“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
500 sats \ 7 comments \ @cristaiji 8 Jun ideasfromtheedge
Quote from Krishnamurti (1960)
I noticed a few posts on SN recently about mental health and feel this article is relevant and poignant for these times that we are all going through.
‘“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society,” seems to be a condensation of something Krishnamurti said in his “Commentaries on Living, Series 3” (1960): “Is society healthy, that an individual should return to it? Has not society itself helped to make the individual unhealthy? Of course, the unhealthy must be made healthy, that goes without saying; but why should the individual adjust himself to an unhealthy society? If he is healthy, he will not be a part of it. Without first questioning the health of society, what is the good of helping misfits to conform to society?” Thanks to reader George Coyne for supplying the full quotation.”‘
https://www.wildmind.org/blogs/quote-of-the-month/krishnamurti-measure-of-health
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45 sats \ 1 reply \ @Undisciplined 8 Jun
I think it's alright to take a stoic or zen approach to forces that are outside of our control: i.e. not letting them distress us too much.
However, I can see where being "well adjusted" could simply be a consequence of complacency.
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69 sats \ 0 replies \ @cristaiji OP 8 Jun
Absolutely and also trying to fit in when we feel fundamentally different is going to be a problem for many of us.
Embracing those aspects of ourselves that perhaps others do not understand but feel right to us is important such as pursuing our hobbies or talents.
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33 sats \ 1 reply \ @om 8 Jun
None of the present political forces would recognize itself as someone who doesn't question the health of society:
  • the left believes that the society is deeply sick with [a-z]*{ism|phobia}
  • the right believes that the society is sick with the absurd and out of control wokeism
  • the libertarians see the statism of both the left and the right as the sickness
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @cristaiji OP 8 Jun
Yes it feels like Plato’s allegory of the cave applies. The polarised left and right political forces are chasing the ‘shadows on the wall’ .
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22 sats \ 1 reply \ @SatsMate 8 Jun
The approach I take to life tends to be work out, meditate, read, and add value to others. Even in a crumbling society, we need to do what we can to make it better. Easier said than done though.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @cristaiji OP 8 Jun
Totally. I think that’s the key as it implies working on ourselves and being of value to others rather than fighting and getting caught up in the crazy polarisation that’s going on in the world right now.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @neuromancerbiz 8 Jun
👏👏👏
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