A few days ago I was trying to illustrate in conversation why I have a resistance towards any religious expression in MY world. While I do believe that religion had a constructive role in social evolution … and maybe it still does in some contexts … I do feel that in some parts of the world we have evolved to the point that religion is, by definition, dysfunctional.
Then I came across this quote, which aptly describes my feeling, of Krishnamurti presented by TKV Desikachar in Health, Healing and Beyond:
“I maintain that truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect … Truth being limiteless, unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organied; nor should any organization be formed to lead or to coerce people along any particular path. If you understand that, then you will understand how impossible it is to organize a belief. A belief is a purely personal matter, and you cannot and must not organize it. If you do, it becomes dead, crystallized; it becomes a creed, a sect, a religion, to be imposed on others. This is what everyone throughout the world is attempting to do. Truth is narrowed down and made a plaything for those who are weak, for those who are only momentarily discontented. Truth cannot be brought down, rather the individual must make the effort to ascend to it. You cannot bring the mountaintop to the valley. If you would attain to the mountaintop you must pass the valley, climb the steps, unafraid of the dangerous precipices. You must climb upwards to truth … I maintain that no organization can lead man to spirituality … The moment you follow someone you cease to follow truth … I am concerning myself with only one essential thing: to set man free.“