By Reza Ganjavi
I was just having an exchange with someone who contended: “Reading about somebody else’s experiences is of very little value” — is it really so? 9486 members of this group have probably read some book by someone who speaks about his or her experience — look at Krishnamurti’s Notebook for example… or many other examples. I don’t buy the above statement as factual. I think many people find value in reading others’ experiences. How many of you have read someone’s autobiography for example?
There are even autobiographical best-sellers read by millions. And to say it has very little value to read of someone else’s experience is simply untrue.
The ability to think clearly and not mix up concepts is a good thing to have. I don’t want to call it a gift though all our faculties are gifts. But I find it pretty ridiculous not to think clearly, mix up concepts, make assumptions and images, and project them onto others. A person who is not clear projects confusion onto others. I was speaking with someone recently who is not shy about pointing out the cultist mentality he was exposed to by a cult-like group around Krishnamurti’s work — which is so against what he stood for as I understood it. So we have that in one hand.
And I hear the assumption that many are confused around this work. WHY? K was one of the clearest thinkers and used a fairly clear language — surely far clearer than many mystical thinkers. But I don’t buy the assumption that many are confused around these subjects. I think that’s just a projection of a confused mind onto others — just as the fallacious assumption that reading another’s experience can have no value.
The enemy of clarity is fanaticism, dogma, cultism, blind belief, and so on. K spent a lifetime shedding light on this.