The Major Cause of Violence

June 27th ~ The major cause of violence, I think, is that each one of us is inwardly, psychologically, seeking security.  In each one of us the urge for psychological security–that inward sense of being safe–projects the demand, the outward demand, for security.  Inwardly each one of us wants to be secure, sure, certain.  That is why we have all these marriage laws; in order that we may possess a woman, or a man, and so be secure in our relationship.  If that relationship is attached we become violent, which is the psychological demand, the inward demand, to be certain of our relationship to everything.  But there is no such thing as certainty, security, in any relationship.  Inwardly, psychologically, we should like to be secure, but there is no such thing as permanent security. . . .

So all these are the contributory causes of the violence that is prevalent, rampaging, throughout the world.  I think anybody who has observed, even if only a little, what is going on in the world, and especially in this unfortunate country, can also, without a great deal of intellectual study, observe and find out in himself those things which, projected outwardly, are the causes of this extraordinary brutality, callousness, indifference, violence.

January 9th, 2020 ~ I have heard the term “project” quite a bit, especially coming from the world of psychological counseling.  So, I entered the sentence “ In each one of us the urge for psychological security–that inward sense of being safe–projects the demand, the outward demand, for security”  and found the same Krishnamurti words in another blog.  Here it is.

So, we have an urge for psychological security, and we project or cast the demand outward for security.  We demand it.  We are asking for something that only we can give to ourselves.  When he mentions this unfortunate country, he is most likely referring to here.  It is sad.  We are unfortunate.  We have so much.  Yet we don’t realize that our security will not come from outside ourselves.  Maybe our fast paced society stresses us out so much that we don’t see it until we are forced to slow down.  And go inward.  When we do, we come to our senses.  And we feel sorrow when we see how much violence there is in our society and the world.

Reference

As in most posts on Zentrepreneurial.com, italicization of words refers to the words of either Jiddu Krishnamurti or Albert Low.  The website writer’s words are in regular text.

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