The world is you, you are the world
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Following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.
Question: Acharya Ji, what does J.Krishnamurti mean when he says, “the observer is the observed”?
Acharya Prashant (AP): As you are, so you see the World. Simple.
That there is no objective reality about the World. The ‘subject’ and the ‘object’ are intrinsically linked; they are One. The subject and the object are linked; One.
You could further it, by saying, the observer is the observed, an honest observation dissolves them both. Or, the observer is the observed and both are false.
We lay a lot of emphasis on the World, assuming it to be the Truth. If the World is an entity independent of everything, then has to be the Truth, right? That is the definition of Truth.
Truth is that which is independent of everything.
Time, space, people, processes, situations, events; nothing can change it. And if something is totally unchangeable and independent, then it is the Truth. Now, we assign the same status to the World. We feel as if the World is independent of everything, right? That’s our normal perception. We say, this building was there before I went to sleep, and this building is still there when I woke up. Which means that this building is independent of me. In saying that, we have taken this building as the?
Listener (L): Truth.
AP: Truth. Because now, we are giving all those qualities to this building that rightfully belong to the?
L: Truth.
AP: Truth. When Krishnamurti says, “the observer is the observed.” he is saying, this building is you; it’s not Truth. You change, the building changes. So, it is not the Truth.
L: So, the observed is the observer.
AP: Same, same, good.
The World determines you, the mind;
and you determine the World. It’s the same.
And when you know these two together, then you have exceeded them both.
We never know these two together. When you are looking at the building, you are looking only at the building. You are not looking at the observer. When you can…
