Introduction

Jacob Needleman is Professor of Philosophy at San Francisco State University and former Director of the Center for the Study of New Religions at Berkeley. He is the author of many books, including The Wisdom of Love, Time and the Soul, Why Can't We Be Good?, and Necessary Wisdom. He popularised the term 'new religious movements' and was honoured by the New York Open Center in 2006.

This first conversation with Krishnamurti was recorded in Malibu, California in 1971. It forms the opening chapter of the classic book, The Awakening of Intelligence. Subjects discussed include: the spiritual revolution among young people, hope of a new flowering for civilisation, and whether one can go into oneself at tremendous depths and find out everything, without asking for help. If there were no books or gurus, what we do? Is effort needed to reach God, enlightenment or truth? Why do we divide energy? The observer comes into being in wanting to change ‘what is’. The state of not-knowing is intelligence.

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