In all our schools the educator and those responsible for the students, whether in the classroom, on the playing field or in their rooms, have the responsibility to see that fear in any form does not arise. The educator must not arouse fear in the student. This is not conceptual, because the educator himself understands, not only verbally, that fear in any form cripples the mind, destroys sensitivity, shrinks the senses. Fear is the heavy burden which man has always carried. From this fear arise various forms of superstition—religious, scientific and imaginary. One lives in a make-believe world, and the essence of the conceptual world is born of fear. We said previously that man cannot live without relationship, and this relationship is not only his own private life but, if he is an educator, he has a direct relationship with the student. If there is any kind of fear in this, then the teacher cannot possibly help the student to be free of it. The student comes from a background of fear, of authority, of all kinds of fanciful and actual impressions and pressures. The educator too has his own pressures, fears. He will not be able to bring about understanding of the nature of fear if he has not uncovered the root of his own fears. It is not that he must first be free of his own fears in order to help the student to be free, but rather that in their daily relationship, in conversation, in class, the teacher will point out that he himself is afraid, as the student is too, and so together they can explore the whole nature and structure of fear.

J Krishnamurti, The Whole Movement of Life is Learning

© Krishnamurti Foundation Trust, U.K.