We are saying a good society can come into being immediately—not something to be achieved in the future—that [a] good society can come into being only when we think together, which means no division between you and another. Then, our whole conduct changes. Right? Do you see that? Then, one does not exploit the other, either sexually, or in various psychological, subtle ways.
from Can We Together Create a Good Society? (1979)
When Krishnamurti’s Notebook first became available in 1976, it was soon realized that it was a spiritually unique document giving his perceptions and experiences and describing his states of consciousness. It is a kind of diary, but one that is little concerned with the day to day process of living, though very much aware of the natural world.
There is outer and inner fragmentation. Who is going to change man? Have organisations of any kind helped? To go very far we must begin very near, which is with ourselves. Is one aware of one’s thoughts, feelings, fears and pleasures? Can one listen purely, without any distortion? Is there a responsibility to listen to the world and to your own anxiety and sorrow? Can you observe without any prejudice? To learn, mustn’t the brain be free of knowledge? What is action in your life? In relationship, has knowledge any place at all? Can the brain only register what is necessary?
Is there an action which is not fragmentary, which has no regrets and no sense of incompleteness? Is there security in the things of thought? Is all psychological security an illusion? Can one attend without concentration and effort? Does the very thought which concentrates also distract? Have you ever given attention in which there is no otherness, deviation or distraction? To attend implies there is no centre from which you are listening. When you have an insight into the nature of thought it finds its right place.
Is there psychological time at all? How do we deal with a problem? Is time involved in love? Is time, a movement in division, necessary? Can we change fundamentally, radically, not through evolution or time? Can hurt be abandoned instantly? Can one act without effort or time? Is there a perception which ends the image without allowing time? What takes place when you observe only the fact and do not invent the opposite? Can you resolve a problem as it arises? Are problems produced from a centre?
What is our relationship with each other? In that relationship, is there order? How will you bring order there? Is desire, the sensory responses with images thought has created, a factor of disorder? When pain is over, can one totally forget it, totally non-register it? When there is no relationship, isn’t there fear? Are you aware at the moment of fear, not to let thought come into it, to realize it has no place at the moment of action? Why has there been so little beauty and communication with nature in our lives? At the instant of pleasure is there recording? Culture means to grow, develop the totality of one’s life.
Have the gods been created from our sorrow and fear? In an inquiry, are you free of fear? Freedom is observation without conclusion. Can you observe the whole nature of sorrow? When there is no motive in your examination, is sorrow different from you? Can a new culture only be born out of a religious mind? Psychological transformation is the only revolution. A religious mind has no philosophy because it is with that which is eternally sacred. Sorrow has to end to understand the religious mind.
Putting death in opposition to life, are we afraid to live and afraid to die? Attachment implies continuity. If it does not end, what happens to the whole movement of consciousness of man? Is love within this consciousness? Has love a continuity? Is death the ending of attachment? When there is complete order in one’s life, that can look at cosmic order. What is attention, inattention and distraction? Does attention have continuity, a centre? In silence comes that which is eternally, timelessly sacred.
Is there another kind of thinking which is not about something? When you give attention completely, is there a center from which you attend? Can self-centered problems be solved without a different quality of thinking? When there is no tomorrow, psychologically, what happens to the quality of your mind? Then what is your relationship to another? In thinking together, is there opposition? Where does thinking together lead in my relationship to another?
When we think together, is there a sense of fulfilment, division or frustration? What happens to relationship? If there is no psychological time at all, what is relationship between people? Do you say, ‘I will love you tomorrow’? Will belief or authority bring us together? Is there security in separateness? When we think together, out of that a good society will be created. A good society can only come into being when you are responsible for another.
Has the desire for psychological security taken over physical demands? Is there security in a belief, ideal or experience? Can you listen so completely that you see the absurdity of living in illusion and end it? Can we stay with fact and have no relationship to non-fact? What is the quality of the mind that is facing what is happening? If you have no images, what is your relationship to the mind which is still seeking security? In thinking together, isn’t there total security? When you put aside choice, is there insight into the whole of illusion?
Krishnamurti’s opening statement during the third Q & A meeting in his 1985 Saanen lecture series.
This trialogue between Krishnamurti, Bohm, and Shainberg methodically uncovers the nature of man’s psyche, his fragmentation, the limitations of a thought-based society, and finds out if there is a wholeness, a sacredness in life which is untouched by thought.
This trialogue between Krishnamurti, Bohm, and Shainberg methodically uncovers the nature of man’s psyche, his fragmentation, the limitations of a thought-based society, and finds out if there is a wholeness, a sacredness in life which is untouched by thought.
This trialogue between Krishnamurti, Bohm, and Shainberg methodically uncovers the nature of man’s psyche, his fragmentation, the limitations of a thought-based society, and finds out if there is a wholeness, a sacredness in life which is untouched by thought.
This trialogue between Krishnamurti, Bohm, and Shainberg methodically uncovers the nature of man’s psyche, his fragmentation, the limitations of a thought-based society, and finds out if there is a wholeness, a sacredness in life which is untouched by thought.
This trialogue between Krishnamurti, Bohm, and Shainberg methodically uncovers the nature of man’s psyche, his fragmentation, the limitations of a thought-based society, and finds out if there is a wholeness, a sacredness in life which is untouched by thought.
This trialogue between Krishnamurti, Bohm, and Shainberg methodically uncovers the nature of man’s psyche, his fragmentation, the limitations of a thought-based society, and finds out if there is a wholeness, a sacredness in life which is untouched by thought.
This trialogue between Krishnamurti, Bohm, and Shainberg methodically uncovers the nature of man’s psyche, his fragmentation, the limitations of a thought-based society, and finds out if there is a wholeness, a sacredness in life which is untouched by thought.
A Beautiful Death
When Aldous Huxley was on his deathbed, he asked his wife Laura to administer him with LSD. She agreed. Two weeks after her husband’s death, Laura wrote this moving and detailed account of Aldous’s last days to her brother-in-law, Julian.
Alan Watts Interviews Laura Huxley
Alan Watts and Laura Huxley discuss the life and work of Aldous Huxley. They touch on his transformation into a skilled lecturer, his profound intellect and wide-ranging interests, his experiences with psychedelics, his relationship with Krishnamurti, and his ability to live fully in the present moment. Recorded at Watts' houseboat and later broadcast on KPFA Sausalito.
Artificial Intelligence and the Superorganism
Daniel Schmachtenberger and Nate Hagens discuss a surprisingly overlooked risk to our global systems and planetary stability: artificial intelligence. Through a systems perspective, Daniel and Nate piece together the biophysical history that has led humans to this point, heading towards (and beyond) numerous planetary boundaries, and facing geopolitical risks all with existential consequences. How does artificial intelligence not only add to these risks, but accelerate the entire dynamic of the metacrisis? What is the role of intelligence versus wisdom on our current global pathway, and can we change course? Does artificial intelligence have a role to play in creating a more stable system, or will it be the tipping point that drives our current one out of control?
Buddhism as Dialogue
How does a person get out of a predicament they’ve talked themselves into?
Cosmic Network
Alan takes us from the very small to the very large, explaining the interrelatedness of all things in the universe as a vast network which weaves us into a united yet unnamable divinity.
Do You Do It Or Does It Do You?
Alan explores the meaning of personal free will in the context of core tenets in Eastern mythology: how is it possible to control anything when preexisting conditions outside of our influence determine our present situation? It is a realization of the hidden unity behind our apparent diversity and a relinquishing of obsessive control that enables us to unlock a pathway leading out of the conundrum and towards a celebration and reverence of life.
Individual and the World
This seminar covers a variety of topics, from the illusion of our separation from the environment and the futility of trying to be genuine, all the way to the discipline required to handle mystical experiences in order to bring something back from them to share with the rest of the world. The presentation ends with his endorsement of insanity, saying a healthy amount of craziness in old age is necessary to prepare for a joyous death.
Intellectual Yoga
“A Journey to Unthinking”—introducing Eastern traditions of yoga. Alan describes the entrance into the unspeakable reality, first from the East by practices of dhyāna yoga and zazen, and then from the West through the intellectual perspectives of Ludwig Wittgenstein and Spencer Brown. East and West all arrive at the same mysterious That Which Is Unspeakable. Delivered at the First Unitarian Church.
Not What Should Be, But What Is
Alan reminds his audience that our mental image of the world is just an internal fairy tale loosely related to the truth of reality. Paying attention to our immediate sensory experiences can therefore help us lift this thought-tainted veil, an action which reveals the magic of being far better than any words ever could.
Pursuit of Pleasure
Where does pleasure come from? What are we trying to achieve in our frantic day-to-day activities? Why are we in such a hurry? And why do all of our efforts to pin the universe down and bring it under our control dial up the misery?
Q and A With God
After discussing the nature of consciousness, the human mind, and the philosophical viewpoint that every person is God, Alan Watts assumes the role of God himself for the latter half of this lecture, answering each question his audience serves with wit and insight.
The Houseboat Summit
An extended conversation between Alan Watts, Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, and Gary Snyder on the problem of whether to “drop out or take over,” conducted on Alan Watts’ houseboat in 1967.
The Nature of Things
The Veil of Thoughts
Alan describes the ways in which we have concealed truth behind a veil of thoughts. He talks about how and why we mistake symbols for reality, argues that civilization may be a misguided experiment, offers observations about the way in which abstractions have become more powerful than the realities they are referencing, and explains how we can become “unbamboozled” from these ways of thinking.
The Wisdom of Insecurity
This 1951 classic explores how our modern pursuit of security through money, status, and technology leads to anxiety. Watts artfully weaves Eastern philosophy and Christian mysticism to argue that seeking permanence in an impermanent world is futile. Rather, we must embrace the present moment and recognize the illusion of the ego. Watts writes breezily with penetrating insight about how relaxing our grip on life's impermanence paradoxically allows us to live fully. Though challenging at times, ultimately Watts' message brings great comfort in understanding the futility of chasing security. Give it a read and you may just find the wisdom that insecurity brings!
The World As Self (Part 2)
The journey of self-realization follows the winding path inward, to the place where you already are. As the egoic illusion falls away, the universe unveils your true face. Trust in the guru's skillful means, which trick the mind into its own liberation. Embrace each stage of life with sincerity, not forcing but allowing insight to dawn in its own time. Know yourself to be That, the eternal Self of all that is.
Thusness
Alan Watts discusses the concept of "thusness" or "suchness" in Eastern philosophy, exploring the meaning of the Sanskrit word tathātā and its potential to help us cultivate a deeper sense of presence and awareness in our daily lives.
Transcending Duality
An exploration of the male and female symbolism in Tantric yoga and the unity of polar opposites as a form of resonance.
Way Beyond Seeking
With charm and wit, philosopher Alan Watts unpacks key principles of Taoism in this lecture. He muses how even a fruit fly sees itself as the pinnacle of creation, much as we humans do. Opposites like yin and yang depend on each other, Watts reminds us, like two sticks balancing upright. He warns of the limits of words to capture life's complexity. Yet through stories and logic, Watts nudges us to embrace non-action, cultivate intuition, and realize our unity with nature. Trust your brain, he cajoles, but avoid overconfidence. Taoist perspectives to ponder and enjoy.
Zen and the Art of the Controlled Accident
Most people grow up learning to treat life as a problem, a set of circumstances which must be controlled with an iron will. Some transcend this view, realizing there is no problem and nothing to attain. In that state of mind it becomes possible to act without intention, to have “controlled accidents,” and in so doing one may rejoin society as a whimsical rascal who breaks things to improve them.
