The Conditioned Self (Part 1)

I wonder what we mean by conditioning. Is it the tradition, not only present day tradition, but centuries and centuries of tradition that has been handed down from generation to generation, and is this conditioning the whole background of civilization, culture, the social impacts and the many, many experiences that one has? Does all this contribute to the conditioning of the brain? Not only all this but also the various impressions, the propaganda, the literature, the television, all this seems to add to the background, to the conditioning of every human being, whether he is very, very, very poor, uneducated, most primitive, and to the most highly educated, sophisticated human beings. This conditioning seems to be inevitable. It has been a factor that has endured probably for a million years, or fifty thousand years. If all that is the conditioning, or the background of every human being, and that obviously shapes our thinking, controls our reactions and responses, and our way of behaviour, conduct, and the way we eat and think and feel and react, and all that. That seems to be the normal conditioning of human beings.

This talk is a rare overview of Krishnamurti and David Bohm’s views of thought creating the thinker rather than the thinker creating thought. It includes Saral Bohm’s insights on David’s relationship with Krishnamurti and the ideas they explored together. One fundamental concept explored here is how self-deception permeates the fundamental structure, which corrupts not only thought about ourselves but thought in general. One of the many important insights is the way the psyche, or thought, defends its integrity by concealing its self-deception, not only from others but from itself. Krishnamurti is regarded globally as one of the greatest thinkers of all time. He called for a radical revolution to the inner psychology of humanity, proposing this to be the only way to eradicate conflict and suffering in the world.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/JYatolW62S8