Ep. 12 - Defining Love Beyond Sex and Pleasure

Exploring how modern culture often reduces love to sex and pleasure, J. Krishnamurti points to a deeper understanding: love as a mirror for self-knowledge and true relationship.

Just joining the podcast? Be sure to start with Ep. 1: Knowledge & Transformation to get the most out of this 18-part dialogue on consciousness, spirituality, and navigating life with J. Krishnamurti and Dr. Allan W. Anderson.

In this episode, J. Krishnamurti and Dr. Allan W. Anderson consider:

• How to love without focusing on achievement or reward
• Why reducing love to sex and pleasure distorts its true nature
• Real love as the total absence of ego
• The Christian perspective on love and dissolving the “I”
• Pure joy as an effortless state and how this is connected to love
• The role of celibacy across spiritual traditions
• How chastity can open the mind to clarity and truth
• The idea of enjoyment as pleasure 
• How ambition, nationalism, and identification, can deeply isolate a person

This talk was originally recorded in 1974 at San Diego State University and curated by the Krishnamurti Foundation of America

About J. Krishnamurti:

For nearly six decades until his passing in 1986 at the age of ninety, Jiddu Krishnamurti traversed the globe, delivering spontaneous and captivating discourses to large audiences. Krishnamurti assumed the role of an investigator rather than an authority figure, encouraging individuals to question assumptions and explore the depths of their consciousness. His extensive body of work, estimated at over 100 million words, spans more than six decades of relentless inquiry and dialogue. His teachings, compiled in numerous books and translated into multiple languages, continue to inspire seekers worldwide, inviting them to embark on a profound journey of self-discovery and understanding. J. Krishnamurti’s legacy endures as a guiding light, offering timeless wisdom for those who dare to challenge conventional thinking and explore the complexities of existence.

About Dr. Allan W. Anderson:

Dr. Allan Anderson was a poet, author, Professor Emeritus, beloved teacher, scholar of the Oracular Tradition, and a gifted religious linguist. He helped to form the Department of Religious Studies at San Diego State College in 1969. Dr. Anderson later became chair of that department, specializing in Eastern Religions, until his retirement in 1985.

“Western civilization has put this over the whole of the earth through cinema, books, pornography, advertisements, stories. This sense of love is identification with sex, which is pleasure, basically. Can a mind pursuing pleasure, ambitious/competitive mind, can such a mind love? It can love sexually, but love of sex is the only thing.” – J. Krishnamurti

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