MON-FRI May 22- 26
Program Fee: $100
Daily online afternoon sessions
10:00am-12:30pm PACIFIC TIME
Individual and Society
An online In-depth Study Program
Program Description
Individual and Society
The question of the relationship of the individual and society is inherent to our human condition and finding the right balance is an existential challenge we all face.
We are social beings, and we are born and raised within the framework of particular social organisations. The material, historical and cultural patterns governing the collective become the circumstantial background shaping our education and upbringing. We are naturally under pressure to adapt and conform to the prevalent attitudes, values and beliefs of our immediate environment. We are crudely or subtly indoctrinated into taking on the collective identity as our own. The collective claims us for itself, demands allegiance and belonging as the price of the presumed security and dignity it offers. But every society experiences a series of internal fragmentations along class, racial, linguistic, ideological and religious lines and the
consequent power struggles, with their inherent domination and violence. This internal conflict extends to the international scene, where there is brutal economic and military competition on account of natural resources and political hegemony. This is an arbitrary process that denies our shared humanity, for it leads to the total alienation of one human being from another, with all its gruesome consequences.
A key question in the relationship of individual and society is whether the individual has been made for society or society for the individual. Historically, this has given rise to two opposite attitudes. If the individual has been made for society, then society is empowered to dictate the individual’s existence in every way and there is no question of freedom or autonomy. If, on the other hand, society exists for the fruition of the individual, then it must invest all its resources towards that end.
Another approach is to consider that society is the action of relationship between people. In that sense, it does not exist as something independent of the so-called individual, just as the individual does not exist apart from relationship. As K used to put it, to exist is to be related. Society would be the collective expression of that relationship, which is not only between people but with things, nature and ideas. Then the problems of society are the problems of relationship and to change relationship is always possible because it is the very nature of our daily life. As we are, so is society or, in K’s own phrase, we are the world and the world is us. In that awareness of the encompassing nature of relationships there is an implicit dissolution of the fragmentation between individual and society. It is also the ground of our total responsibility.
The present society is not concerned with our inner development but with turning out efficient and respectable citizens. But without the cultivation of the inner, society will always be in danger, for the inner invariably overcomes the outer. We may have the best legal system, but if greed and the pursuit of power predominate, then the law will be subverted or bypassed. We isolate ourselves through our identification with country, class, race, ideology and belief. Such isolation, as in nationalism, is a fundamental cause of war. Without the foundation of self-knowledge and freedom from conditioning, there will be no peace on earth.
We look forward to this joint journey of self-discovery through the mirror of K’s teachings.
Daily online sessions
10:00am-12:30pm PACIFIC TIME
Facilitator
Javier Gómez Rodríguez comes originally from Spain. In his mid-teens he came across the work of Krishnamurti and was instantly struck by its wholeness and ‘ring of truth’. From 1975-1978 he was a student at Brockwood Park, the school K founded in England in 1969.
After briefly lecturing in Spanish at Texas A & M in the US, in 1990 he returned to Brockwood Park as a teacher. There he met up with K’s close collaborator David Bohm and actively engaged with him in the exploration of the latter’s dialogue proposal.
Javier spent two years (1993-95) as a resident scholar at the KFI headquarters in Vasanta Vihar in India. On his return to Spain, he conducted a K-inspired inquiry group, translated several K books into Spanish and became a trustee of the Fundación Krishnamurti Lationamericana, the K foundation responsible for disseminating his work in the Spanish-speaking world. He also joined Krishnamurti Link International (KLI), an informal group of former Brockwood staff members brought together by the German industrialist Friedrich Grohe, who was K’s close friend during the last 2-3 years of his life and a lifelong financial supporter of the K institutions worldwide.
In 2000 Javier moved to The Netherlands, where he has been residing ever since. He has been collaborating with the Dutch K committee and continues to be associated with KLI. He currently edits Friedrich’s Newsletter and is active in KLI’s international network of activities.
In 2016 Javier started giving a course offering a comprehensive introduction to K’s life and teachings (www.thebookofyourself.
Javier is currently working on compiling a book on K’s life and teachings based on his research for the course.
What to expect
- Short videos and readings
- Group dialogues to deepen understanding through personal and collective sharing
Who is this for
This program is designed for anyone interested in going deeper into this topic that J. Krishnamurti pointed to in his numerous talks, discussions, and writings.
English 
Spanish