Krishnamurti At Los Alamos

Of the fifteen written questions handed to him on March 21 (1984), Krishnamurti answered only the first and the last__"What is meditation and how is it related to creativity?" and "If you were the Director of this Laboratory with responsibility for the defense of the country and recognizing the way things are, how would you direct the activities of the Laboratory and research?"
His answer to the first question took up most of the one and a half hours allotted time. His answer to the second question is given below:

KRISHNAMURTI: Thank God, I'm not, but if I am would I put this question? Is the question the right question?

QUESTIONER: Sir, it's a question trying to find a connection between your theories__your beliefs of mankind__and what we are all trying to do, and the practical everyday problems that we have.

KRISHNAMURTI: Yes, sir. Everyday problems__earning a livelihood, sex, having children or not having children, vocation, which is now becoming imitation, everyday problems of quarrels, disagreements, pain, hurts, suffering...you see, our daily existence and our brains are trained from childhood to solve problems, and the Speaker is saying that seeking a solution prevents the understanding of the problem. Our brains are trained to solutions. I have a problem with my wife. What is the solution? Divorce or going to a lawyer, or adjustment, or running away, all that kind of stuff. But the problem is what? My assertions, my wishes, my fulfilment__and hers. Let's understand that, discuss it, finish it. If I am seeking a solution, I never go into the question. The causation of the problems can be ended, not through a solution, but through the understanding of the problem itself.
      Sorry, the question is, "If I am the Director__" Sir, the answer is that it's the wrong question because this should have been put right at the beginning of man's history, not now. At the beginning of killing man, one human being killing another human being in the name of religion, in the name of country, in the name of God, in the name of crown and loyalty__my country as opposed to your country, my ideology as opposed to your ideology. I'm a devout Marxist (I'm not), or Lenninist, and another is Catholic, and so we are at war with each other. That is the real time to ask this question, not, at the end of all this, what should I do? We have brought this about, we have divided the world. You are a Christian, I am a black, you are white, you are a Caucasian, and I am a Chinese__whatever the beastly thing is. We are divided, have fought each other from the beginning of time. The Western civilization has killed more people than any other civilization. It's a fact__I'm not against it or for it. Sir, a group of people like you in Los Alamos__you have given your time for destruction, and also for construction. You are doing a great deal of benefit, and on the other side you are destroying every human being on earth, because you have recognized my country, my responsibilities, my defense. And the Russians are saying exactly the same thing on the other side. India, which has immense poverty, is saying the same thing. Building up arms. So what is the answer to this? If I have a group who says, let's forget all nationalism, all religions, let's as human beings solve this problem__how to live together without destruction; if we gave time to all that as a group of absolutely dedicated people who have gathered together at Los Alamos for one purpose and are concerned with all the things we have been talking about, then perhaps there is something new that can take place. Sir, we have never faced death__Oppenheimer, in Sanskrit said, "I am become death". You know that very well. And we don't understand death either, which we will not go into now. But we have become destroyers and we also benefit human beings at the same time. Right, sir?
      I am not asking you to do anything. I am not a propagandist, but the world is like this now. Nobody is thinking about it. Nobody has a global outlook__a global feeling for all humanity__not my country__for God's sake. If you went around the world, as the Speaker does, you would cry for the rest of your life. Pacifism is a reaction to militarism, that's all. The Speaker is not a pacifist. Instead, let's look at the cause of all this__the beginning of all this. If the causation is there__if we all seek together the causation, then the thing is solved. But each one has different opinions about the causation and sticks to his opinions, his historical directories. So, sir, there it is.

QUESTIONER: Sir, if I may say so__I think you have convinced us.

KRISHNAMURTI: I'm not convincing anything.

QUESTIONER: Maybe I am not using the proper word. I think you have seen from the silence of the audience that we seem to have enough energy to understand and appreciate the problem.

KRISHNAMURTI: No, sir. Don't say that.

QUESTIONER: What I mean is, that when once we really try to understand this and do something in that direction, somehow we seem to lack the necessary energy. With the result, we are still not able to make as much progress as we all lke. I would like to hear a few comments from you...what is it that is really holding us back? We can see it and we can see the house on fire, but still, we are not able to do anything about stopping the fire.

KRISHNAMURTI: The house on fire, which we think is out there, is in here. We have to put our house in order first, sir.
I was once called by a family whom I have known for some time. Their son came to see me and said, "My father is dying. Will you please come and see him?" And you know, in all families that takes place__the father is dying and they surround him, crying. So I asked the father to chase them out of the room. So he said, "Get !" He made them leave. And they all left and he locked the door. He said, "I'm dying. Disease, incurable. And I'm frightened." So, I sat with him and held his hand, and he said it was the first time somebody held his hand. And I said__the Speaker said to him, "Let's die together." Which means, what? He was leaving all his family__he had a lovely house, a very rich man__and I said you are leaving all that; that's what you're afraid of. And also, you are afraid of the unknown. And you're attached. When there is attachment, there is fear__and so on. We talked gently together. And I said, "If there is any kind of attachment, I will die with you. You are free of attachment." So death has an extraordinary meaning in life. To live with death, not seperate __dead there, living there__but together.