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Word Gems 

exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity

 

Jiddu Krishnamurti
1895 - 1986

 'Anger is a reaction, and I know I'm angry. It is something outside of me. I don't say, "I am anger", but "I am angry". When I say "I am anger", there is no distance. That is what is. But when I say, "I am angry", there is a distance'.

 
 

 

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Editor’s prefatory comments:

Jiddu Krishnamurti has been an important teacher in my life. I began learning about the “true” and “false” selves about 15 years ago, and his insights served to inaugurate this vital area of enquiry.

He was the one to make clear that “guru” signifies merely “one who points,” not “infallible sage.” Pointing the way is what even the best teachers provide, but no more. One must walk the path of enlightenment alone, no one can do this for us.

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Public Discussion 05, Saanen, Switzerland - 08 August 1965

excerpt
 

Questioner: In what sense do you use that word "distance"?

Krishnamurti: There is a distance when there is a centre of condemnation, justification, the censor; apart from the fact, the what is. But when there is no centre as the censor, is there a distance between the fact and oneself? Is there a distance?

Look. I am angry. Anger is a reaction, and I know I'm angry. It is something outside of me. I don't say, "I am anger", but "I am angry". When I say "I am anger", there is no distance. That is what is. But when I say, "I am angry", there is a distance; and I then try to cover that distance by trying to do something about it. But when I realize I am anger, there is no space to do anything, but only the fact. Then what is becomes immensely important - not how to get rid of it. Therefore, what is is completely transformed when there is no distance created by the censor.

 
 
 

Editor's last word:

Compare this to the discussion of “no you and no me” in reference to Twin Soul romantics. In the perception of subject and object, of lover and beloved, there is distance. But if one finds oneself plunged into an awareness of singularity, of “One Person,” a loosening of the boundaries of “you and me,” then there is no distance.