PNTV - Think on These Things by Krishnamurti

You're listening to Optimize with Bryan Johnson. More wisdom in Less Time. Hey, this is Brian. Welcome to Philosopher's Notes tv. Today we've got Think on these Things by Krishnamurti. Awesome book. Krishnamurti was a classic teacher, 20th century Indian guy who actually came out to the US and lived and taught. Not too far from here in Ojai, California, probably about two and a half miles, maybe three miles away, is the Christian Emerdi center. And just a good guy. So his books are all lectures that were recorded and then put into book form. This one's great. Think on these things. He goes through a range of different topics. He's teaching to a group of students, talking to a group of students, and share some good stuff. We're going to look at a few of my favorite big ideas here. Let us jump right in. The first big idea, he says to go far, you must begin near. And the nearest step is the most important one. So to begin to go far, you must begin near. And the nearest step is the most important one. Really big idea. So if you want to go far, you've got to start with the near. And the next step is the most important one. Too often, in my experience and just, you know, chatting with different people and seeing what happens, a lot of times we get all excited about the far, the big vision, the vision board that's got all the ideals. And we forget the near. We forget the meditation tomorrow morning. We forget the deep breath this hour. We forget the healthy meal in our next meal. We forget the intense workout that's going to optimize our health. And we're so focused on the far that we forget the near. We forget the next step, which is always going to be the most important one. If it's the first paragraph in the business plan that you've been wanting to write forever, if it's just opening up word and creating a document with the name of the business you want to start, that's the most important step. Not continuing on the far. If it's sending an email or making a phone call, get that next step done and then take the next one and then the next one. As Lao Tzu says, The journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step, begins beneath your feet, where you are right now. Huge idea. And that's the way we hold the dynamic tension that we talk about all the time. Ideal current reality, baby steps, Huge, huge idea. So then directly to you, what's your big vision that you're excited about? Okay, awesome check. And what's the Next step that you can take right now. And if you don't have the huge vision, awesome. What's one awesome step you can take in this moment toward the unfolding of that wonderful future that you're defining for yourself? Really cool. Next step, really important. Next big idea is the hobgoblin behind walls. That's what I call it. So Krishna Murti says, we're in trouble. Essentially we're in trouble. When we say, I have decided. This is what I believe, right? I'm never going to change again. He's like, that's, that's just. Well, technically he says this. He says, a mind which says, I have taken a vow to be something and I'm going to be that for the rest of my life. That person is called consistent. He says, quote, but it is really a most stupid mind because it has come to a conclusion and it's lost its life. Life is vital. We're constantly expanding and evolving our thoughts. He says, thinking like that is kind of like building a wall around you and then letting life go by. We've got to evolve, we've got to adapt. And I quote Ralph Waldo Emerson, who has an amazing passage in self reliance, who says, consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, right? With consistency, a great mind has nothing to do. He might as well stare at his shadow on a wall. Of course we want to have consistency with our deepest values, but even that is evolving and we want to have the freedom to evolve. Rumi says God turns us from one feeling to. To another so that we have two wings to fly and not one. Isn't that cool? God turns us from one feeling to another, so we have two wings to fly and not one. We've got to be open to a certain healthy level of inconsistency while we consistently show up. Really cool idea. He says, the key, and he's talking to students in this lecture, but it works for everyone. Obviously the key is to do what you love to do. He says if you live with fear and of making sure your parents are happy or everyone around you is happy, and you compromise yourself, you want to do this, you're passionate about this, but you do this for all the justifiable reasons you do this. He says, you have a contradiction. Where there's contradiction, there is no joy. He's intense about it. He says, if you compromise yourself like that, you then for the rest of your life you will be a dull, weary human being living in torment, in frustration, in misery, being destroyed and destroying others. Intense stuff. We've got to find what we love to do and do it, have the courage to do it. It's amazingly powerful stuff. What else? The roots of a problem. He talks about the fact that our mind is like rich soil and whatever we plant in there is going to grow. And if we plant doubt and fear and all of our problems into our consciousness, they're going to take root. And then later we're going to have to come, we're going to weed them out. So anytime we find the fear and the doubt and all the problems marinating in our minds, we've got to just stop it right there. Don't allow it to take root. Put in the positive thoughts that you want to have in there, the positive self talk, the positive visions, all the things that you want to come to fruition. Don't let the negative stuff take root again. All the great teachers talk about this. This is an echoed theme throughout these notes. He talks about the fact that we've got to have passion. If you don't have passion and a vitality of strong and deep feeling for things in life, you're like a flower that has no perfume. No matter how clever you are, he says, no matter how intelligent you are, if you don't have strong feeling, an emotional connection, a passionate connection to what you believe in and what you're giving your life to, you're like a flower with no scent, which is awesome. We talked about that in the Dhammapada. The Buddha says, if all you do is think about these ideas and you know them intellectually, but you don't live them, you're like a flower without scent. Krishnamurti says the same thing. If you don't have any passion, if all you are is the intellect, you're like a flower that has no scent. Awesome idea. Two more ideas. The next one is, he says, the real student doesn't stop living or stop learning at age 20 or 22 or 25 maybe. They live and they learn throughout their lives, right? And I quote Confucius here, and he says, everything teaches you, everything has an opportunity to teach you. The positive stuff, the negative stuff, the anonymous person, the traffic jam, the car. Everything that we go through has an opportunity to teach us. Confucius has some awesome stuff in his Analects, which is one of the old school classics we did. We have a PNTV episode on it not too long ago. He talks about the fact that, you know, of all the things, you might be able to find people who are smarter than him, wiser than him, all these different things, but you're going to have a hard time finding someone who's a more passionate student of life, who's more passionate about learning, he says. If I'm in the company of two men, one who's better than me and one who may not be as. As noble or moral as I am, I'm going to learn from both. I'm going to learn the good qualities of the person who's admirable, right? I'm going to try to integrate those into my life, and I'm going to learn the qualities in the person who isn't quite on. I'm going to see how I still have those qualities in my own life, and I'm going to integrate in a more healthful way of approaching those challenges. So I'm always going to learn no matter where I am. So we want to be lifelong students. Huge idea. Then the next big idea, which might be the final one, or we might go back and see if we can get some more in, is this idea of getting clear on what you want and then watch things happen. Krishnamurti goes off. He's got an amazing quote here where he says, sir, life is very strange. The moment you are very clear about what you want to do, things happen. Life comes to your aid. And he goes on and on and on about how the moment you're clear and you commit to something, life comes to your aid, which is echoed throughout the literature. There's the awesome W.H. murray quote, which I have in these notes probably a dozen times. Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, right? But once one is committed, everything aligns with us, everything comes to our aid that we never could have imagined. Joseph Campbell has an amazing description of this. He calls it hidden hands in his interview series with Bill Moyers, which we talk about in in the Power of Myth. So my question for you is, what do you want? What do you really want to do with your life? What do you most love? What are you here to give? How are you going to move forward? Get clear on that, start moving toward that. Amazing things happen. I'm sure you've experienced it. I certainly have. The world just responds to that deep integrity and resonance. So get clear and watch things happen. That is a very quick look on at Think on these Things by Christian Demurti. Hope you dug it. Recap quickly. To begin to go far, you got to begin near. The next step is most important. The key is loving what you do. Got to get rid of the roots of the problem, plant the good stuff and the real student learns throughout life and get clear on what you want and watch great things happen. That's it. Have an awesome day. Share more soon.

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