Scribd
Upload
53 views3 pages

Learning Through Dialogue: P. Krishna

Krishnamurti emphasized that students and teachers should learn about themselves through dialogue rather than just accumulating knowledge from books. A dialogue involves an open exchange without fixed viewpoints, where participants explore together to discover deeper truths. In a dialogue, knowledge and beliefs are set aside so people can explore like friends seeking understanding. When the observers disappear and there is only observation of the issue, it does not matter how many people participate. The quality of a dialogue depends primarily on keeping an open and inquiring state of mind.

Uploaded by

Sugg Goyal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
53 views3 pages

Learning Through Dialogue: P. Krishna

Krishnamurti emphasized that students and teachers should learn about themselves through dialogue rather than just accumulating knowledge from books. A dialogue involves an open exchange without fixed viewpoints, where participants explore together to discover deeper truths. In a dialogue, knowledge and beliefs are set aside so people can explore like friends seeking understanding. When the observers disappear and there is only observation of the issue, it does not matter how many people participate. The quality of a dialogue depends primarily on keeping an open and inquiring state of mind.

Uploaded by

Sugg Goyal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

Learning Through Dialogue

P. KRISHNA

Krishnamurti has emphasised the need for students and teachers to learn about
themselves while they are teaching and learning about the world around them, through the
planned curriculum and activities of the school. One cannot learn about oneself through
books, the way one learns various skills and subjects. Understanding oneself is very
different from accumulating knowledge and cannot be 'taught' directly. So how is such
learning to be facilitated in the school? That is one of the difficult questions one grapples
with in a Krishnamurti school. Krishnamurti suggested the use of 'Dialogue' and employed
it extensively during his visits to the schools. We must therefore investigate deeply what
we mean by dialogue and whether it can be cultivated like an art in education.

The dictionary defines 'Dialogue' as a conversation between two or more people and also
as an exchange of opinions or ideas, Krishnamurti gave to it a much deeper meaning and
pointed out its importance as a means of discovering the truth. He distinguished between
the knowledge of the truth and the realization of the truth and used dialogue as a mode of
enabling the latter. The sacred books of all religions contain descriptions of the truth that
were realized by great religious seers, but those descriptions do not reveal the truth to us
when we read them. They may point to the truth, give us an idea about it and create an
intellectual understanding of it, but that is not the same as the realization of the truth.
Krishnamurti attempted to bridge that gap through the mode of what he called a dialogue.

A dialogue is very different from what we normally call a discussion or debate in


education. A discussion is usually between people who have adopted definite points of
view and who wish to convince each other or compare their outlooks. They are often
committed to a certain opinion, ideology, religious belief, political system or nationality
and argue from that particular point of view. Most of our university seminars and
symposia as well as international diplomatic exchanges are of such a nature. So are the
dialectical discussions between philosophers or religious heads of different persuasions.
They begin with knowledge, encourage an exchange of ideas and end in more
knowledge and more ideas. Since the whole exercise is confined to the field of ideas and
knowledge it does not lead to the realization of a deeper truth. On the other hand, a
dialogue as a mode of religious inquiry begins with not knowing. The participants know
that they do not know the truth, posit it as the unknown and are eager to investigate
together in order to discover it. In not knowing, not identifying ourselves with any point of
view, not trying to convince each other of anything, we are together and not pitted against
each other. It is as if we are all on the same side of the table and the truth is on the other
side.

It is our knowledge, our beliefs, our points of view, that divide us. If we set them aside we
can begin to explore like two friends deeply interested in examining any issue in life and
coming to a deeper understanding of it. The truth may reveal itself in the very process of
exploring the question, rather than trying to quickly answer it. An answer given by a mind
that has not deeply examined and understood all that is involved in the issue is merely a
superficial opinion and therefore has little value. Knowing this, the mind is not interested
in forming opinions in a dialogue and coming to conclusions. Nor is it competing with
others in arriving at the truth first since it is not ambitious and not seeking satisfaction,
fame or reputation. It is a mind that is inquiring for the love of understanding, not for a
result or a conclusion.

Such a mind in a state of dialogue, doubts every opinion, is sceptical of every conclusion
because it is not interested in a verbal answer. It is seeking to go beyond the word and
have a deepinsight into reality. It is looking for the perception of facts and for a holistic
understanding of the issue, not merely a method for solving a problem. Since one is
looking for a deep and direct perception of the truth and not merely the transference of
knowledge, there is no hierarchy in a dialogue. There is no division of the teacher and the
taught; the one who knows and the one who does not know. A dialogue begins with
observation and aims at discerning what is true from what is false. Since the inquiry is not
based on knowledge, it is not in the nature of a transfer of ideas from one who knows to
another who does not know. It is rather ajoint exploration into 'what is', conducted with
utter humility, by friends who know that they do not know but wish to understand and
come upon the truth.

Since there is no sense of competition, rivalry or debate in a dialogue, no desire to


impress or be the first to point out something, it is not important in whose mind a
particular thought arises. It is only important to explore what meaning that thought is
trying to convey and whether that is true. Since one is not taking sides with any point of
view, there is also no sense of division in a dialogue. When the mind is in the observing
mode it does not matter if there are two people participating in the dialogue, or two
hundred or even just one. A truly impartial mind can see all sides of an issue without
attaching itself to any one side. Krishnaji likened a dialogue to a game of tennis in which
the question is like the ball tossed from one court to another, each player returning it with
his comment or observation. This goes on till both the players disappear and the ball is
suspended in mid-air! That means the observers (participants) with their particular
knowledge, viewpoints, opinions etc. disappear and there is only observation of the issue
taking place. If the observers (or their personalities) are to disappear, it does not matter
how many or who they were.

There is a lot of discussion these days about the best way to conduct a dialogue -
whether there should be a coordinator directing it or not, whether it should start with a
pre-formulated question or the question should come spontaneously in the dialogue,
whether there should be only five people or fifty and so on. While these are useful
organisational questions and it is nice to know the rules of the game before starting, they
are really peripheral to the issue. None of these can create a dialogue if the mind is not in
the dialogue mode. Conversely, if our mind is in the dialogue mode, the form does not
destroy or prevent a dialogue. What determines the quality of a dialogue is primarily the
state of our own mind. In that sense, one can live all one's life with the mind in a state of
continuing dialogue - a dialogue with oneself, with others around us and with Nature. This
means a mind in the state of dialogue is not different from a listening and observing mind,
which is also essentially a learning mind, if we understand learning to mean not the
accumulation of knowledge but the discernment of what is true from what is false. It is a
mind that is not attached to any opinions or any religious beliefs, one that is not seeking
satisfaction nor judging on the basis of its likes and dislikes. To such a mind every
experience, every talk, every book is a source of deep questions. Self-knowledge and
understanding are then by-products of the exploration of these questions for oneself. It is
a mind that is a student of life, constantly inquiring, looking, learning, and growing in its
understanding, never a<nleringto a conclusion, never holding to any fixed opinions. Only
such a mind can transcend the limitations of knowledge and discover if there is
something sacred that is beyond all human thoughts and belief.

One must distinguish between two kinds of learning. There is tlle learning which is
accumulation of knowledge, which is a matter of time and effort. This is essentially the
cultivation of skills or of thought and memory. There is also a more important learning
which is the capacity to discern what is true and discard what is false and thereby come
upon a deeper meaning and significance of every thing in life including love, religion,
beauty and death. This learning is not accumulative, and therefore is not a matter of time.
It has the nature of a holistic awareness, a deep understanding, a long vision, wisdom
and compassion. With time one necessarily grows in knowledge and experience but not
in wisdom. It is only when the mind has a deep insight or a direct perception of a truth
that an illusion drops away and there is a greater wisdom or understanding oflife. To
keep one's mind in such a state of dialogue is the art of learning. This is the greatest art
in life but it cannot be taught like a subject. If we, the teachers, can live that way
ourselves perhaps the students would catch it like a perfume in the air! That is the
challenge a Krishnamurti school poses before us.

You might also like