You Are Part of This Whole Humanity

As a child in India, Krishnamurti was taken from his father by a group of British Theosophists. They believed he would become a great teacher of their beliefs, so they spent years training him and named him the head of their new organization, the Order of the Star in the East.

Years later, there was excitement all over the world as the Theosophists began preparations to announce that Krishnamurti was an incarnation of "The World Teacher." (Goyische for Moshiach?)

Before they could make the announcement, Krishnamurti renounced his position and returned the money and land that had been donated to the organization. He declared that no organized belief system could lead people to truth or to freedom.

However, during the next sixty-four years, people continued to ask, "Who are you?"

"When they ask you who you are, in that question is implied, 'You are somebody very great, therefore I am going to imitate you.'"

According to Krishnamurti, who we are is the result of imitation. We imitate fashions; the learning we acquire in school is imitation; even our inner lives are a result of imitation. He encouraged each person he met to discover who you are.

It is nearly impossible to step out of the "narrow circle" of our identities and to learn something new about ourselves. Our brains have become "sluggish, slow, dull, because we have conformed, we have obeyed, we have followed." To discover who you are requires a "psychological revolution in which there is-- at depth-- no conformity."

Don't conform, don't compare yourself to others. Inquire, observe yourself, and you will see that you are not "a small entity, struggling in the corner of the earth. You are part of this whole humanity," he reminds us.

I've relied on organized religion for many things, including a sense of belonging. Eventually, I realized that I already belong. I belong to the Earth, to myself, and everywhere is my home.

Although I had recognized that belief systems prevent a true experience of the world, until I listened to Krishnamurti, I did not consider how deeply beliefs penetrate my thinking. As I mulled over his assertion that we are the "result of a lot of imitations," I realized that everything about me is imitation!

His challenge "to step out of that narrow circle" of imitation and of absorption in our imitation-selves, does seem impossible, but he tempts us with a beautiful promise. This complete revolution in our thinking will give us "tremendous responsibility, vitality, beauty, love."