excerpts

Question: Juvenile delinquency is increasing. What is the reason and what is the remedy?

Krishnamurti: Are not the roots of this problem buried in the whole structure of modern society? And is not society the outcome of what we are?

We are at war with each other, are we not?, because we all want to be somebody in this society; we are all trying to achieve success, to get somewhere, to acquire virtue and become something. Politically, economically, socially and religiously, we want to arrive, to have the best or to be the best, and in this process there is fear, envy, greed, ambition, ruthlessness.

Our whole society is based on this process. And we want our children to fit into society, to be like ourselves, to conform to the pattern of so-called culture. But within this pattern there is revolt, among the children as among the grown-ups.

The problem is even more complex when we consider the whole system of education. We have to find out what we mean by education.

What is the purpose of education? Is it to make us conform, to fit into society? - which is what we are doing now with our children.

Or does education consist in helping the child, the student, to be aware of all the conditioning influences - nationalistic, religious, and so on - and be free of them?

If we are serious about this - and we should be serious -  we will really study the child, will we not? We will not subject him to some particular influence or authority and thereby mould him into a pattern, but will help him to be aware of all influences, so that he can grow in freedom. We will observe him constantly and carefully - be aware of the books he reads, with their glorified heroes, watch him in his work, in his play, in his rest - and will help him to be unconditioned and free.

To help the child to be aware of all the nationalistic tendencies, the prejudices and religious beliefs which condition the mind, really means, does it not, that we must be aware first of our own ways of thinking.

'We cannot change society; only the individual can change. But we are not individuals, are we?'

After all, we grown-ups do not know how to live together, we are everlastingly battling with each other and within ourselves. This battle, this struggle, projects itself into society; and into that society we want to fit the child. We cannot change society; only the individual can change. But we are not individuals, are we? We are caught up in the mass, in society;

and so long as we do not understand ourselves and free the mind from its self-imposed limitations, how can we help the child?

Question: Can one live in the world without ambition? Does it not isolate us, to be without ambition?

Krishnamurti: I think this is a fundamental question. We can see what ambition makes of the world. Everybody wants to be something. The artist wants to be famous, the schoolboy wants to become the President, the priest wants to be the bishop, and so on. Everyone throughout the world is trying, struggling, forcing himself, in order to be important. Even in our education, the boy who is not clever is compared with the boy who is clever - which is utterly stupid. And we see the result of this ambition projected in the world. Each nation is seeking to maintain itself at all costs...

The man who is [content to be unknown, considered to be] nothing is without fear, without ambition; he is alone, but not isolated. To free oneself from ambition requires a great deal of insight, intelligence and love; but such a man, who is as nothing, is not isolated.

Editor's note: see more on this discussion of ambition in this lecture.