Episode 1: You Think You’re Thinking? Krishnamurti Disagrees (and He’s Right)
- Georgina Brown (hershe)
- Jul 10
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 12
Why His Teachings Still Reshape Minds, Inclusion & Neuro-Wiring
Let’s be clear from the start:
I am not calm about Krishnamurti.
He is my everything... after my husband and dogs obviously!
I don’t sit serenely in lotus pose, nodding sagely when I read him. I clutch the book to my chest, whispering, "How did he know??" Then I close it dramatically and pace the kitchen in existential wonder. Because Jiddu Krishnamurti doesn’t just change your thinking — he shows you that most of it wasn’t even yours to begin with.
“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
BOOM. Right? That quote alone is enough to make you want to throw your HR strategy in the compost bin and start again with a whiteboard, a question, and a cup of ginger tea.
My favourite though is:
“You think you’re thinking your thoughts - you are not. You are thinking culture’s thoughts.”
It is actually a paraphrase of Krishnamurti’s broader teachings. But it should come with a health warning and a strong cup of tea. Because once you’ve seen it, you can’t unsee it. Most of what we call “our thinking” is just internalised noise — absorbed from school, family, media, systems, survival. It’s not original; it’s inherited. Culture hands us a script, and we perform it, thinking it's us. Inclusion begins when we pause the autopilot, question who’s behind the curtain, and start choosing thoughts on purpose. It’s not rebellion. It’s reclamation.
THE MAN WHO REFUSED TO BE A GURU (WHICH MADE HIM EVEN MORE OF A GURU)
Krishnamurti was the ultimate anti-influencer. He didn’t want followers. He didn’t want systems. He said: Question everything — especially your own mind.
“The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence.”
Read that again.
That right there? That’s neuroscience gold.
Because evaluation — judgement — is your fast brain’s default. It runs on pattern-recognition, assumptions, in-group vibes, and dopamine pings. It's efficient, but not always inclusive. It tells you who is safe, who is “us,” and who doesn’t belong. But Krishnamurti invites us into something deeper:
“Thought is always old. Thought is never new.”
And NIMM (the Neuroscience-Informed Maturity Model) says: Yep — unless you consciously rewire your brain, you’re recycling yesterday’s bias with today’s smile.
WHAT NEUROSCIENCE IS JUST CATCHING UP TO
Krishnamurti was basically doing neuroplasticity in sandals before it had a hashtag.
He understood that the mind — your mind — is not a fixed entity. It’s a loop. A habit. A story on repeat. What you call "me" is often just neural survival scripts passed down through families, cells, education systems, cultures, and fear.
“To understand the immeasurable, the mind must be extraordinarily quiet, still.”
Stillness. Spaciousness. That’s what lets the brain break out of its usual groove and form new connections.
In NIMM, we teach that interrupting the automatic — the "bias autopilot" — is the first step toward inclusion.
Krishnamurti’s call for attention without judgement is exactly what modern mindfulness and trauma-informed leadership now promote. He just got there 60 years early.
INCLUSION, BUT MAKE IT EXISTENTIAL
Let’s go there.
Most “inclusion work” focuses on behaviour.
Tick the box.
Say the right phrase.
Invite “diverse” voices.
But Krishnamurti says, hold up.
“When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent.”
Why? Because to label is to separate. To reduce. To divide.
It’s not that identity doesn’t matter — it deeply does.
But Krishnamurti says: If we don't see beyond identity labels to our shared humanity, we’re just rearranging the chairs on the Titanic.
Inclusion at the BARDO level isn’t about better optics.
It’s about radical awareness, neurological honesty, and the courage to drop what we think we know, in favour of curiosity, humility and deep connection.
NIMM LOVES KRISHNAMURTI (AND I DO TOO)
NIMM isn’t a rigid framework. It’s an invitation to observe, to experiment, to change your brain with intention.
Krishnamurti taught:
“It is only when the mind is free from the old that it meets everything anew, and in that there is joy.”
There it is.
That’s the whole point.
Bias is boring.
Inclusion is freedom.
And joy?
Joy is the neurochemical proof that you're learning something new, rewiring a belief, breaking the habit of being your old self.
Reflection Prompts (aka Krishnamurti Would Want You to Pause Here)
Where in your thinking are you still running someone else's script?
What labels are you clinging to that might be limiting connection?
What “truth” have you accepted without ever questioning its source?
When was the last time you felt completely present with someone radically different from you?
Final Fan-Girl Swoon
So yes — I’m a Krishnamurti nerd.
But more than that, I believe he offers something that leadership training, EDI workshops, and change management books often miss:
Freedom. Real, felt, messy, liberating freedom.
“In oneself lies the whole world, and if you know how to look and learn, the door is there and the key is in your hand.”
Don’t look for someone else to fix your systems.
Don’t wait for the culture to shift first.
The key is in your hand — or more accurately, your neurobiology.
Let’s stop managing inclusion like a compliance exercise.
Let’s start treating it like a neural revolution. Krishnamurti would be proud.
Want more Krishnamurti-infused neuroscience adventures?
Join the BARDO NIMM Community of Practice, where we question everything, laugh often, and keep rewiring for joy.
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