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As human beings living in this monstrously ugly world, let us ask ourselves, can this society, based on competition, brutality and fear, come to an end? Not as an intellectual conception, not as a hope, but as an actual fact, so that the mind is made fresh, new and innocent and can bring about a different world altogether? It can only happen, I think, if each one of us recognises the central fact that we, as individuals, as human beings, in whatever part of the world we happen to live or whatever culture we happen to belong to, are totally responsible for the whole state of the world. We are each one of us responsible for every war because of the aggressiveness of our own lives, because of our nationalism, our selfishness, our gods, our prejudices, our ideals, all of which divide us.

Jiddu Krishnamurti#25

SocietyChangeResponsibilityWarIndividualWorld

About this quote

What does it mean?
Individuals are responsible for global issues like war because their own inner attitudes divide humanity.
In plain terms
You are responsible for the world because you are part of it.
What can you take from it?
Change yourself to change the world.

Where it applies

  • civic duty
  • personal growth
  • global issues

Putting it to work

  • reflect on inner causes
  • own your impact
  • act locally

Questions to consider

  • How do your inner conflicts affect the world?
  • Are you responsible for the state of things?

Another view

Structural change is also required.

More from Jiddu Krishnamurti

  1. We are afraid of the known and afraid of the unknown. That is our daily life and in that there is no hope, and therefore every form of philosophy, every form o…

    Permalink to quote #24
  2. What can a human being do-what can you and I do-to create a completely different society? We are asking ourselves a very serious question. Is there anything to…

    Permalink to quote #26
  3. There has been outward progress from the bullock cart to the jet plane but psychologically the individual has not changed at all, and the structure of society …

    Permalink to quote #23

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