An Uncommon Collaboration:
David Bohm and J. Krishnamurti
David Edmund Moody
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Table of Contents
page
Introduction 4
Chapter
1. The Path to Princeton 8
2. Quantum Consequences 18
3. The Observer and the Observed 28
4. The World Teacher 38
5. Choiceless Awareness 49
6. Three Diaries 59
7. The Mirror of Relationship 70
8. Ojai 87
9. The Nature of Intelligence 97
10. Wholeness and Fragmentation 108
11. Bohm’s Reservations 118
12. The Ending of Time I 128
13. The Ending of Time II 144
14. The Ending of Time III 154
15. The Ending of Time IV 165
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16. Confrontation 176
17. Thought as a System 185
18. Physics and Metaphysics 194
19. The Source of Revelation 204
20. Implications and Reflections 214
Appendices
1. Moody/Bohm on Krishnamurti 226
2. Moody/Bohm on Time 237
3. Inward Observation 246
4. Physics and the Laws of Nature 266
An Uncommon Collaboration:
David Bohm and J. Krishnamurti
Introduction
In a world consumed with problems of every possible kind and dimension –
environmental, economic, political, religious, social, ethical, and personal – and deepseated conflicts resulting in endemic violence, the question must arise whether the
multiplicity of issues all arise from disparate sources, with little relationship among them;
or whether these problems and conflicts have a common denominator. Our leaders
evidently conceptualize and seek solutions on a piecemeal basis, with little attention
given to the possibility that the only meaningful and enduring answer lies in
understanding that our problems have a common source. To examine the matter in this
fashion seems to be a radical approach in and of itself; and what we discover if we
investigate in this way may go beyond the radical – the penetration to the root of things –
to open up a new way of looking and behaving that may be characterized as
revolutionary.
The psychological philosopher J. Krishnamurti (1895 – 1986) examined society
and human affairs in precisely this manner. Although he lacked academic degrees or any
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form of institutional support beyond the barest minimum, he managed over the course of
a lifetime to articulate an original, profound, and comprehensive understanding of
consciousness as it functions in daily life, and to elucidate the structural features of it that
lead to illusion, conflict and disorder on an individual as well as a collective scale. In this
endeavor, he touched the lives of millions, and he engaged in dialogues, many of them
recorded, with hundreds of individuals who found his observations deeply insightful and
vitally important. Of those with whom he engaged in this manner, none was more
significant than the quantum theoretical physicist David Bohm.
Among the major innovators in intellectual history, collaboration is the exception,
not the norm. Copernicus, da Vinci, Galileo, Newton, Shakespeare, Mozart, Einstein –
most of those whom we consider to represent the quality of genius were individuals who
broke new ground without a travelling companion. A few prominent exceptions spring to
mind: Watson and Crick; Russell and Whitehead; Freud and Jung (for a time); Rodgers
and Hammerstein. These exceptions are notable, however, precisely for their infrequency
of occurrence.
Among that small subset of collaborations among men of genius, the case of J.
Krishnamurti and David Bohm may be the most extraordinary. Watson and Crick were
both biologists; Russell and Whitehead both philosophers; Freud and Jung both
psychiatrists. But David Bohm was an eminent scientist, a physicist, whereas
Krishnamurti represented a blend of philosopher and psychologist, with a spiritual or
metaphysical background. How did these two men find one another? What did they
have in common? What did they talk about?
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Over a period of two decades, 144 conversations were recorded between Bohm
and Krishnamurti, and many of these dialogues were videotaped as well. Thirty-four
were transcribed and edited for publication and appeared in a series of books including
the following titles: The Limits of Thought; Truth and Actuality; The Wholeness of Life;
The Ending of Time; and The Future of Humanity.
Krishnamurti’s philosophy is personal and direct. It is not a matter of abstractions
about arcane theories, much less New Age flights of fancy. He addressed everyday
issues of fear, loneliness, love, death, sorrow, joy, and self-understanding. At the same
time, his views are subtle and sometimes elusive. He paid great attention to the
respective roles of thought, emotion, desire, intelligence, and insight, and to the
possibility of a transformation of consciousness. He emphasized that he was not any kind
of authority figure and that his philosophy had significance only to the extent that it
facilitated the actual understanding of oneself.
Bohm is now acknowledged as among the foremost physicists of the twentieth
century. His associations with Oppenheimer and Einstein are interesting in their own
right, but of far greater significance were his contributions to the foundations of quantum
theory. These were sufficiently radical as to mark him as a maverick in the field, and it
has required decades for his contribution to be more fully appreciated. His life- and
career-altering encounter with the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities adds
another dimension to his intriguing personal story.
There can be little doubt that Bohm regarded Krishnamurti’s philosophy as
essential to his understanding of his own state of mind. This factor adds an intensely
human and poignant element to the quality of their collaboration. The biographical
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information presented in the early chapters of this book should be understood in that
context. The extraordinary sequence of events, political and professional, that dominated
the first decades of Bohm’s career must have prepared him to appreciate and explore
Krishnamurti’s work. The success or failure of his involvement with that philosophy
represents the subtext of all that follows here.
From 1975 until 1992, I had the good fortune to work closely with both
Krishnamurti (until his death in 1986) and with David Bohm. This involvement occurred
in the context of the Oak Grove School, founded by Krishnamurti in Ojai, California,
where I worked as teacher, educational director, and as director. My relationship with the
two men focused on educational and psychological issues, but there was a personal
element as well. This background perhaps prepared me to appreciate the quality and the
meaning of the twenty-plus-year dialogue that occurred between them, and it adds an
element of richness and context that would not otherwise be available.
It may be many years before the collaboration between Krishnamurti and David
Bohm can be fully unraveled and assessed. Their dialogue was so extensive and
profound as to defy encapsulation in any single book. The aim of the present volume is
to introduce their work to a larger audience, not to provide any final or definitive
characterization of it. Each man was uncommonly interesting and unusual by himself,
and the record of their interaction even more so. The story of their relationship is
timeless.
