Think on These Things
` The material contained in this volume was originally presented in the form of talks to students, teachers and parents in India, but its keen penetration and lucid simplicity will be deeply meaningful to thoughtful people everywhere, of all ages, and in every walk of life. Krishnamurti examines with characteristic objectivity and insight the expressions of what we are pleased to call our culture, our education, religion, politics and tradition; and he throws much light on such basic emotions as ambition, greed and envy, the desire for security and the lust for power all of which he shows to be deteriorating factors in human society. From the Editor s Note ` Krishnamurti s observations and explorations of modern man s estate are penetrating and profound, yet given with a disarming simplicity and directness. To listen to him or to read his thoughts is to face oneself and the world with an astonishing morning freshness. Anne Marrow Lindbergh
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What Hacker News says
- It took me a long time to notice that the word in the title is “massage”, and not “message”, in Marshall McLuhan’s and Quentin Fiore’s The Medium is the Massage (An inventory of effects): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Medium_Is_the_Massage
Links to various editions: https://www.biblio.com/the-medium-is-the-massage-by-marshall...
Also of interest, notes about the observer being the observed in Jiddu Krishnamurti’s Think on These Things — https://www.biblio.com/9780060916091 — and The First and Last Freedom: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_and_Last_Freedom
- Get away from the computer and go for a walk every day for at least 30 minutes, preferably during work hours, to break up your day and think.
Sit down somewhere and simply watch other people going about their day, and daydream.
Write to your friends and try to meet them regularly.
Get a paper notebook and a pencil or pen and keep it by you. Write ideas and thoughts as they come, not later. Write about what interests you and what you would like to happen in your life. Write ideas for personal projects and break them down into small items that you can do to move them forward. Tick them off as they get done.
Spend time doing things other than programming. Draw. Take photographs with a digital camera and make sure to look at them after some time has passed (a few days to a few months) and mark the ones you like and put them in a folder. Play an instrument made of wood. Go to a concert or an art exhibit. Drink a beverage in a place that feels cozy. Seek out and listen to music that you like and watch movies that you like.
Play video games that you like, especially ones with good sound and good humor, and cooperative PvE ones with friends. Some good ones are Zelda Breath of the Wild, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Everything, Noita, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Arma 3, Broforce, Jagged Alliance 2, Watch Dogs: Legion, and GTA Online in private lobbies with friends.
Beware of sociopaths. They are few and far between, but can also work at FAANGs. Read The Psychopath Code by Pieter Hintjens.
Spend time in a park or a forest walking and listening to the sounds that trees and birds and other things make. Seek out nature.
Try exercising at least once every other day. Search "7 minute workout".
Practice cooking something you really like yourself, and once you make a version you enjoy, make it a habit to do it once a fortnight or so. Go out and eat your favorite junk food once in a while, too.
Read books made of paper about things that interest you. Use a pencil to draw lightly on the pages around the passages you like. Try a book like Think on These Things by Jiddu Krishnamurti and A Village Life by Louise Glück and Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke.
Always work on your own projects, at least in your paper notebook or in your mind or on your computer, even when at work working for someone else.
Don’t worry about what other people who are not dear to you say. In the end, it doesn’t matter.
Love someone. Help someone. Be kind.
Good luck!
- Think on These Things by Jiddu Krishnamurti
- JK is not easy man to understand. His approach was VIA NEGATIVA i.e. he will never tell HOW to do it rather what NOT to do ! When we ask HOW, it strengthens the mind and he does not want that to happen.
Reading his books "Freedom from the known" and "Think on these things" might help you to get closer to him.
- Consider reading Herman Hesse (Siddhartha) or Jiddu Krishnamurti (Think on These Things), and questioning your belief of an omnipotent god deciding things for you, as you mention in your blog.
Begin making decisions for yourself and following your own will. Don't be afraid of getting help from your parents or friends. You are a valuable individual in the world with a finite life. You are loved. Enjoy your life and do your best to make a living without harming others, but do what it takes to survive comfortably.
- I don't know.
But see also Lartigue, who made some of the most wonderful photographs I have ever seen before he was 10 years old — https://www.lartigue.org/en/jacques-henri-lartigue/biography... — and Aaron Swartz — http://www.aaronsw.com/
I think when a person finds what they love to do at an early age, through supportive rather than forceful education, they bloom.
Recommended reading: Think on These Things by Jiddu Krishnamurti
