“War is the spectacular and bloody projection of our everyday life, is it not? War is merely an outward expression of our inward state, an enlargement of our daily action. It is more spectacular, more bloody, more destructive, but it is the collective result of our individual activities. Therefore, you and I are responsible for war and what can we do to stop it?
Obviously the ever-impending war cannot be stopped by you and me, because it is already in movement; it is already taking place, though at present chiefly on the psychological level. As it is already in movement, it cannot be stopped – the issues are too many, too great, and are already committed.
But you and I, seeing that the house is on fire, can understand the causes of that fire, can go away from it and build in a new place with different materials that are not combustible, that will not produce other wars. That is all that we can do. You and I can see what creates wars, and if we are interested in stopping wars, then we can begin to transform ourselves, who are the causes of war.”
The First and Last Freedom, p.182
“An American lady came to see me a couple of years ago, during the war. She said she had lost her son in Italy and the she had another aged sixteen whom she wanted to save; so we talked the thing over. I suggested to her that to save her son she had to cease to be an American; she had to cease to be greedy, cease piling up wealth, seeking power, domination, and be morally simple – not merely simple in clothes, in outward things, but simple in her thoughts and feelings, in her relationships. She said, ‘That is too much. You are asking far too much. I cannot do it, because circumstances are too powerful for me to alter.’ Therefore she was responsible for the destruction of her son.”
The First and Last Freedom, p.182
“If you loved your children with your heart, not with your shoddy little minds, do you think there would be a war tomorrow?”
Unknown source
This stuff is so powerful. I love Krishnamurti – a quote I like is “the transformation of the world begins with the transformation of the self” but your anecdote about the lady and her sons illlustrates more clearly.
can’t say for certain who the “shoddy little minds” quote is from, but i have a suspicion it’s kenneth patchen