April 29th ~ The word is not the thing. The word passion is not passion. To feel that and to be caught in it without any volition or directive or purpose, to listen to this thing called desire, to listen to your own desires which you have, plenty of them, weak or strong–when you do that, you will see what a tremendous damage you do when you suppress desire, when you distort it, when you want to fulfill it, when you want to do something about it, when you have an opinion about it.
Most people have lost this passion. Probably one has had it once in one’s youth–to become a rich man, to have fame, and to live a bourgeois or a respectable life; perhaps a vague muttering of that. And society–which is what you are–suppresses that. And so one has to adjust oneself to you who are dead, who are respectable, who have not even a spark of passion; and then one becomes a part of you, and thereby loses this passion.
March 31st, 2020 ~ This is interesting. Yesterday, I put the definition or a comparison of passion to desire. Here, K is saying the word is not the thing–the word passion is not passion. There are a few statements that K made that convey what he was trying to say. The word is not the thing is in the Top 5–maybe top 2. If there is one word that I am most passionate about in terms of wanting to understand as a professional, it is Desire. So, I feel very fortunate to have found Krishnamurti’s work. I have done all he is mentioning in terms of dealing with desire. In terms of work, I have struggled with finding a job that I am passionate about where I could make a living. Although fame was not a huge issue for me, I did want to make a mark. In terms of money, I wanted to make 100,000 per year. This in not wealthy, in today’s standards.
He says: “And Society–which is what you are–suppresses that. And so one has to adjust oneself to you who are dead, who are respectable, who have not even a spark of passion; and then one becomes a part of you, and thereby loses this passion.” We adjust to each other. The self-made individual is a fallacy. Jeff Bezos doesn’t exist without the warehouse workers making enough for housing and food, but not healthcare and not for any expense over 400. He doesn’t exist without the authors selling their books and discounted prices. He doesn’t exist without the Internet technology and booksellers’s market share developed years before him by the government, military and retail employees and customers. We adjust our dreams to others in society’s dreams. We adjust our dreams to what the market will bear, so to speak.