Krishnamurti on The Violence of Obedience...

I guess the quiet ones are not off the hook. There is something in passivity that may be as deadly as a more aggressive approach to life. I like this piece by Krishnamurti. Actually, I do NOT like it, because it is just one more bright light glaring upon one of my hidden places. Oh well, this is life... to see... to learn... to know oneself well. Read this and see what you think. And if it rings true, let me salute you in your attempts to understand and bring your life back into order. Wish ME luck, too. --Vim

Have you thought about violence? There is physical violence and there is the violence of obedience--are you obeying and therefore being violent? Do you understand what I mean? When I obey you and suppress what I think, that suppression will burst out one day. So there is physical violence and violence brought about through obedience, the violence of competitiveness, of conformity. When I conform to a pattern I am violent--you see the connection?

When I live a life of fragmentation--that is, when I think one thing and say another--that is fragmentation and that also breeds violence. I may be very quiet, gentle, do all the work I am asked to do, but I flare up: which indicates there has been suppression in me. So violence is not just physical violence, it is a very complex question. And if you have not thought about it, when you are faced with violence you will react most unintelligently.

Krishnamurti
Beginnings of Learning
p. 185