The Answer Is in the Problem (eBook)

London, England, 1955

First Talk in London

Though we have many problems, and each problem seems to produce so many other problems, perhaps we can consider together whether the wisest thing to do is not to seek the solution of any problem at all. It seems to me that our minds are incapable of dealing with life as a whole; we deal, apparently, with all problems fragmentarily, separately, not with an integrated outlook. Perhaps the first thing, if we have problems, is not to seek an immediate solution for them but to have the patience to inquire deeply into them and discover whether these problems can ever be solved by the exercise of will. What is important, I think, is to find out, not how to solve the problem, but how to approach it. Because, without freedom, every approach must be restricted; without freedom, every solution—economic, political, personal, or whatever it be—can only bring more misery, more confusion. So I feel it is important to find out what is true freedom, to discover for oneself what freedom is.

There is only one freedom—religious freedom; there is no other freedom. The freedom that the so-called welfare state brings, the economic, national, political, and various other forms of freedom that one is given surely are not freedom at all, but only lead to further chaos and further misery—which is obvious to anyone who observes. So I think we should spend all our time, energy, and thought in inquiring as to what is religious freedom—whether there is such a thing. That inquiry requires a great deal of insight, energy, and perseverance if we are to carry the investigation right through to the end and not be turned aside by any attraction. I think it would be worthwhile if we could, all of us, concentrate on this problem—what it is to be religiously free. Is it possible to free the mind—that is, our own minds, the individual mind—from the tyranny of all churches, from all organized beliefs, all dogmas, all systems of philosophy, all the various practices of yoga, all preconceptions of what reality or God is, and, by putting these aside, thereby discover for oneself if there is a religious freedom? For surely, religious freedom alone can offer, ultimately and fundamentally, the solution to all our problems, individual as well as collective.

This means, really, can the mind uncondition itself? Because the mind, our own mind, is after all the result of time, of growth, of tradition, of vast experience—not only experience in the present, but the collective experience of the past. So the question is not how to ennoble our conditioning, how to better it—which most of us are attempting to do—but rather to free the mind entirely from all conditioning. It seems to me that the real issue is not what religion to belong to, what system or philosophy to accept, or what discipline to practice in order to realize something which is beyond the mind—if there is something beyond the mind—but rather to find out, to discover for oneself, by our own individual understanding, investigation, and self-knowledge, whether the mind can be free. That is the greatest, the only revolution—to free the mind from all conditioning.

After all, to find something which is eternal—if there is such a thing—the mind must not think in terms of time; there must be no accumulation of the past, for that breeds time. The very experiences that one gathers must be shed because they manufacture, they build up, time. Surely, our mind is the result of time; it is conditioned by the past, by the innumerable experiences, memories, which we have gathered and which give to us a continuity. So, can one be really free, religiously—in the deepest sense of that word religion? Because religion obviously is not the rituals, the dogmas, the social morality, going to church every Sunday, practicing virtue, the good behavior which leads to respectability—surely all that is not religion. Religion is something much more, something utterly different from all that.

If one would find what it is to be religiously free, I think the whole problem of will, desire, with its intentions, its pursuits, its purposes, its innumerable projections—in all of which the mind is caught—must be understood. So it seems to me that our problems, whatever they are, can be dissolved totally only by burning away the process of will—which may sound completely foreign to a Western mind, and even to the Eastern mind. Because, after all, the so-called religion that we generally accept is essentially based on the process of becoming, is it not?—of ultimately reaching a certain state which is either projected or invented. We may experience a new state at rare moments, but then we pursue those rare moments—which also implies, does it not, the cultivation of the will to be, to become something, in which is the process of time. If the mind would seek something which is beyond time, beyond the limitations of our own experience, which is essentially based on the conditioning of action, thought, feeling—if we would find something beyond all that, surely our mind, which is made up of so many pursuits and desires, must come to an end. Which means really, does it not, the understanding of the whole process of the mind as being conditioned. After all, a mind that is conditioned, shaped, molded in the particular culture of any form of society, obviously cannot find that which is beyond all thinking. And the discovery of finding that which is beyond is the revolution, the true religion.

So what is significant is not whether you are a Christian, a Buddhist, a Hindu, whether you are a follower, changing from one religion to another to satisfy your particular vanity, accepting certain forms of rituals and discarding the old ones—you know the sensations that one gets from attending religious ceremonies—all this, it seems to me, is detrimental, completely useless for a mind that would find out what is true. But to relinquish this pursuit through the action of will surely only breeds further conditioning, and I think it is important to understand this. Because, we are used to exerting effort to achieve a result. That is why we practice; we practice certain virtues, pursue a certain form of morality, and all this indicates, does it not, an effort on our part to arrive somewhere.

I wish we could really think about this, discuss it, investigate it together—how to really free the mind from all conditioning, and whether it is possible to uncondition the mind either through the action of will or through analysis of the various processes of thought and their reactions, or whether there is a totally different way of looking at this, whereby there is merely an awareness which burns away all the processes of thought at the very root. All thinking obviously is conditioned; there is no such thing as free thinking. Thinking can never be free; it is the outcome of our conditioning, of our background, of our culture, of our climate, of our social, economic, political background. The very books that you read and the very practices that you do are all established in the background, and any thinking must be the result of that background. So if we can be aware—and we can go presently into what it signifies, what it means, to be aware—perhaps we shall be able to uncondition the mind without the process of will, without the determination to uncondition the mind. Because the moment you determine, there is an entity who wishes, an entity who says, “I must uncondition my mind.” That entity itself is the outcome of our desire to achieve a certain result, so a conflict is already there. So, is it possible to be aware of our conditioning, just to be aware?—in which there is no conflict at all. That very awareness, if allowed, may perhaps burn away the problems.

After all, we all feel there is something beyond our own thinking, our own petty problems, our sorrows. There are moments, perhaps, when we experience that state. But unfortunately, that very experiencing becomes a hindrance to the further discovery of greater things because our minds hold on to something that we have experienced. We think that it is the real, and so we cling to it, but that very clinging obviously prevents the experiencing of something much greater.

So, the question is: Can the mind which is conditioned look at itself, be aware of its own conditioning without any choice, be aware without any comparison, without any condemnation, and see whether in that awareness the particular problem, the particular thought, is not burned away totally at the root? Surely any form of accumulation, either of knowledge or experience, any form of ideal, any projection of the mind, any determined practice to shape the mind—what it should be and should not be—all this is obviously crippling the process of investigation and discovery. If one really goes into it and deeply thinks about it, one will see that the mind must be totally free from all conditioning for religious freedom. And it is only in that religious freedom that all our problems, whatever they be, are solved.

So I think our inquiry must be not for the solution of our immediate problems but rather to find out whether the mind—the conscious as well as the deep unconscious mind in which is stored all the tradition, the memories, the inheritance of racial knowledge—whether all of it can be put aside. I think it can be done only if the mind is capable of being aware without any sense of demand, without any pressure—just to be aware. I think it is one of the most difficult things—to be so aware—because we are caught in the immediate problem and in its immediate...