The right relationship tells you about yourself || Acharya Prashant, on J. Krishnamurti (2017)

Question: Acharya Ji, J.Krishnamurti says, “In a right relationship, you come to know yourself.” Please explain.

Acharya Prashant: The question is, Krishnamurti says, “In the right relationship, you come to know yourself.” So, how does one know himself?

That which you have quoted, is in itself the solution. He is saying, “You know yourself in relationship.” What is it meant, when it is said that you know yourself in a relationship?

We always exist as somebody related to something. You take away everything outside of yourself, and it will become impossible for you, to say even one sentence about yourself. Everything and anything that we utter about ourselves is related to the world. And the world is supposedly, outside of yourself, is it not?

Tell me anything about yourself. You would say, “You are a citizen of a particular country and the country is outside of yourself, and hence your identity is in relation to something else, the country.” You tell of your gender and the gender does not mean anything in absence of the opposite gender. Does it? And the opposite gender is surely outside of yourself.

So, we do not exist in a silo, we do not exist ever in isolation, we exist always in relation to something or somebody. Are you getting it?