Think on These Things was published by Harper & Row in 1964, drawn from Krishnamurti’s talks to students and teachers at schools in India (particularly the Rajghat Education Centre in Varanasi and the Rishi Valley School in Andhra Pradesh). The book’s genius is showing that Krishnamurti’s most radical ideas can be expressed in language a teenager can understand — without dilution, without simplification, without the specialized vocabulary that makes so much philosophical writing inaccessible.
Each chapter begins with a student’s question — “Why do we want to be famous?” “What is real love?” “Why are we afraid?” “What does it mean to learn?” — and Krishnamurti’s response goes not toward an answer but toward an examination of the question that reveals something unexpected about the questioner’s assumptions. A question about ambition becomes an inquiry into why society rewards competition over cooperation. A question about fear becomes an investigation of time and thought. A question about God becomes an examination of belief itself.
The educational context is significant. Krishnamurti founded several schools (Brockwood Park in England, Rishi Valley and Rajghat in India, Oak Grove in California) because he believed that education was the only point of intervention — that adults were already too conditioned, too invested in their conditioning, to see freshly. Only in youth, before the patterns hardened, might it be possible to cultivate a mind that observes without the filter of the known.
Collecting Think on These Things
First edition (Harper & Row, New York, 1964): Cloth binding, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition in dust jacket: $30–$80
- Without jacket: $8–$20
- Indian editions (early printings): $15–$40