Why Krishnamurti Said, “Don’t Read Books”

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The independent and unorthodox speaker Jiddu Krishnamurti was known to admonish listeners who questioned him about some spiritual idea they’d read about.

“Don’t read books!” he would say.

I understand his point; we can fill our heads with ideas that only become obstacles to directly experiencing the wonder and beauty—and anguish and pain—of life itself.

Krishnamurti felt strongly that most people do not want to be “disturbed,” and will go to great lengths to distract themselves from facing life as it is, from facing themselves as they are. Religious practices, humanitarian efforts, political causes; wealth, status, drugs, and thrills; our philosophies and spiritual pursuits; our opinions and beliefs; our vast stores of knowledge; all become more important to us than a simple and direct confrontation with the self and with what exists here and now.

How can we learn about ourselves by listening to someone else, by reading someone else’s thoughts on the subject? In order to know the self, mustn’t we actually dismiss everything we’ve seen and heard and read, and confront the self directly, uninfluenced by concepts, notions, and theories?

This makes a lot of sense to me. It’s why I meditate. Not to be like the sages and gurus or to achieve some higher state of consciousness—that hallowed chimera called “spiritual enlightenment”—but to just be quiet with myself, to see what that is like. To see what this aliveness, this existing business, is really all about, and to understand the nature of this intangible thing called “me.” It’s the Great Slowdown, and for me so far, it’s made life into less of a symbol of what I want and more of an experience that I’m quite content to be in the midst of each and every moment.

(But that said; you’re still not getting my books! 😆)

DB 💚

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