Thursday Q and A (7.14)

J. Krishnamurti
"Jiddu, can a person ever be free of their own self-image?

"Human beings from the very beginning of time have been hurt inwardly; by a casual remark, by a look, by a word, by being sarcastic, by denying what you hold dear...and somebody comes and treads on it, you feel terribly wounded. The consequence of that wound is to resist, to build a wall round yourself, which is to isolate yourself. You resist, fear enters into it, not to be hurt more. So gradually that hurt has helped you to isolate yourself even more. Right? The consequences of that isolation is more fear, more anxiety and so on and so on, and so on—the consequences. So the fact is that you are hurt. And what is hurt? Is it your psyche? The image that you have built about yourself? The image one has built about oneself; I might build an image about myself, saying, I am a great man, I have an audience, you know, blah, blah, I travel all over the world, how important it is, and so on. I have reached some state. You follow? I have built an image about myself, as you have built an image about yourself. I haven't got it, but it doesn't matter. Because from childhood I never wanted an image, it is too stupid. So having created an image about oneself: noble, ignoble, or inferior or superior--whatever it is---ugly, beautiful, with fanciful decoration, and romantic, sentimental...that gets hurt. Right?

So can one be free of the image? And who is the creator of the image?"

J Krishnamurti - Ojai, CA (May 1980)