Sravanthi Challapalli
Beginnings of Learning is a collection of discussions educator and philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti had with students and staff at Brockwood Park School, UK, in the initial years of its being established. The dialogues focus on the meaning and implications of various issues such as responsibility, learning and its true purpose, discipline, cooperation, freedom and meditation.
The range of connotations that each term evokes – as seen during the discussions – is vast and readers will probably be amazed at the breadth of associations that they carry. For instance, responsibility implies patience, care and affection, and the book discusses how to cultivate it. Through a process of questioning each and every word that the students offer, the discussions arrive at a conclusion of what any given ideal can mean and how it can be achieved.
Krishnamurti’s questions are provocative and pointed, argumentative, to elicit thought and responses. There is an interesting chapter on how the instinct for cooperation has built the world. Krishnamurti says, “One must have this feeling, otherwise we’ll all pull in different directions. … This extraordinary quality, this feeling for cooperation, building together, doing things together, this is what has built this world.” But then, he also asks: “Now can there be real, deep, lasting cooperation when there is a motive? If I have any form of selfish regard, a self-interested motive, can there be cooperation in the sense we want to understand it?”
One may be inclined to think of Krishnamurti as a guru whom they need to follow, but Chapter 5, a discussion on discipline, has him saying this: “You cannot follow anybody. The moment you follow somebody you are making yourself an idiot and the one whom you follow is also an idiot – because they have stopped learning.” This leads to a discussion on the nature of learning and cooperation and security and other issues – and that is how each chapter is structured.
The exchanges in the book comprise conversations on both everyday concerns as well as larger philosophical issues. Each chapter can be read independently.
The book also contains the essence of his belief as an educator: “I feel you ought to leave this place highly intelligent. Not just pass some exams, but be tremendously intelligent, aware, beautiful persons.”
