Questioner: Why are some people born in poor circumstances, while others are rich and well-to-do?
Krishnamurti: What do you think? Instead of asking me and waiting for my answer, why do you not find out what you feel about it? Do you think it is some mysterious process which you call karma? In a former life you lived nobly and therefore you are now being rewarded with wealth and position! Is that it? Or, having acted very badly in a former life, you are paying for it in this life!
You see, this is really a very complex problem. Poverty is the fault of society - a society in which the greedy and the cunning exploit and rise to the top. We want the same thing, we also want to climb the ladder and get to the top. And when all of us want to get to the top, what happens? We tread on somebody; and the man who is trodden on, who is destroyed, asks, "Why is life so unfair? You have everything and I have no capacity, I have nothing". As long as we go on climbing the ladder of success, there will always be the sick and the unfed. It is the desire for success that has to be understood, and not why there are the rich and the poor, or why some have talent and others have none. What has to be changed is our own desire to climb, our desire to be great, to be a success. We all aspire to succeed, do we not? There lies the fault, and not in karma or any other explanation. The actual fact is that we all want to be at the top - perhaps not right at the top, but at least as high up the ladder as we can climb. As long as there is this drive to be great, to be somebody in the world, we are going to have the rich and the poor, the exploiter and those who are exploited.作者: Sue 时间: 2010-3-24 08:47
克氏也曾经提到Don't be mediocre，而mediocre就是说停在半山腰而不去爬到山顶。那么这里提到的desire又如何理解呢？爬上云梯和爬上山顶难道有什么区别呢？have the desire to be at the top和Don't be mediocre有什么区别呢？作者: Sue 时间: 2010-3-24 14:33
mediocre是指淹没在世俗里，没有独立探索的精神。下面这段参考一下：
"Beneath my worldly life, however, there has always been a vague religious groping, and when I began to have children, this groping took the form of a deep hope that one of my children would be religiously inclined. And not one of them is; they have all become prosperous and worldly, except the last one, who is a mixture of everything. All of them are really mediocre, and that is what hurts. They are engrossed in their worldliness. It all seems so superficial and silly, but I haven't discussed it with any of them, and even if I did, they wouldn't understand what I was talking about. I thought that at least one of them would be different, and I am horrified at their mediocrity and my own. It is this, I suppose, that is causing my sorrow. What can one do to break up this stupid state?"
“然而，在我世俗的生活下，总有一种模糊的宗教追寻，当我有孩子的时候，这种探索就表现为深切希望我其中的一个孩子会有宗教倾向。而他们中的任何一个都没有；他们都变得成功、世俗，除了最小的孩子，他是个混合体。他们所有人都真的很平庸，这就是我心痛的地方。他们全心投入到俗务中。这看起来是那么肤浅和愚蠢，但是我从没跟他们中的任何一个讨论过这点，即使我这么做了，他们也不会明白我在说什么。我原以为他们中至少有一个能与众不同，我也惊骇于他们和我自己的平庸。我想，这就是导致我哀伤的原因。我要怎样才能打破这种愚蠢的状态？”
In oneself or in another? One can only break up mediocrity in oneself, and then perhaps a different relationship with others may arise. To know that one is mediocre is already the beginning of change, is it not? But a petty mind, becoming aware of itself, frantically tries to change, to improve, and this very urge is mediocre. Any desire for self-improvement is petty. When the mind knows that it is mediocre and does not act upon itself, there is the breaking up of mediocrity.
在自己身上还是在别人身上？一个人只能打破自身的平庸，然后一种不同的与别人的关系才可能出现。知道自己是平庸的，改变就已经开始，不是吗？但是一个狭隘的心智，变得对自身觉知，拼命地想要改变，想要进步，这种渴望本身就是平庸。任何自我改善的欲望都是狭隘的。当心智知道自己平庸而不对自身采取任何行动时，才能打破这平庸。
"What do you mean by `act upon itself?'"
“你说的‘对自身采取行动’是什么意思？”
If a petty mind, realizing it is petty, makes an effort to change itself, is it not still petty? The effort to change is born of a petty mind, therefore that very effort is petty.
如果一个狭隘的心智，认识到自己的狭隘，然后努力去改变自己，这难道不依然是狭隘的吗？想要改变的努力诞生于一个狭隘的心智，所以那努力本身就是狭隘的。
"Yes, I see that, but what can one do?"
“是的，我明白这点，但是能怎么办呢？”
Any action of the mind is small, limited. The mind must cease to act, and only then is there the ending of mediocrity.
心智的任何行为都是狭隘的，局限的。心智必须停止活动，只有这时，平庸才能终结。作者: Sue 时间: 2010-3-24 14:36
而have the desire to be at the top是指爬上社会阶层的顶端，这种欲望正是在践行mediocre.
还有这句：Ambition breeds mediocrity of mind and heart; ambition is superficial, for it is everlastingly seeking a result. 野心滋生头脑和心灵的平庸；野心是肤浅的，因为它永远都在追求一个结果。
出处：COMMENTARIES ON LIVING SERIES II CHAPTER 38 'THE COMPETITIVE WAY OF LIFE'
还有：Essentially, self-improvement is but mediocrity. Self-improvement through virtue, through identification with capacity, through any form of positive or negative security, is a self-enclosing process however wide. Ambition breeds mediocrity, for ambition is the fulfilment of the self through action, through the group, through idea.
从本质上讲，自我改善只是平庸。通过美德，通过认同能力，通过获取任何形式的正面的或者负面的安全，进行的自我改善，是一种自我封闭的过程，不管其领域看起来多么广阔。野心滋生平庸，因为野心是通过活动，通过团体，通过观念，去实现自我。
出处：COMMENTARIES ON LIVING SERIES II CHAPTER 56 'IS THERE PROFOUND THINKING?'作者: vincirain 时间: 2010-3-25 18:02
感谢回复！
可以这样理解吗？
对外在的追求达到at the top的状态是一种平庸，而对内在的追求却是应该达到顶峰？
另外对内在世界的探求应该存在desire吗？克氏好像是反对的。
那么在Don't be mediocre的过程中，没有一种自然之力去驱使达到内在的顶峰吗？
如果有的话，和对外在的追求又有什么区别呢？如果没有的话，为什么又要用mediocre这个词眼。
还有对外在的追求的驱动力是否是出自自然呢？
如果是的话，又如何要回避呢？作者: Sue 时间: 2010-3-25 18:07
