Dear Friends,

Unconditionally Free is a novel exploration (online course) of J. Krishnamurti’s life and insights. Many come to this body of insights like we approach other subjects: studying a painting, mathematics, or history, for example. We listen to the words and think we understand, but the nature and quality of this understanding remain in a small corner of a much larger field— abstract, metaphor, intellectual knowing, mental images, or concepts. There may be a different quality of knowing, which is immediate and direct, like plunging into a river.

To perceive directly, not filtered by our mental images or concepts, is what Krishnamurti described as “living the teachings.” This quality of attention demands a different intensity and a different relationship to words, language, and to what we call thought. The intent is to awaken this quality of attention as we explore together Krishnamurti’s life and insights.

Unconditionally Free Exploration | Online Course
A virtual, live, and interactive continuing exploration of
J. Krishnamurti’s life and collected works:

• Twelve live sessions starting February 15, 2023, until January 17, 2024 – one session per month.
• Participants can register any time of the year (the previous live sessions will be available as recorded video)
• Ninety minutes each session: $24 per session / $288 in total
• Selected readings (downloadable text) for each session from the books Unconditionally Free, The Life and Insights of J. Krishnamurti and Always Awakening, Buddha’s Realization Krishnamurti’s Insight, with Samdhong Rinpoche
• Live recurring international dialogues, questions, commentary, and explorations
• Highlights of personal interviews, representing an estimated 500 years of intensive personal interactions with “the speaker”
• An exclusive, new themed interview collection of thirty-minute videos summarizing the essential themes Krishnamurti used to share his vision:
  • The Years of Awakening, Mary Lutyens
  • Conditioning and the Self, David and Saral Bohm
  • Change, Lana Peters (Stalin’s Daughter) and Ravi Ravindra
  • Meditation, Mark and Asha Lee Part 1-2
  • Freedom & Authority, Mary Zimbalist
  • The Sacred, Bill Quinn, and P. Jajakar
  • The Self as Violence, Dr. P. Krishna, Part 1-2
  • Relationship, Satish Inamdar, MD
  • Choiceless Awareness, Dorothy Simmons and Achyut Patwardhan
  • Death, Scott Forbes

The above themes speak for themselves. The personal insights and observations made by each of the interviewees do the same. The book Unconditionally Free is equally comprehensive, spanning in sequence, decade by decade, giving an overview of Krishnamurti’s life. Always Awakening provides an essential historical context for the realized state that Krishnamurti invites us to explore.

David Bohm spent a full year reading his first Krishnamurti book. “Krishnamurti uses language in a unique and very specific way,” he said. To grasp what Krishnamurti is saying, one may need a better understanding of his use of language. Like the key or legend on a large map, these Unconditionally Free course explorations provide the context that unites all 250,000 pages and all the videos into a coherent, and actually very simple, whole.

“The exploration of Krishnamurti’s life and insights we are beginning, provides a rare context I wish I had forty-five years ago. My life would have changed much sooner.” – Michael Mendizza

What to expect

• Immersion in selected monthly printable readings from the book Unconditional Free, The Life and Insights of J. Krishnamurti, and Always Awakening
• Reviewing printable transcripts from the new themed interview collection representing essential themes Krishnamurti shared, plus an estimated 500 years of intensive personal interactions with “the speaker”
• Ability to view the themed interview video presentations at the beginning of each monthly session
• Shared dialogue exploring the above with an international group of course attendees
• Posting questions, thoughts, and observations in an open forum with other participants
• The opportunity to raise and explore related questions with the presenter of the exploration (online course), Michael Mendizza

Who this is for
This ongoing exploration is for anyone “seriously interested” in Krishnamurti’s life and insights.

What does “freedom from the known,” “truth is a pathless land,” and “choiceless awareness,” actually mean—not as a concept—but rather as direct experience?

“When two people observe with the same intensity, freedom, and clarity, they see the same thing.”
– Krishnamurti

The intent of this ongoing exploration is to help each other actually penetrate the metaphors and the words Krishnamurti used, and experience in oneself what is being described, as a direct experience, what “the speaker” called “living the teachings.”

Presenter
Michael Mendizza is an educator, documentary filmmaker, and former trustee of the KFA who began investigating Krishnamurti’s insight in 1974. In 1978, he traveled with Krishnamurti and recorded his talks, resulting in the first major documentary on his life, For The Challenge of Change. Michael continued to professionally record Krishnamurti’s talks for the rest of his life. He then produced an educational series, Beyond Myth and Tradition, and a traveling exhibit, “The Mind of J. Krishnamurti.”

He also compiled a collection of over 100 first-generation interviews and a five-year, three-continent dialogue with Samdhong Rinpoche. He then edited a large, illustrated book, Unconditionally Free, the Life and Insights of J. Krishnamurti, documenting Krishnamurti’s life and insights. And lastly, he blended the essential themes in Beyond Myth and Tradition with highlights from the “First Generation” interviews, in a new series of up to 24 thirty-minute programs.

*Please contact us (courses@kfa.org) if you require financial assistance to enroll in the course.