[ajay00]

An insightful article by Jiddu Krishnamurti on nonduality and dualistic labelling/categorising...

Now, why do we name anything? Why do we give a label to a flower, to a person, to a feeling? Either to communicate one's feeling, to describe the flower, and so on, and so on; or, to identify oneself with that feeling. Isn't it? I name something, a feeling, to communicate it. `I am angry'. Or, I identify myself with that feeling in order to strengthen it, to dissolve it, or to do something about it. That is, we give a name to something, to a rose, to communicate it to others; or, by giving it a name, we think we have understood it. We say, `That is a rose', rapidly look at it, and go on. By giving it a name, we think we have understood it; we have classified it, and think that thereby we have understood the whole content and the beauty of that flower.

Now, when not merely to communicate, what happens when we give a name to a flower, to anything? please follow it, think it out with me. Though I may talk aloud, you also are participating in the talking. By giving a name to something, we have merely put it into a category, and we think we have understood it; we don't look at it more closely. But, if we do not give it a name, we are forced to look at it. That is, we approach the flower, or whatever it is, with a newness, with a new quality of examination; we look at it as though we had never looked at it before. Naming is a very convenient way of disposing of people - by saying they are Germans, they are Japanese, they are Americans, they are Hindus, you know; give them a label, and destroy the label. But if you do not give a label to people, you are forced to look at them, and then it is much more difficult to kill somebody. You can destroy the label with a bomb, and feel righteous. But if you do not give a label, and must therefore look at the individual thing - whether it is a man, or a flower, or an incident, or an emotion - then you are forced to consider your relationship with it, and the action following. So, terming, or giving a label, is a very convenient way of disposing of anything, of denying, condemning, or justifying it. - Jiddu Krishnamurti

Labelling has its practical importance, but it would be ludicrous to keep on with the habit of labelling this or that incessantly, and this is what most of us are doing , instead of experiencing life directly as it is.

Nonduality is nothing but experiencing life directly, to see a rose directly, instead of getting into the labelling habit and categorising the rose , dissecting it as pistil, stigma, stamen and so on....

Getting out of the labelling and categorising habit and seeing things as they are without thought is what nonduality is all about.