A new edition of a fifty-year-old classic by J. Krishnamurti, finally back in stock after many years off the shelf.
J. Krishnamurti (1895-1986) was a renowned spiritual teacher whose lectures and writings have inspired thousands. His works include On Mind and Thought, On Nature and the Environment, On Relationship, On Living and Dying, On Love and Loneliness, On Fear, and On Freedom.
The Urgency of Change takes the reader on a deeply personal journey through inner doubt and outer hostility. It is a book for everyone who longs to find a synthesis between the potential beauty of life and the brutal myth mankind too often makes of living.
The topics in this book range from conditioning and awareness, fear and God, morality and art, to suffering and suicide.
The dialogues here sparkle with a crispness and clarity that would be the delight of any reader who seeks to deepen their understanding of Krishnamurti’s teachings; and the art of inquiry through the medium of dialogue finds its finest expression in many passages.
The falsehood behind lofty ideals is exposed in statements such as: ‘Forgiveness comes only after you have accumulated rancour; forgiveness is resentment.’ Art is redefined as the absence of ‘me’. A question about fear turns into a discussion on dependence. The question ‘How am I to live in this world?’ turns into ‘How am I to change?’ Thus, to the discerning reader, every chapter presents new insights.
What others have said about Krishnamurti’s teachings:
“Krishnamurti would tell you to investigate the workings of your own mind, in the same way that the Buddha taught us to investigate how suffering arises and by discovering the roots of suffering in our own minds arrive at a state of consciousness that he described as "the end of suffering." ~Eckhart Tolle
“Krishnamurti is one of the greatest philosophers of the age.” ~H.H. the Dalai Lama
“Krishnamurti is one of the most original and profound thinkers in the world.“ ~Alan Watts
“J. Krishnamurti was a spiritual genius who was at least a hundred years ahead of his time. J. Krishnamurti freely and spontaneously expressed Truth beyond Mind and Time. Humanity will be indebted for posterity." ~Deepak Chopra, MD
“Hearing Krishnamurti speak was like listening to a discourse of the Buddha… such power, such intrinsic authority.” ~Aldous Huxley
“Krishnamurti’s words offer the intimate spirit of a truly remarkable presence; poetic, gracious, vast like the sky, and wonderfully wise.” ~Jack Kornfield
“Krishnamurti gave me a great deal to think about and set me on a quest for something which I scarcely understood.” ~Joseph Campbell
Jiddu Krishnamurti lived from 1895 to 1986, and is regarded as one of the greatest philosophical and spiritual figures of the twentieth century. Krishnamurti claimed no allegiance to any caste, nationality or religion and was bound by no tradition. His purpose was to set humankind unconditionally free from the destructive limitations of conditioned mind. For nearly sixty years he traveled the world and spoke spontaneously to large audiences until the end of his life in 1986 at the age of ninety. He had no permanent home, but when not traveling, he often stayed in Ojai, California, Brockwood Park, England, and in Chennai, India. In his talks, he pointed out to people the need to transform themselves through self knowledge, by being aware of the subtleties of their thoughts and feelings in daily life, and how this movement can be observed through the mirror of relationship.
