to go into a problem

To go into a problem, I must be completely vulnerable, open to it. I must expose myself to myself [...] I must be in a state of mind that demands to see this thing right to the end and at no point stops and says I will go no further.

In this quotation from Krishnamurti, he is really giving us another indication as to how to go about looking into a problem. Mostly we're talking about inner work here – when I have a problem. For example, perhaps I get angry every time somebody says I'm lazy. Now, it's not nice to be angry, although a part of my psychology might actually quite like it. But there's a problem here. And how do I go about looking into that?

Because the way we human beings normally meet problems, be they personal problems, or even problems in the wider world, the way we normally meet them is through our prejudice, our conditioning, through our biases. And when we meet a problem that way, we are never really going to see the whole problem. Because what we're really trying to do is not so much solve the problem, as reinforce and defend our pre-existing beliefs. So when we approach a problem in that defensive way, we don't really achieve much. It's as if we have taken up a defensive position and we are merely digging ourselves in deeper, creating a deeper trench to sit in, a bigger bank of earth between us and the rest of the world. We are reinforcing our beliefs, and with that we are actually reinforcing our ego, our sense of identity, and that really isn't going to solve any problem.

And that's why here, Krishnamurti points out, very explicitly, something that might not be obvious to us: to go into a problem, I must be completely vulnerable, open to it. I must expose myself to myself.

Really, what he's pointing out here is that when we're up against a problem, there are really two aspects. There's what we regard as the problem; and then there's the personality, the belief structures that are within oneself, that are meeting that problem, And how we respond is really telling us more about ourself, our beliefs, than about the problem as such. And that's why a problem is also an opportunity, is an opportunity to see ourself. And if we want to go into the problem, as Krishnamurti says, we actually have to begin to see ourself. We have to be open. That is, not coming at the problem from a defensive position, not trying to justify my beliefs or my behaviour.

We need to be open, and that openness means being vulnerable. That's the feeling in oneself when one is open. It's a feeling of being vulnerable. I might get hurt. And we have to be able to face that feeling within us, that feeling of vulnerability. That's what it's like when we're not being defensive. And of course, it's a bit scary, that's why we don't usually approach a problem in this way. It's a lot less scary to be in that trench. But Krishnamurti says, to go into a problem, I must be completely vulnerable, open to it. I must expose myself to myself. Sounds a bit strange, doesn't it? I must expose myself to myself. See what's implied in that: that ordinarily I'm hiding myself from myself. It sounds crazy, but it's true. This is what we are all doing, day in day out, hiding from ourself. We just can't face some parts of who we are. Our shadow side, all the dark aspects of our psychology. We don't want to admit them. We don't want to admit our prejudices. We don't really fully own them. They sit in the background causing all sorts of mischief. But of course, when we approach anything in this half hidden way, the outcome is not going to be good. It's going to be a mess. All sorts of things going on, unseen, or if seen then unspoken, unacknowledged. It's going to create havoc in the world.

And of course, if we are really just trying to reinforce our beliefs and justify ourself, we're not really going to get to the bottom of things.

Krishnamurti goes on, I must be in a state of mind that demands to see this thing right to the end. And at no point stops and says I will go no further.

This is really important to understand on our spiritual journey. We have to be prepared to see things to the end. It's not going to really achieve anything much if we're in a state of mind that kind of stops or gives up when things get too difficult; or perhaps when things reach a new state of comfort that we're happy with. If at any point we just stop and say, I'm going no further, this is where I'm stopping, then we won't have got to the bottom of things. We won't have solved the problem, whatever the problem is. We won't have really understood ourselves fully.

This goes for small problems in daily life, but it also applies, critically, to those deep questions that face us on our spiritual journey. Who am I? Am I worthy to be here? What's my relationship with the rest of existence? What's my connection with god? What is the purpose in life? Is there a purpose?

These are fundamental questions and there's no point in just coming up with a quick answer. That's not really how things work on the spiritual journey. We have to be able to sit with these questions, feel what they touch in ourself, what they bring up, and see through that process, what the questions are telling us about ourself, about our beliefs, about our deep psychology. And as long as we don't stop, as long as we keep going with that sort of inquiry, then everything within us can be brought out into the light. And only then can the problem really be solved. Though rather curiously, it's not that we solve problems. Rather, the process is when we face a problem, with this totality and with this openness, this vulnerability that Krishnamurti speaks of, when we face a problem this way and we see it through to the very end, when we don't stop, when we don't give up, when we can sit with a problem in this way, eventually something within us releases, transforms flowers, and the problem itself melts away. So ultimately, we are not in the business of solving a problem. We're in the business of looking into it so completely, so openly, so totally, that eventually, the problem can disappear. And with that process, we become whole.