The Network of Thought

This is the first Krishnamurti book that I read and without doubt I would recommend to anyone reading this review to buy this book. As far as I am concerned this should be required reading for all high school students. The book opens your mind up to clear thinking and exposes the self delusion that most of us live with on a daily bases. At a 112 pages this book is an excellent quick read and I imagine it is an excellent introduction to Krishnamurti but I can not say for certain as I have not read any of his other works. I can say without doubt what a profound impact that this book had on me and that after reading this book I will certainly study Krishnamurti further as well as recommend him to anyone who asks. Some of Krishnamurti was hard to read because I did not want to have those particular illusions dispelled. If you prefer to read a feel good new age book then be prepared for a shock as Krishnamurti reveals the truth about the human condition. Before describing what Krishnamurti teaches I must qualify it by saying that in my opinion it is almost impossible or impossible to view or discuss any subject completely objectively. The very fact that you have a subject and an object automatically means that the object is outside of the subject and therefore can never represent whole truth of the object. This perception of the object is automatically biased. Further quantum theory experiments are highly suggestive that there is no such thing as a neutral observation. I believe that Krishnamurti comes very close to neutral observation of the truth as is humanly possible. Even he admits that his thought is not 100% perfect but I am more than willing to forgive the few imperfections that you might find in his thought. Krishnamurti provides only two methods for increasing your self knowledge. The first thing he teaches is guiding us through clear thought processes along with him so that we can learn to think clearly as see something "as it is" rather than with our usual biases, opinions and filtered perceptions. The second thing he teaches is that this power of logical unbiased deduction is the result of our ability to stay in the present moment. If we are present enough we can be aware of our biases in the moment they arise rather than following them unconsciously. He states repeatedly that there is no teaching and no method and he does not specify a way to stay in the present moment. This does not mean that one should make no effort and do nothing rather it means that there is no intellectual method of attaining clarity of mind and perception. The way to attain clarity is through present moment awareness rather than thought. He repeatedly states the importance of staying in the now moment but never specifies how we should achieve this. Methods of working with present awareness are taught by classical teachers of meditation as well as modern masters like Eckhart Tolle in his book "The power of now". There is no incompatibility between the "no