Excerpt from “The art of listening, seeing, learning and living”, J Krishnamurti

Public Talk 4 Ojai, California, USA - 10 April 1977

One of the structures of our consciousness is fear, pleasure and sorrow, and before we talk about it, go into it, I think
we ought to understand something very clearly and simply: the art of listening, the art of seeing, and the art of
learning. The word 'art' is generally applied to artists, those who paint, those who write poems, do sculpture and so
on, but the meaning of that word 'art' means giving everything its right place, putting all our thoughts, feelings,
anxieties and so on, in their right place. So the word 'art' means giving their proper place, proper proportion, putting
everything in harmony - not just paint a picture or write a poem.

So, if you will this morning apply the art, the art of listening. We rarely listen to anybody. We are so full of our own
conclusions, our own experiences, our own problems, our own judgements, so we have no space in which to listen.
We ought to have some space so that as two friends, you and I, the speaker, are talking over together their
problems, amicably, under the shade of a tree, sitting down and looking at the mountains, but concerned with their
problems, and so they are willing to listen to each other. And to listen is only possible when you put aside your
particular opinion, your particular knowledge or problem, your conclusions; when you're free to listen, not
interpreting, not judging, not evaluating, but actually the art of listening. To listen with great care, attention, with
affection. And if we have such an art, if we have learnt such... rather, if you are capable of such listening, then
communication becomes very, very simple. There'll be no misunderstanding. Communication implies to think
together, to share the things that we are talking about together, to partake in the problem as two human beings
living in a monstrous corrupt world, where everything is so ugly, brutal, violent and meaningless, it is very important,
it seems to me, if I may point out, that in the art of listening one learns immediately, one sees the fact instantly. And
if you, if one listens rightly, as we pointed out the meaning of that word 'right' - correctly, accurately, not what you
think is right or wrong, but in the art of listening there is freedom, and in that freedom every word, every nuance of
word has significance, and there is immediate comprehension, which is immediate insight, and therefore immediate
freedom to observe.

Also there is the art of seeing, to see things as they are, not as you wish to see them. To see things without any
illusion, without any preconceived judgement, opinion, to see actually 'what is', not your conclusions about 'what is'.
Then the art of learning, not memorising, which becomes very mechanical, because our minds, our brains have
already become so extraordinarily mechanical. So the art of learning implies freedom to observe, to listen without
prejudice, without argumentation, without any emotional, romantic responses. If we have these three arts, not
merely as a verbal conclusion or an intellectual comprehension, but actually, in our daily life, to put everything in its
right place, where they belong, so that one can live a really very quiet, harmonious life. But that is not possible if you
haven't learned this art of giving things their proper place.