Dawn of a New Era
We all live in the midst of what is-by far-the most comprehensive and pervasive revolution in the known history of mankind. It is a wisdom revolution-a veritable explosion against the me-centered "values" that have always dominated, everywhere on the planet. Wisdom has no bounds. So this is a borderless revolution. There's been a wisdom explosion going on in our times, everywhere on Earth. Despite militant resistance from those still attached to the old ways, the wisdom explosion continues to gain impetus. The present wisdom blast is an unstoppable juggernaut. We are witnessing the most severe expression ever of an age-old conflict-the clash between borderlessly wise universal morality, and intelligence-challenged, provincial, me-centered prejudices. The most respected leaders of culture everywhere and everywhen-including the founders of the great religions-have spoken of a borderless wisdom-compassion as the universal solvent for all human woes, clashes, and confusions. All religions and ideologies based on universal ethics have appealed to that unconditioned and unconditional wisdom-compassion. Sadly, the borderless insights have been transmogrified into prejudicial group-thinks-thereby creating "new and improved" conflicts between us, and within us. That ancient war between "the good" and "the bad"-within and without us-has been gaining momentum in our times. Group-thinkers have created an unprecedented political, environmental, ethnic, economic, and social calamity. Will borderless wisdom help us and guide us in our present plight, despite its numerous past failures? Only you and I can answer that existential question. We each answer it by how we conduct our lives. A good place to start an exploration into all that-and much more-is to look into J. Krishnamurti's (K) borderless insights. K made no appeals to a particular religion, or culture, or ideology. Such group-thinks shun "outsiders"-which is the rest of humanity. Provincial appeals always make a bad situation worse. K addressed directly to our wisdom-intelligence-which is borderless and does not "belong" to any group-think, while yet being potentially present everywhere. K's approach agrees with what the great moral geniuses of the past had proclaimed. It also resonates with borderless wisdom-intelligence, which is within all of us. K-an American born in India-revolutionized our understanding of philosophy, religion, psychology, education, and other aspects of our lives. K clarified and gave unique depth to America's founding documents. "You are the world, and the world is you," he said, echoing those texts. But he gave to those documents immense vibrancy, fresh clarity, and power. America's documents suggest, but never spell out-as K did-that "truth is a pathless land." K was an unprecedented phenomenon in the history of mankind. He spelled out what the great ethical leaders had taught. But he did so with a formerly absent borderlessness. Within each of us there throbs a borderless perennial wisdom-compassion-morality-despite the self-centered personas we often identify with. It's taken millennia of harrowing soul-searching for us to acknowledge that wisdom-even if only through a glass darkly. The present American Age challenges us all. Will we return to tyranny? Or will we embrace solidarity and sanity? That is the life-defining ultimatum of our times-and of Dawn of a New Era. All of it is inexorably about you.
