Page 164 - JOURNAL OF THE KRISHNAMURTI SCHOOLS

the journal of the krishnamurti schools no.25

in organizations like Greenpeace and Amnesty, where a passion
for the cause is the raison d’être). Rather than getting caught in a
‘thought vs feeling’ debate, K helped me accept the equally limited
nature of both. This helped me create spaces where both feelings
and thought had a place.
I have come to understand and articulate to my colleagues
(thereby creating common ground) that it is our feelings that direct
our attention to something and give us a sense of what is worth
thinking about. It is from the subjective experience of strong feel-
ings that, say, ‘justice’ evokes in us, that we find the energy to make
efforts to secure it for ourselves and others. But to secure it, we
need to act in ways that are strategic and smart. And in pursuit of
effective action, it is necessary to think and think well. Feelings are
likely not the best guides in designing action, but without them we
would be hard pressed to figure out what to have thoughts about!
The fourth lesson is that thought is a material, mechanical process
and that there is nothing new in thought. This is hard to get for a
modern organization, given the exhortation to ‘be creative’! I have
seen that thought is the right instrument to achieve a purpose, to
chart a ‘path’ to a ‘goal’. While we understand that becoming free
is not a meaningful purpose and ‘truth is a pathless land’, as any
such effort requires us to develop a mental image of freedom, we
can equally understand that thought is indeed the right instrument
when one is solving a problem where the end point is well defined.
In an organizational context, this clarity around ‘when thought
is the right instrument’ is often very valuable. No amount of think-
ing can help organizations find their purpose. This has to come
from feeling, a sense that something matters and is worth accom-
plishing. But once there is a purpose then thought is the right
instrument to bring into play.
The fifth lesson is that thinking is a skill and therefore can be cul-
tivated. K made it clear that one cannot become a better human
being. But one could become a better potter—one could cultivate

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