To Be Human is a fresh, scholarly and lively compilation of Krishnamurti's teachings. "To Be Human" presents the core of Krishnamurti's message in a new way, alerting the reader to his innovative use of language, the ways in which he would use "old words with new interpretations".
The book's source notes will aid the inquisitive reader who wishes a deeper understanding of this great teacher's message. Editor David Skitt's Introduction to this volume points out Krishnamurti's relevance to the individual and the social issues of today's world. Using "The Core of the Teachings", an outline written by Krishnamurti, as the structure for the book, Skitt takes the major aspects of the teachings and gives extensive quotations from Krishnamurti to expand upon such themes as:
- Is there such a thing as truth apart from personal opinion?
- In observation one begins to discover the lack of freedom
- The division between the observer and the observed is an illusion.
'Why are we influenced? In politics, as you know, it is the job of the politician to influence us; and every book, every teacher, every guru - the more powerful, the more eloquent the better we like it - imposes his thought, his way of life, his manner of conduct, upon us. So life is a battle of ideas, a battle of influences, and your mind is the field of the battle. The politician wants your mind; the guru wants your mind; the saint says, do this and not that, and he also wants your mind; and every tradition, every form of habit or custom, influences, shapes, guides, controls your mind. I think that is fairly obvious. It would be absurd to deny it. The fact is so.' -- J. Krishnamurti
Publisher: Shambhala
Current publication: 2000
ISBN: 978-1-57062-596-1
Pages count: 206
Format: paperback
First published: 2000
