K School Talk, Ojai, California, 18 June 1954

J. Krishnamurti

COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS AT THE HAPPY VALLEY SCHOOL

OJAI, CALIFORNIA

June 18, 1954

I think it is a very rare thing that after leaving a school of this kind to find happiness at the end of one’s life. Because, when you leave here, it seems to me that you will be facing extraordinary problems, problems of war, problems of personal relationship, the problems of citizenship, and the problem of religion and the constant conflict within society. It seems to me that it would be a false education which will not prepare the student to face these problems and bring about a true and a happier world. And it is the function of education, isn’t it?, and especially to students who go through this school, who have had much greater opportunity of creative expression, not to be caught by the social, environmental influences which will make them much more limited in their activity, which will narrow their minds and therefore their outlook and their happiness. And it seems to me it is very important to know for oneself the many problems that confront those who are leaving and entering into college. I think it is very important, especially in the world that they are going to face, to have an extraordinarily clear intelligence. That intelligence is not brought by any outside influence, through books. It comes, I think, by being aware of these problems and meeting them, not in any personal or limited national or religious sense, but being able to examine them wholly, not as an American, or a Hindu, or a communist, but as a human being capable of bearing the responsibility and seeing the truth worth of things as they are, and not trying to interpret them according to any particular ideology or pattern of thought. And is it not important that education should not merely give a technological information and knowledge, but prepare each one of us, especially those who are leaving this school, to understand and face these problems? Because, you see, life isn’t so very easy. You’ve had a happy time here, a creative time, a time in which you have ripened; but when you leave, things will begin to enclose, come round and limit you, not only the limitation of personal relationships, but the limitation of social influences, the limitation of one’s own fears, the ambition, and the inevitable ambition to succeed. I think it is a curse to be ambitious. Because then it is a form of self-interest, self-enclosure, and therefore it breeds mediocrity of mind. But to live in a world that is full of ambition without being ambitious, which means, really, to love something for itself without seeking a reward, a result. And that’s very difficult, because all the world, all the friends, all the relations, everyone is struggling to succeed, to become somebody, to fulfill. But to resist and understand all that, and to be free, to do something that you really love, it doesn’t matter what it is, however lowly, however anonymous, unrecognized; I think that breeds the spirit of greatness, which is never seeking a result, a reward, an approbation, which does things for its own sake, and therefore the capacity to have great strength and not to be caught in the influence of mediocrity. And I think it is very important while we are young to see this. Because every magazine, every newspaper, especially in this country, insists on the worship of success, and therefore breed competition and ambition which, as I said, really, if you go into it very deeply, does breed a mediocrity of mind; because then you are merely living on a very superficial level, adjusting to a particular pattern of society, whether here or in Russia, or in India.

And so, what is important, it seems to me at least, that when you leave here and go and face the world, enter college, to understand the various influences as they are, to meet them, and not to succumb them, not to bow your heads to them, but to understand them and see their true significance and their worth; and have that spirit which will not create more problems in the world. Because the world has enough problems, as I said, of war, of peace, of this everlasting conflict between people of different races, classes, and countries. If education does not put an end to all that, it will be utterly useless to go to colleges and merely learn a technique when, especially at this time, you are facing an extraordinary world, a world that demands clear, gentle spirits with great inward strength. And you cannot have that inward strength if you are merely seeking fulfillment of your own particular ambition, either identified with your group, with your nation, or with some idea.

So, when you do leave and enter college, I think the Happy Valley School and the students of it, should bring a blessing to the world and not a curse. For the world needs a blessing. It is in a terrible state. And the blessings can come only when each one of us are not seeking a worldly position, trying to fulfill our personal ambitions, but to have a clear understanding of the vast problems, which demands great intelligence; which means, really, a mind that is free, not to think along any particular pattern, but to be free in itself so that it is capable of seeing what is true and putting aside what is false.