Thanks to Euan for digging out this Krishnamurti quote. I can see why Krishnamurti formed a friendship with David Bohm: they both share some interesting insights into the nature of thought.
Whether one is Catholic or a Muslim or Hindu, or a Communist, the propaganda of a hundred, two hundred, or five thousand years is part of [the] verbal structure of images which goes to make up our consciousness. We are conditioned by what we eat, by the economic pressures, by the culture and society in which we live. We are that culture, we are that society.
We so easily miss all this conditioning, and how what we think of as “our” original thoughts can be more like trained reflexes. One of the main things I got from reading about Bohm was his idea that real thinking was about noticing more of the web of connection propelling our mind. Which is pointed at in the next bit of Krishnamurti:
Merely to revolt against it is to revolt against ourselves. If you rebel against yourself, not knowing what you are, your rebellion is utterly wasted. But to be aware, without condemnation, of what you are – such awareness brings about action which is entirely different from the action of a reformer or a revolutionary.
This reminds me of that nugget of Eric Fromm I blogged the other day, suggesting love is action.
