Awakening of Intelligence (The Collected Works of J. Krishnamurti Book 1)

by J. Krishnamurti

Questioner: I remember when I came to Switzerland as a small child and I saw a mountain for the first time, it was without any remembrance. It was very beautiful. KRISHNAMURTI: Yes, Sir, when you see it for the first time you don’t say, “It is a mountain”. Then somebody tells you that it is a mountain and the next time you recognise it as such. Now, when you observe, there is the whole process of recognition. You don’t confuse the mountain with a house or an elephant, it is a mountain. Then the difficult problem arises: to observe it non-verbally. “That is a mountain”, “I like it or I don’t like it”, “I wish I could live up there”, and so on. It is fairly easy just to observe it, because the mountains do not affect your life. But your husband, your wife, your neighbour, your son or daughter, they affect you; therefore, you cannot observe them without evaluation, without the image. This is where the problem arises—can you look at the mountain and at your wife or your husband, without a single image? See what happens! If you can observe without an image, then you are looking at them for the first time, aren’t you? Then you are looking at the earth, the stars, the mountains, or the politician, for the first time. That means your eyes are clear, not dimmed with the burden of past memories. That is all. Go into it. Work at it. You will find out the enormous beauty that is in this.