Krishnamurti: One Has to be an Outsider to Society

Photo: Rui Palha

There is no leader, there is no teacher, there is nobody to tell you what to do. You are alone in this mad brutal world.

— Krishnamurti

One may live in society, but one has to be an outsider to society. And to be an outsider to society one has to be free of society.

Society demands that you act according to an idea; that is all society knows; that is all that human beings know—conform, imitate, accept, obey.

And when one accepts the edicts of tradition, conforms to the pattern that society has set up (which means human beings have set up) then one is part of this whole conditioned human existence that wastes its energy through constant effort, constant conflict, confusion, misery.

Is it possible for human beings to be free of this confusion, of this conflict? …

The whole social structure—which is to be competitive, aggressive, comparing oneself with another, accepting an ideology, a belief, and so on—is based on conflict, not only within oneself but also outwardly…

As one observes it one can see what a waste of energy it is. And one must extricate oneself from this social disorder, from this social immorality—which means one must be alone.

Though you may live in society you are no longer accepting its structure and values—the brutality, the envy, the jealousy, the competitive spirit—and therefore you are alone, and when you are alone you are mature.

Maturity is not of age.

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You can find this passage in Krishnamurti’s profound little book — On Nature and the Environment