Question: Why do we want to show off ourselves that we are something?
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Krishnamurti: Why do you want to assure yourself that you are something? Why do I want …to be sure that I am something? What do you think?
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You know, the Maharaja wants to show that he is something. He shows off his cars, his titles, his position, his riches. The professor, the Pundit assures himself that he is somebody through his knowledge. You also want to show that you are somebody in your class, with your friends. It is the same thing on a small scale or a big scale. Why do we do that? Please listen to what I am saying.
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If you are inwardly rich, there is no need to show off, because that in itself is beautiful. Because inwardly we fear we have nothing, we put on lots of airs. The sannyasi does it; the prime ministers and the rich men do it. Strip them of their power, their money, their position; they are dull, stupid empty.
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So a person who wants to show off, who wants to be assured that he is somebody, or who tells himself that he is somebody, is really very empty. You know, it is like a drum; you keep on beating it to make a noise, and the noise is the showing off, the assurance that you are somebody. But the drum in itself has no noise, it has to be beaten to produce the noise; in itself, it is empty. In yourself, you are empty, dull, uncreative; and because you are nothing, you want to assure yourself that you are somebody. That is the movement of envy.
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But if you said `Yes, I am empty I am poor’, and from there begin, not to change but to understand it, to go into it to delve deeply into it, then you will find riches that are incorruptible. In that movement, there is no assurance that you are somebody, because you are nobody.
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The man who is really nobody, who is nothing in himself, is the only truly happy man.
http://www.jiddu-krishnamurti.net/en/1954/1954-01-15-jiddu-krishnamurti-10th-talk-to-students