Question: In what way can I help you in your work?
Krishnamurti: Is it my work, or your work? If it is my work, then you will become propagandists. And those who do propaganda are incapable of telling the truth; because they are merely repetitive machines, not knowing what they are saying. They may know the clever expressions, the slogans, the cliches; but they can never discover what is true. And most of us are directed by the propagandists; because we live mostly by words, without much content. We accept words so easily - words like democracy, peace, communist, God, or soul. We never look into these things. We never go beyond the transitory sensations these words evoke. And so, if you are merely a propagandist, or live by propaganda, then you cannot find that which is eternal. And without discovery of truth, life becomes tedious, painful.
So, you are not doing my work, you are not helping me. But what you are doing in all this is discovering yourself as you are, understanding yourself; because, without understanding yourself, there is no basis for action, there is no basis for right thinking. So, you are not helping me in my work, but understanding yourself. And whatever you understand of yourself, that, for the time being, is the truth. And that can be discovered only in daily relationship - and in the relationship between you and me as I talk and you listen, and how you listen. If you listen with prejudice, if you listen with your own background with all your condemnations, prejudices, for or against, then you are not listening: you and I have no relationship. But if you listen to find out about yourself, to discover yourself in relationship, then it's your work, and not my work. Then, since you are seeking truth, you will not be a mere propagandist. Then you are not concerned with convincing another trying to convert another to your particular form of belief, trying to reform another, trying to bring another to your particular group, to your particular society Then you, with your belief, are not important. But, the man with the belief, he is important, because the belief with which he is identified gives him importance. The man who is seeking real self-knowledge is not enclosed by belief; he is not hedged about by any society, any organization, by any religion. Therefore, there is no question of your work and my work. What is important, is to discover truth; and the discovery of truth is not yours or mine.
So, since it is not my work, but your own, it is important how you deal with it, how you approach the whole structure of your life. That is what we are discussing - to see it, to see the structure of your being, and thereby bring about a transformation. The very perception of what is, brings a radical transformation. But if you are listening in order to conform to what I am saying, then you will be a mere propagandist, then you will be a believer: you will create enmity and contention. And, God knows, there are enough groups, beliefs, in the world, all contending with each other, fighting with each other, for money for membership, and all that nonsense. But the man who is seeking self - knowledge will not create enmity, because he is honest, he is true to himself, he is true to what is.
But, what is important in this question is, to cease to be a propagandist, and to experience directly - not through a book, not through another, not through your own particular illusions and deceptions, but - to experience the truth directly for yourself from moment to moment. And such perception of truth is the liberating process. It brings joy to life, it brings clarity, an intensity that does not depend on moods. Therefore. it is your work, and that work begin; with self-knowledge.