Right Living in Modern Society

The School of the Wisdom classes by Prof. P. Krishna

Monday 10 to 21 Friday 21 January 2022
Classes weekly 2 hours on Monday, Wednesday and Friday
GMT 12 noon
5:30 PM, ie. 17:30 India time

- see time in your location

In the last 200 years, humanity has attained tremendous knowledge and expertise in almost every field: Agriculture, Architecture, Arts, Sciences, Mathematics, Medicine, Health care, Transportation, Communication, and any other field one can think of. Our knowledge of the external world has advanced enormously. All this has completely changed the way we live in modern society and enabled several conveniences, greater longevity, faster travel to every part of the earth and now even into space. It was hoped that all this will usher in enhanced security, happiness, peace, and prosperity for all; but that has still not been realized.

What is it that we have done wrong? Do we need to go in the same direction of greater knowledge, more efficiency, better laws, better economy, and a different social organization? We have already tried different social systems in different parts of the world, we have tried communism, dictatorships, democracy, religions and more recently science but, to be honest, nothing has succeeded, and our newspapers and media are revealing every day the actual state of our modern society. It is obvious that we, human beings, do not know what right living is. Despite all the progress we find that there is still great cruelty, violence, crime, and the mass organized murder called war, constantly threatening our security. Universal brotherhood and non-violence have been preached but the reality is violence, division, hatred, and war.

In this course we shall consider all the challenges facing modern society now, examine their causes and ask ourselves the question whether external changes can solve these problems, or we need to transform inwardly in our approach to life. After all, our society is the way it is because we are the way we are and if so many things are going wrong in society, something must be wrong with us. We think we are very intelligent and superior to all the other species of life, but history shows that no other species has created as much destruction, killing and and torture as the human species. So, are we really intelligent or have we defined intelligence unintelligently?

Human effort all over the world is at present directed towards greater knowledge, better techniques, greater control and so on. Is that what is needed to solve our problems? Or is this approach itself fundamentally flawed? All this explosion of knowledge has given us enhanced power but power without wisdom is misused and leads to greater destruction. Almost all our present problems arise out of this lopsided development of the human mind: great power, ability, and expertise but very little wisdom or capacity for love. Modern man is now able to travel to the moon but still unable to love his neighbour!

To rectify this state of things we must ask how a human being can grow in wisdom? Does increased knowledge create wisdom? We do not need more power and efficiency, we need love, compassion, and freedom from self-interest. That demands a deeper understanding of ourselves and our relationships. Self-knowledge is the key to wisdom. This was pointed out by the Buddha in the east and by Socrates in the west. Can education enable human beings to come upon both knowledge of the world and self- knowledge? How should education be altered to enable this?

These are some of the questions we shall examine in depth in this course.

RECOMMENDED MATERIAL
For recommended study material, visit this link and survey the lectures and books by Prof. Krishna http://www.pkrishna.org/

FACILITATOR

Prof. P. KRISHNA is a Trustee of the Krishnamurti Foundation India, staying at the Rajghat Education Center in Varanasi, India. He was the Rector of the center and Principal of the Rajghat Besant School from 1986 to 2002.

As a trustee of the Foundation, he continues to be involved with its activities. He has written articles and books on various issues relating to the teachings of J. Krishnamurti .

He has also delivered lectures on Education, Science and Society to varied audiences. He is an Honorary scientist and Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi, as well as the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore.