Ojai, California | 4th Talk in the Oak Grove 26th April, 1936
Question: Do you not consider philanthropy an important element in creating a new environment leading to human welfare?
Krishnamurti: If we understand philanthropy to be the love of man and the effort to promote his happiness, then it will have value only in so far as we consider him as a unique individual and help him to realize that in his own hands lie his happiness and the welfare of the whole. But, I fear, this would not be considered as philanthropy; for most of us do not realize that we are unique, that the process of creating ignorance and sorrow lies within our own power, and that only through the comprehension of ourselves can there be freedom from them. If this is fully and deeply comprehended, then philanthropy will have significance.
Charity merely becomes a compensation, and with it go all the subtle and gross exploitations to which man has become so accustomed.
Tags: intelligence, uniqueness
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