THOUGHT AND ITS LIMITATIONS

On Sunday 14 December, our Centre arranged an online dialogue interaction on the theme ‘Thought and its limitations’. We had participants from all over India and also some from Bangladesh. The theme is a complex one. Most of us do not see the various dimensions of thought and how it sustains the whole structure of the ‘me’, of conditioning, of identification. Why is it so important to understand the network of thought and the problems it has created for humanity? All this is what we set out to explore in our online interaction. To set the tone and create the focus on the theme, we had a reading from the book ‘Network of thought’.

J. Krishnamurti suggests that thought is always limited and the source of psychological conflict, suffering, and division. Since it is a movement which arises from the ‘memory storehouse’, it is always from the past, never new. Thought creates the psychological structure of the “me” or the self, which then identifies as separate from others (e.g., nationality, religion, social status). Is the division between “me” and “you” the essence of conflict, both internally and externally in the world? Thought also sustains both pleasure and fear. 

While thought is essential for practical, technological, and functional tasks, can it resolve deep human problems?  Is it possible to put thought in its right place so that it operates where it should and ceases to dominate the psychological landscape?  It was an extremely interesting 90 minutes or so, a dialogue among friends. Informal and yet intense. For friends who may be interested, the link of the recorded video is shared below.
https://youtu.be/8osRzj42YeU?si=YXEW1Ww4jEy-IhZN