The First and Last Freedom

Background

Following his dismantling of the so-called World Teacher Project in 1929–30, Jiddu Krishnamurti embarked on a new international speaking career as an independent, unconventional philosopher. During World War II he remained at his residence in Ojai, California, in relative isolation. English author Aldous Huxley lived nearby; he met Krishnamurti in 1938, and the two men became close friends. Huxley encouraged Krishnamurti to write, and also introduced his work to Harper, Huxley's own publisher. This eventually led to the addition of Krishnamurti in the publisher’s roster of authors;  until that time Krishnamurti works were published by small or specialist presses, or in-house by a variety of Krishnamurti-related organizations.

About the work

The thinker comes into being through thought;

Like the great majority of Krishnamurti texts, the book consists of edited excerpts from his public talks and discussions; it includes examinations of subjects that were, or became, recurrent themes in his exposition:  the nature of the self – and of belief, investigations into fear and desire, the relationship between thinker and thought, the concept of choiceless awareness, the function of the mind, etc. Following an introductory chapter by Krishnamurti, each of twenty interrelated topics is covered in its own chapter. A second part ("Questions and Answers") consists of 38 named segments, taken from question-and-answer sessions between Krishnamurti and his audience; the segments broadly pertain to the topics covered in the book's first part. The book was edited by D. Rajagopal, Krishnamurti's then–close associate, editor, and business manager; the included extracts were taken from "Verbatim Reports" of Krishnamurti talks between 1947 and 1952.

Huxley provided a ten-page Foreword as comprehensive introduction to Krishnamurti's philosophy, an essay that "no doubt contributed to [the book's] credibility and sales potential", and he may have also influenced the overall structure and style of the work. He had read a then–recent Krishnamurti book in 1941, and was favorably impressed, especially with a section consisting of dialogues and question-and-answer sessions between Krishnamurti and his listeners – a practice that normally followed his lectures. Huxley thought they enlivened Krishnamurti's philosophical subjects, and suggested a similar format for the forthcoming book, which also became a common type of presentation in later Krishnamurti publications.

A commentator summarized that in this and other books, "Krishnamurti emphasized the importance of release from entrapment in the 'network of thought' through a perceptual process of attention, observation or 'choiceless awareness' which would release the true perception of reality without mediation of any authority, or guru." Another observed that it was instrumental in making Krishnamurti and his ideas known to a wider audience, as the "first substantial statement of his philosophy to be issued by major publishing houses in Britain and the United States";  noting the work’s popularity among the college-age young, others added that the book "anticipated the preoccupations of an up-and-coming youth culture, and ... perhaps helped to form it".

As in practically every work of his, Krishnamurti did not present this book as containing "a doctrine to be believed, but as an invitation to others to investigate and validate its truth for themselves": 

Our problem is how to be free from all conditioning. Either you say it is impossible, that no human mind can ever be free from conditioning, or you begin to experiment, to inquire, to discover. ... Now I say it is definitely possible for the mind to be free from all conditioning – not that you should accept my authority. If you accept it on authority, you will never discover, ... and that will have no significance. ... [I]f you are to find the truth of it for yourself, you must experiment with it and follow it swiftly.

Publication history

The book was originally published May 1954 by Harper in the US and by Gollancz in the UK. In the US, it was the second Krishnamurti-authored book to be published by a mainstream commercial publisher – unlike in other markets, where this would be the first such publication. Copyright was held by Krishnamurti Writings (KWINC), the organization then responsible for promoting Krishnamurti's work worldwide;  publishing rights were transferred to new Krishnamurti-related organizations in the mid-1970s (the Krishnamurti Foundations), and in early 21st century, to Krishnamurti Publications (K Publications), an entity with overall responsibility for publishing his works worldwide.

The book was "an immediate success" and was in its 6th impression by the end of 1954;  a 2015 reprint of a 1975 paperback edition was the edition's 51st print run. Opening to good reviews, it proved to be a "compelling entry" into publishing, helping to establish Krishnamurti as a viable author in the commercial publishing arena. Unlike the editions of the 1950s and 60s, later editions of the work (such as one listed below), included a variety of Krishnamurti photographs on the front cover. A digital edition in several e-book formats was first published by HarperCollins e-Books in 2010 (see § Select editions).

About a third of the work was included in The Penguin Krishnamurti Reader, a 1970 compilation edited by Mary Lutyens that was also a commercial and critical success. In addition, Penguin Books through its Ebury Publishing division published a new edition of The First and Last Freedom in 2013, with an edition-specific Preface. This was marketed as a mass market paperback by the division's Rider imprint (see below), and as an e-book by its digital media imprint.

As of 2014, according to one source, there had been over 140 editions in several formats by a variety of publishers, published in ten different languages and dialects. Several years prior, the work had also been made available as a freely readable electronic document through J. Krishnamurti Online (JKO), the official Jiddu Krishnamurti online repository (see § External links).

Select editions

Reception

A Krishnamurti biographer wrote that Huxley's foreword "set the mood to take the work very seriously", and another noted that by the end of May 1954 the book was responsible for attracting larger audiences to Krishnamurti's talks. Jean Burden, in a sympathetic 1959 article in the Prairie Schooner, partly attributed the increased interest in Krishnamurti to the book, while stating that as it was compiled from his "famous talks", it "suffered, as most compilations do, from repetitiveness and lack of structure." Yet Anne Morrow Lindbergh reputedly found "'the sheer simplicity of what he [Krishnamurti] has to say ... breathtaking'."

Kirkus Reviews described it as a "clear and intriguing presentation of a point of view which will appeal to many who are finding the more traditional approaches to truth to be blind alleys." A review at The Atlanta Journal and the Atlanta Constitution contended that Krishnamurti's thinking "has the practical ring. It is so clear, so straightforward that the reader feels a challenge in every page". In contrast, The Times of India, while finding the work’s basic message unoriginal, maintained that Krishnamurti’s utterances have "a fluid ambiguity and an almost insidious plausibility", before concluding that the work is "all theoria without praxis, and in the present context appears to be mere escapism."

The Times Literary Supplement stated that for those who regard conflict "as an unchangeable condition of human life and truth, Krishnamurti's teaching will seem to offer a delusive short-cut to a vaguely beatific freedom. But there is nothing vague about it. It is precise and penetrating." The reviewer thinks that Krishnamurti presents "a reinterpretation of the wisdom of his race ... though he has rediscovered it for himself." Nevertheless, J. M. Cohen reviewing the book for The Observer (London) wrote, "Krishnamurti is an entirely independent master" adding, "[f]or those who wish to listen, this book will have a value beyond words."

The book's publication brought Krishnamurti and his ideas to the attention of practicing and theoretical psychotherapists, setting the stage for later dialogue between Krishnamurti and professionals in this field. It was also responsible for Krishnamurti's long and fruitful relationship with theoretical physicist David Bohm, whose unorthodox approach to problems of physics and of consciousness often correlated with Krishnamurti's philosophical views.

The work was mentioned in education-related dissertations as early as August 1954;  it continued to be cited by educational researchers in the following decades. It has also interested researchers in psycholinguistics, drawing favorable remarks about Krishnamurti's views regarding the "separation ... between the thinker and the thought";  and has featured in discussion of the relationship between general semantics and other viewpoints.

Among other fields, the book has been cited by occupational therapy papers, articles on medical ethics, and in original research of contemporary spirituality. But also in essays "on the social implications of the 'death of utopia'", in addresses to professional geography conferences, and it has been commended as an aid to successful investment strategies. Meanwhile, more than half a century after original publication, articles in general-interest media – for example, articles on meditation and mindfulness, favorably featured or mentioned the book.

The book has inspired artistic endeavors: it has been suggested that it influenced Huxley's writing of the 1962 novel Island, and a painting exhibition staged in London in 2014 was "derived from two alternative perspectives: the introduction by Aldous Huxley in the book of his long-term colleague and friend, Jiddu Krishnamurti and Krishnamurti’s second major opus, The First and Last Freedom". Additionally, the book has prompted comparisons between Krishnamurti's philosophy and Emily Dickinson's poetry, and has informed the way art therapy professionals approach their work.

As of c. 2015, according to a Krishnamurti Foundation, The First and Last Freedom had "sold more copies than any other Krishnamurti book."