talks was to state to the audience that he was no teacher who can be depended on to carry them out of their ignorance; but for them to look at him as a mirror or a pointer to truth, so they themselves can do the necessary work towards transformation of the self.

Krishnamurti’s attitude to ‘the teacher’ and ‘teaching’ in general is powerfully expressed in the following quote:

“You must understand it, go into it, examine it, and give your heart and your mind, with everything that you have, to find out a way of living differently. That depends on you, and not on someone else, because in this there is no teacher, no pupil; there is no leader; there is no guru; there is no Master, no Saviour. You yourself are the teacher and the pupil; you are the Master; you are the guru; you are the leader; you are everything.”

~ Talks by Jiddu Krishnamurti in U.S.A 1966 p.73

Personally for me, Krishnamurti has had a huge influence on my own thinking and perceptions of life and I owe him a great deal for opening my mind towards learning about myself and overcoming obstacles. And believe me, I have had to learn to adapt due to changing circumstances in my life ever since meeting my girlfriend four years ago. Since that time we have moved in together and now have a nine month old kid in tow. You try finding the time to play happy families, work, and maintain a blog whilst dealing with the other stresses of everyday life! How wonderful it was to be young, free and single in days gone past. To be honest with you, I have no room to complain as there are plenty of people out there with tons more problems than I will ever suffer, but still manage to rise above it.

However, just to let you guys know that although Krishnamurti was somewhat of an inspiration for me in life, I in no way worship him or thought him of being some perfect being. In fact, for a man who was groomed to be a world spiritual teacher and was treated by his peers as a god-like figure, Krishanmurti’s life was filled with nothing but contradictions and unflattering behaviour on his part. You could even go as far as accusing Krishnamurti for being a hypocrite considering he encouraged others to observe their own desires and impulses (inner energy) so to utilise it in the right direction.

To put Krishnamurti’s apparent flaw of character into context, have you ever heard of the saying ‘do as I say, not as I do’? Well, the aforementioned saying should have been repeated by Krishnamurti to everyone who he happened to talk with. Why so, you may well ask? Well, Krishnamurti was surprisingly found (he actually admitted it in the end) to be having a secret affair with his close friend’s wife which carried on for many years. My initial reaction to this shocking revelation was, how did Jiddu find the time for this extracurricular activity in-between all the many talks and travelling that he did? The answer was, I don’t know, and that is still the case even today. I’m guessing even spiritual men of peace can suffer from uncontrollable sexual urges like the rest of us mere mortals, and would go through hell and high water to satisfy it. Mind you, I would never recommend one to have an affair with a best friend’s spouse just to relieve a particular desire, but this only goes to demonstrate that Krishnamurti suffered from human weaknesses too.

Despite that slight misdemeanour (depending on where your moral standing lies) by Krishnamurti, in my opinion it has in no way detracted or tarnished his legacy regarding his efforts toward revolutionising the human psyche. With his unselfish wisdom, pinpoint insight and phenomenal self-knowledge Krishnamurti has guided (and continues to guide through the many books, audio, and DVDs available today) us to the path of freedom which has allowed us to take the precarious steps towards learning how to become wise, peaceful and loving beings. I for one will not forget the lessons learned from him.

I’m hoping that you too can learn a great deal from Krishnamurti’s teachings, if we are indeed to achieve peace in this troubled world.

You can learn more about Jiddu Krishnamurti’s life by reading his biography. Also, watch out for more from Krishnamurti in the future, as I will be posting book recommendations and the odd video or two.

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