freedom

I have known, traveled with, interviewed and directed a number of documentaries on the life and insights of J. Krishnamurti, and have done so for more than thirty years. What follows is a conversation I had that was included in a feature documentary titled The Challenge of Change. mm

Krishnamurti with Michael Mendizza

M The world crisis is unquestionably growing more and more acute. You have said that the outer crisis, in society and the world, reflects an inner crisis in human consciousness. What do you mean by that?

Propaganda has been around as long as politicians. Propaganda refers to deliberately false or misleading information that supports the political interests of those in power.

Most believe they are well informed but aren’t. Thirty percent of the American public gets their news from talk radio. Only eleven percent read newspapers. The way we get information determines the information we get. The information we get shapes perception.

This is about media and the so called ‘digital culture’ or as Mark Bauerlein, English Professor Emory University describes in his new book: The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes our Future.

To learn the mind must be free. It is only the free mind that can hold or perceive something new, while the mind that is full sloughs around and usually ends up making a mess.

If you and I, ordinary people, don’t see beyond the level that causes our problems, their expanding weight, complexity and intensity will crush us. We have no choice. The time has come for each of us to become enlightened, not in a cave, not on the shores of the Ganges, in some temple or monastery. We haven’t the time. We must become enlightened right here, right now, as we meet the day-to-day challenge of living.

If there is a goal for dialogue perhaps it should manifest first as attention - not content.

Dialogue does two things. It reveals the flawed structure which causes our thoughts, feelings and behavior to be so confused and with this revelation comes a quality of attention and perception which is clear, true. Dialogue brings us to the edge of the unknown, closer to the mystery and it opens the door.

Connect the Dots…Children are herded like cattle into Maryland courthouse for forced vaccinations as armed police and attack dogs stand guard. / Propaganda, Dirty Tricks and The Erosion of Democracy / Jerry Mander: How Media Shapes Political Forms / California Changing Vaccination Laws / The Fascist Blueprint, by Naomi Wolf / The Violent Radicalization Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 (a return of McCarthy Commission) / How to Legally Avoid Unwanted Immunizations of All Kinds.