Photo of J. Krishnamurti

15 Quotes on Security by Krishnamurti

Curated by THE FOUNDATION STAFF

We want security, both outwardly and inwardly. Therefore, we depend on others.

Krishnamurti, The Awakening of Intelligence

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We must be free of our conditioning, of our Christianity, of our Buddhism. We must be free of all the propaganda of thousands of years, so that the mind is really free to observe. That is very difficult because we are afraid to be alone, to stand alone. We want security, both outwardly and inwardly. Therefore, we depend on people, whether the priest, the leader or the guru who says, ‘I have experienced. I know.’ One has to stand completely alone – not isolated. There is a vast difference between isolation and being completely alone, integral. Isolation is a state of mind in which relationship ceases, when in your daily life and activity you have built a wall around yourself, consciously or unconsciously, so as not to be hurt. That isolation prevents every form of relationship. Aloneness implies a mind that does not depend on another psychologically, is not attached to any person, which does not mean that there is no love – love is not attachment. Aloneness implies a mind that is deeply, inwardly without any sense of fear and therefore without any sense of conflict.

There must be order, physical security, for every human being in the world.

Krishnamurti, The Awakening of Intelligence

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There must be order, physical security, for every human being in the world. This has always been the dream of the revolutionaries, idealists and philosophers; they believed that through physical revolution they could achieve their ambition. But it has never succeeded. There have been so many revolutions, and it has never happened. Look at the communists with their divisions, armies and totalitarian state, and look at all the horrors that go on in the rest of the world. There is no order anywhere. One realises that there must be physical order. Does that order depend on the administration of the law, on the authority of society according to its culture and environment? Or does it depend entirely on the human being, on each one of us, the way we live, the way we think, the way we act in our relationships with one another? So, let’s begin there.

Without order, the brain cannot function; it becomes neurotic. Like a child, it needs complete security.

Krishnamurti, Tradition and Revolution

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The brain cannot function in a healthy way, sanely, if it is not completely secure. Security means order. Without order, the brain cannot function; it becomes neurotic. Like a child, it needs complete security. When a child is secure, when it feels at home, it is not frightened. Then it will grow up into a marvellous human being. So the brain needs security, and it has found security in knowledge. That is the only thing it can be secure in: experience as knowledge, which acts as the future guide. So the brain, needing security, finds it in knowledge, in belief, in the family. The mind wants security … One has to negate the Gita, the Bible, the guru – the whole thing. One has to negate all the constructions that thought has put together. One has to wipe all that away and say, ‘I do not know; I do not know a thing.’ One has to say, ‘I won’t say a thing I do not know; I will not repeat a thing somebody else has said.’ Then you begin.

Like a monk who operates within a small cell and lives in a pattern, the mind wanting security lives in a pattern, without change.

Krishnamurti, Tradition and Revolution

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The mind falls into habit because that is the easiest way to live. It is easy to live mechanically. Sexually and in every other area, it is easy to live that way. I can live life without effort, without change, because in habit I find complete security. In habit, there is no examination, no searching, no asking. Habit can only function within a very small field, like a professor who is an expert in their speciality, but functions in a very small field. Like a monk who operates within a small cell and lives in a pattern, the mind wanting security lives in a pattern, without change. All this is partial examination; it does not free the mind from patterns. So what shall I do?

Man has built in himself images as a fence of security: religious, political, personal. These manifest as symbols, ideas and beliefs.

Krishnamurti, To Be Human

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Man has built in himself images as a fence of security: religious, political, personal. These manifest as symbols, ideas and beliefs. The burden of these images dominates man’s thinking, his relationships and his daily life. These images are the causes of our problems, for they divide man from man. His perception of life is shaped by the concepts already established in his mind. The content of his consciousness is his entire existence. This content is common to all humanity. The individuality is the name, the form, and the superficial culture he acquires from tradition and environment. The uniqueness of man does not lie in the superficial but in complete freedom from the consciousness, which is common to all mankind. So he is not an individual. Freedom is not a reaction. Freedom is not choice. It is man’s pretence that because he has choice, he is free. Freedom is pure observation without direction, without fear of punishment and reward.

When you create an image, there is security in that image, however false, however unreal, however insane.

Krishnamurti, To Be Human

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Images are built through daily contact, sex, irritation, comfort, and so on. Each one builds his own image about another, and also has an image about himself. He has an image, too, about God, about his religious deity. When you create an image, there is security in that image, however false, however unreal, however insane. In the image that the mind has created, there is security. When you create an image about your wife, or your wife about you, the image is not the actual. But it is much more difficult to live with the actual, much easier to live with the image.

Man, in his restlessness, in his desire for safety, for security, to feel at ease, has invented imaginary securities projected by thought.

Krishnamurti, The Impossible Question

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Most of us are seeking a solution for the misery of the world, a solution for the social morality which is immoral. We try to find a way of organising society in which there will be no social injustice. Man has sought God, truth, whatever it is, throughout centuries, never coming upon it, but believing in it. But when you believe in it, you naturally have experiences according to your belief, which are false. So man, in his restlessness, in his desire for safety, for security, to feel at ease, has invented all these imaginary securities projected by thought. When you become aware of all this fragmentation of energy – and energy is therefore no more fragmented – what has taken place in the mind that has sought security?

Outwardly and inwardly, we are seeking security. That is why we have invented God, because that is the ultimate security.

Krishnamurti, Where Can Peace Be Found?

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We have reached a point where we do not believe in anything. We are utterly confused. Those who are certain at the beginning end up with uncertainty. I start by believing firmly in God or in some kind of mystical affair. If I am somewhat intelligent, as I grow up, I begin to doubt everything. One must begin with uncertainty, doubting, questioning, having a sceptical mind; then one comes to a place where there is absolute certainty. After all, both outwardly and inwardly, we are seeking security. That is why we have invented God, because that is the ultimate security. Don’t be shocked, please. Probably the majority believe in God or some higher principle, but all that is invented by thought. Thought is a material process, so anything created by thought in the world of religion is still as materialistic as technology.

When thought seeks security, it makes it into something permanent, immovable, and therefore it becomes mechanical.

Krishnamurti, The Impossible Question

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There is no such thing as security. The restless demand for security is part of the observer, the centre, the monkey. And this restless monkey, which is thought, has broken up this world and has made a frightful mess of it. It has brought such misery, such agony! And thought cannot solve this, however intelligent, however clever, erudite, capable of efficient thinking, thought cannot possibly bring order out of this chaos. There must be a way out of it which is not thought. In the state of attention, in the movement of attention, all sense of security has gone, because there is stability. That stability has nothing whatsoever to do with security – when thought seeks security, it makes it into something permanent, immovable, and therefore it becomes mechanical. Thought seeks security in relationship. In that relationship, thought creates an image. That image becomes the permanent and breaks up the relationship – you have your image and I have mine. In that image, thought has established and identified itself as the permanent thing. Outwardly, this is what we have done: your country, my country, and so on. When the mind has left all that, left it in the sense that it has seen the utter futility, the mischief of it, it has finished with it. Then what takes place in the mind which has completely finished with the whole concept of security? What happens to that mind which is so attentive that it is completely stable, so that thought is no longer seeking security in any form and sees that there is no such thing as the permanent?

It is our earth on which we are all living, though politically and economically we have divided it for security and for patriotic, illusory reasons, which eventually bring about war.

Krishnamurti, Can Conflict End?

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The earth on which we live is our earth. It is not the British earth or the French, German, Russian, Indian or Chinese earth; it is our earth on which we are all living. That is a fact. But thought has divided it racially, geographically, culturally and economically. This division is causing havoc in the world. That cannot be denied; it is rational, objective. It is our earth on which we are all living, though politically and economically we have divided it for security and for various patriotic, illusory reasons, which eventually bring about war.

As long as each one of us is seeking psychological security, the physiological security we need – food, clothing and shelter – is destroyed.

Krishnamurti, The First and Last Freedom

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To have peace, we will have to love. We will have to begin not to live an ideal life but to see things as they are and act upon them, transform them. As long as each one of us is seeking psychological security, the physiological security we need – food, clothing and shelter – is destroyed. We are seeking psychological security, which does not exist; and we seek it, if we can, through power, through position, through titles, names – all of which is destroying physical security. This is an obvious fact, if you look at it. To bring about peace in the world, to stop all wars, there must be a revolution in the individual, in you and me. Economic revolution without this inward revolution is meaningless, for hunger is the result of the maladjustment of economic conditions produced by our psychological states: greed, envy, ill will and possessiveness. To put an end to sorrow, hunger and war, there must be a psychological revolution, and few of us are willing to face that. We discuss peace, plan legislation, create new leagues, the United Nations and so on, but we will not win peace because we will not give up our position, our authority, our money, our properties, our stupid lives. To rely on others is utterly futile; others cannot bring us peace. No leader is going to give us peace, no government, no army, no country. What will bring peace is inward transformation, which will lead to outward action. Inward transformation is not isolation or a withdrawal from outward action. On the contrary, there can be right action only when there is right thinking, and there is no right thinking when there is no self-knowledge. Without knowing yourself, there is no peace.

Disturbance is essential for understanding, and any attempt to find security is a hindrance to understanding.

Krishnamurti, The First and Last Freedom

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Only in insecurity do you discover, see, understand. But we want to be like the man with plenty of money, at ease; he will not be disturbed, or he doesn’t want to be disturbed. Disturbance is essential for understanding, and any attempt to find security is a hindrance to understanding. When we want to get rid of something disturbing, it is a hindrance. If we can experience a feeling directly, without naming it, we shall find a great deal in it; then there is no longer a battle with it, because the experiencer and the thing experienced are one, and that is essential. As long as the experiencer verbalises the feeling, the experience, he separates himself from it and acts upon it. Such action is an artificial, illusory action. But if there is no verbalisation, the experiencer and the thing experienced are one. That integration is necessary and has to be radically faced.

Thought, which has sought security in fragmentation, destroys what it is seeking. In non-fragmentation is complete security.

Krishnamurti, Can the Mind be Quiet?

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To function properly sanely, objectively and therefore efficiently, the brain must have complete security. Does this security lie in knowledge, which is the past, or in the total understanding of security? We need security, but we destroy that security through division, through fragmentation, through different races, classes, nationalities, the rich and the poor and so on. In this very division is insecurity. Though we start out wanting security, we build a structure, social, economic and so on, which brings about total insecurity. Thought, which has sought security in various fragments, destroys what it is seeking. In non-fragmentation is complete security.

There is security only in intelligence.

Krishnamurti, Can Conflict End?

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There is security only in intelligence. It is intelligence that says something is false because you have examined, looked, doubted, questioned. If you say, ‘I accept the false as truth,’ then you are unintelligent. But the moment you look at the falseness of things and see clearly the false as the false, that perception is the beginning of intelligence. That intelligence is security. Intelligence of that kind is supreme security.

Only compassion is that intelligence which gives humanity security, stability, a vast sense of strength.

Krishnamurti, Where Can Peace Be Found?

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One of our difficulties is that we have associated love with pleasure, with sex. And love also, for most of us, means jealousy, anxiety, possessiveness, attachment. That is what we call love. But is love attachment? Is love pleasure? Is love desire? Is love the opposite of hate? If it is the opposite of hate, it is not love. All opposites contain their own opposites. When I try to become courageous, that courage is born out of fear. So love cannot have its opposite. Love cannot be where there is jealousy, ambition, aggressiveness. Where there is that quality of love, compassion arises. Where there is that compassion, there is intelligence – not the intelligence of self-interest, not the intelligence of thought, not the intelligence of a great deal of knowledge. Compassion has nothing to do with knowledge. Only compassion is that intelligence which gives humanity security, stability, a vast sense of strength.

These quotes only touch on the many subjects Krishnamurti inquired into during his lifetime. His timeless and universal teachings can be explored using the Index of Topics where you will find texts, audio and video related on many themes. Another option is to browse our selection of curated articles or more short quotes. Krishnamurti’s reply when asked what lies at the heart of his teachings can be found here. Many Krishnamurti books are available, a selection of which can be explored here. To find out more about Krishnamurti’s life, please see our introduction and the biography. We also host a weekly podcast, and offer free downloads. Please visit our YouTube channel for hundreds of specially selected shorter clips. Below, you can learn more about Krishnamurti and our charity which he founded in 1968.

Krishnamurti outdoors smiling

Who Was Krishnamurti?

J. Krishnamurti (1895-1986) is widely regarded as one of the greatest thinkers and religious teachers of all time. He spoke throughout the world to large audiences and to individuals, including writers, scientists, philosophers and educators, about the need for a radical change in mankind. Referring to himself, Krishnamurti said:

He is acting as a mirror for you to look into. That mirror is not an authority. It has no authority, it’s just a mirror. And when you see it clearly, understand what you see in that mirror, then throw it away, break it up.

Krishnamurti was concerned with all humanity and held no nationality or belief and belonged to no particular group or culture. In the latter part of his life, along with continuing to give public talks, he travelled mainly between the schools he had founded in India, Britain and the United States, which educate for the total understanding of man and the art of living. He stressed that only this profound understanding can create a new generation that will live in peace.

Krishnamurti reminded his listeners again and again that we are all human beings first and not Hindus, Muslims or Christians, that we are like the rest of humanity and are not different from one another. He asked that we tread lightly on this earth without destroying ourselves or the environment. He communicated to his listeners a deep sense of respect for nature. His teachings transcend man-made belief systems, nationalistic sentiment and sectarianism. At the same time, they give new meaning and direction to mankind’s search for truth. His teaching is timeless, universal and increasingly relevant to the modern age.

I am nobody. It is as simple as that. I am nobody. But what is important is who you are, what you are.

Krishnamurti

Krishnamurti spoke not as a guru but as a friend. His talks and discussions are based not on tradition-based knowledge but on his own insights into the human mind and his vision of the sacred, so he always communicated a sense of freshness and directness, although the essence of his message remained unchanged over the years. When Krishnamurti addressed large audiences, people felt that he was talking to each of them personally, addressing their own particular problem. In his private interviews, he was a compassionate teacher, listening attentively to those who came to him in sorrow, and encouraging them to heal themselves through their own understanding. Religious scholars found that his words threw new light on traditional concepts. Krishnamurti took on the challenge of modern scientists and psychologists and went with them step by step, discussing their theories and sometimes enabling them to discern the limitations of their theories.

Krishnamurti left a large body of literature in the form of public talks, writings, discussions with teachers and students, scientists, psychologists and religious figures, conversations with individuals, television and radio interviews, and letters. Many of these have been published as books, in over 60 languages, along with hundreds of audio and video recordings.

Three-quarters portrait photo of Krishnamurti

The Krishnamurti Foundation

Established in 1968 as a registered charity, and located at The Krishnamurti Centre, Krishnamurti Foundation Trust exists to preserve and make available Krishnamurti’s teachings.

The Foundation serves a global audience by providing worldwide free access to Krishnamurti videos, audio and texts to those who may be interested in pursuing an understanding of Krishnamurti’s work in their own lives.

In describing his intentions for the Foundations, Krishnamurti said: 

The Foundations will see to it that these teachings are kept whole, are not distorted, are not made corrupt.

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