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I don’t know what the cool people are doing on this Friday night, but man, do I have a book for you!

I’m half-kidding. I still think books are cool :)

Anyway, the book is called On Truth, by Jiddu Krishnamurti, one of my favorite thinkers/philosophers/spiritual masters, and it’s about the search for…well, truth!

But it turns out that the truth - all kinds of truth, not just the metaphysical - is much more complicated and deep and fascinating than most people ever realize.

Not only that, but truth, according to Krishnamurti, isn’t something that you can just receive passively from someone else, from some authority figure.

You have to find out what’s true for yourself. 

And so, in that sense, Krishnamurti was not an “expert” or a “guru” or anything of the sort.

He was simply a free thinker, and in all his public talks over the course of decades in the mid-20th-century, most of what he did was get people to think for themselves. That’s what On Truth is about.

He was also (almost) an accidental cult leader, before making a momentous decision out of nowhere that changed everything…

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

All that and more is in my full breakdown of On Truth, a preview of which is below.

There’s also my breakdown of another book that will help you gain clarity around what’s important in life, Hell Yeah or No, by Derek Sivers, and Food for the Heart, by Ajahn Chah, Thailand’s best-known meditation teacher.

And in case you missed it, here’s one of my recent YouTube videos on 10 Fascinating Books That Will Increase Your Intelligence.

But before we get into that, I wanted to pass along a completely free audiobook from Rory and AJ Vaden, called Wealthy and Well-Known.

I mentioned it on Monday, I believe, but we rocketed past 6,700 subscribers this week and I know that not all of you got a chance to download it.

The physical book doesn’t come out until next month, but you can download the audio version right now (again, completely free) before the release date.

If you want to build your personal brand and “turn your reputation into revenue,” then this is the book you need to read.

I can’t tell you what a difference building my own personal brand has made to my life (I literally get paid to read books all day and recommend the best ones), and for most people, it’s a decision you will not regret.

And with this book, you get to learn how to do it from one of the greats.

Download the Book Here

And now, before our coffees get cold, let’s hit the books!

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This Book is For:

*Everyone who is intensely curious about the true nature of reality, but who is distrustful of the people who claim to have all the answers - and always seem to charge money to dispense them (funny how that works)!

*Relentless seekers of self-knowledge who want to learn how to stand back from the constant workings of their own mind, and discover things about themselves that they can only find out by watching.

*People with flexible minds capable of holding two or more opposing ideas in their minds without fleeing to the safety of any of them, and who want to maintain and develop this same mental flexibility.

Summary:

Thinking that you can find one Ultimate Truth that's going to be final and complete for all time is like a musician trying to hold down one note forever and ever; like trying to close your fist around a flickering flame; or like trying to stop a sunset and hold it in place until the end of time.

Trying to pin down the truth of human existence is an impossible task, and trying to fossilize that truth with words is always a mistake. Not only that, but no one can lead you to the truth either. Sure, they can suggest ways of approaching the truth, but they can never simply hand you the real thing.

Jiddu Krishnamurti understood this from a very early age when in 1929 he voluntarily dissolved the religious organization that sought to name him the new World Teacher and get him to take the lead of their new movement.

In a famous speech entitled Truth is a Pathless Land, he stated that it's impossible to follow anyone to truth and that you'll never find out the basic truth about the structure of Reality by listening to some leader or guru.

So naturally, Krishnamurti in this book - which is a collection of his public talks about the nature of truth and the various ways in which the mind distorts and obscures it - never claims to have access to some special truth that you or I don't have.

In my own life, Krishnamurti motivated me to question everything I thought I knew (and was told) about the world and the mystery of existence. He made me aware of the inner workings of my own mind and helped me see how truth arises when effort stops, when the mind is perfectly empty, and when there is only direct experience of the present moment.

All this is to say that this book won't teach you anything that's "true." Likewise, this breakdown can never claim to feature the Ultimate Truth about anything! There is no authority "out there" that can lead you to the truth, no "script" that you can follow that will lead you to the answers to the most important questions of life.

But that's what makes being alive at all so damn exciting!

Dead, lifeless "truths" are just...boring. Life is always moving and changing, and so is the truth of Reality and Existence. The search for what's true is the wildest adventure in the whole damn universe, and we're all living it right now.

READ THE FULL BOOK BREAKDOWN HERE

Key Ideas:

#1: Truth Has No Continuity

Krishnamurti sure does make it difficult to talk about anything! To be consistent with his logic, even my interpretation of this quotation could never be "true" - only an interpretation, an attempt to make Reality hold still, which is obviously impossible. As he says, truth is always new, it has no continuity, one can never hold onto it forever, and the analytical mind can never seize it.

I like to think of Ultimate Truth as a body of calm water, free and pure and clear. The moment when you stick your hand in there in order to point to it and say, "Look! This is the truth!" your very action disturbs the calm water of Truth and makes it false again.

Western minds in particular always want to pin the truth down forever and always, to be able to say, "Here's the answer! We've found it, this is true, and it always will be." But Reality doesn't work that way. Certainty is not a natural property of the universe, and the human mind that goes looking for one, perfect, eternal truth never finds it.

The universe is always becoming, and it never arrives at any finished state. In the same way, truth only exists in the present moment, at the particular time and place that you call the here and now. It is always changing and always new because you are always changing and always new.

One of the most fascinating "truths" of the universe is that none of us ever experiences the world exactly as it is; we only experience it as we are. Once you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

To see this, just observe how when you're tired and hungry, and frustrated after a particularly long day, everything seems dark and aggravating, and hostile. But when you wake up after achieving some victory or other in your life everything seems bright and wonderful!

Or right after you finish searching for new cars to buy, you start seeing the same kind of car everywhere. The truth is that they were always there, but you're just noticing them now. Your focus and awareness changed, and that particular type of car entered your new reality. This is just more proof that you can never experience the world as it really is, but as you are.

So, it follows that if you want to change the world, change yourself.

As we'll discuss in the next Key Idea, that's the only way in which it can be done. This is because we exist in relationship with everyone and everything else, and what you are the world will become.

I'm getting dangerously close here to trying to tell you what Truth is, and obviously, that would be a huge mistake. No one can do that, which is why I've always been drawn to Krishnamurti's talks.

Out of all the books of his that I've read and public talks of his I've watched on YouTube, he has never once said that he knew what Ultimate Truth was and that you should listen to him in order to find out.

He always wanted to get people to turn inward and discover what they thought, to examine the questions that they had. And, in the process, to discover that the truth is so much wider, grander, and more magical than our views of it. To discover the truth is, quite literally, to discover the immeasurable.

#2: Only the Individual Can Change

Krishnamurti once said that changing the entire system without changing the actual individual within that system was a dangerous error.

Now, of course, systems do change the people embedded within those systems. To take just one controversial example, there are specific incentives that motivate the actions of people within a capitalist system that do not operate on the members of a communist system, and vice versa. This is clear enough.

So to change the system will almost inevitably change the individual within that system. But not actively working to change the individual at the same time most certainly is a dangerous error, just like Krishnamurti said.

This is true because only the individual can change, and the system has value only to the extent to which the individuals within that system act in accordance with goodness and virtue. Capitalism could probably work. Communism could probably work. But perverse individuals have perverted both systems to the extent that neither can be said to work perfectly.

We exist in relationship only. We live alongside everyone with whom we are networked, which, at this point is virtually every single person on earth. What you become, the world will become. If you want to improve the world, improve yourself. The effects of that conscious improvement will have beneficial ripple effects throughout the entire universe.

The key is to work within your circle of control, your circle of influence. Changing yourself is hard enough! I mean, have you ever tried to change someone else? How did that go for you? And an entire system? What hope do you have of effecting that kind of change on your own? Virtually none.

Even changing yourself isn't guaranteed to work, but you have a much higher likelihood of success if you focus on what you can do, what you can influence, which is your own thoughts, your own actions, your own inputs, and the people and ideas you spend the most time with.

All the external change that occurs in the world becomes meaningless if it doesn't positively contribute to the development of the individual. The world won't change until and unless we change, and we must change, for the problems facing the world are simply too great for us to meet them as we are.

#3: Understanding What Is

Whenever you say that you are trying to become happier or non-violent, you have actually defined yourself as someone who is unhappy, someone who is violent.

You're either happy and peaceful or you're not. There is no in-between. It's a total transformation, and as long as you cling to the memories and mindsets of someone who is hateful and unhappy you will never become peaceful and content. These are just two examples that Krishnamurti often used in his public talks, but the idea is worth examining more deeply.

We're always thinking of what we'll become tomorrow, but we rarely take the time to understand who we are now, to understand what is. We think we'll be happier, less envious, more present, and more serene tomorrow, but barely exist today in the here and now, where we're unhappy, jealous, anxious, and scattered. Not all of us, sure, and not all the time, but most of us could surely benefit from a closer examination of ourselves and who we actually are.

This question of who we are is pretty much the most fascinating question one could ever ask because it's so complex and so...elusive. We can never quite pin down an answer that will completely satisfy or reach the bottom of all that we are or could become. Once you get into it, you really just never fully find out!

It's literally the project of a lifetime to figure out Who You Are, and sadly, most people don't even seem to be all that interested in the question. They're more interested in who they were in the past or who they might be at some distant point in time and space that may never arrive.

READ ALL THE KEY IDEAS HERE

Book Notes:

READ ALL THE BOOK NOTES HERE

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Action Steps:

#1: Let the Mind Be Still and Clear

Trying to force your mind to be still is like trying to smooth over rough water with a flatiron - as Alan Watts used to say! By which he meant that if it's going to happen, it needs to happen by itself. You can't force your mind to empty itself of thoughts, and you can't force the truth to rise to the surface either.

You'll have to "leave the mind alone," and stop stuffing it with ideas and concepts and beliefs and memories if you ever want to encounter the truth and be able to observe it impartially.

So for the next little while - and really, whenever you have a gap in your busy schedule - simply watch the activities and movements of your own mind without trying to force anything. And instead of trying to cram into your brain all this information about what other people have thought and said, turn inward and find out what you think.

#2: Resist the Urge to Cling to Any Idea

Truth is constantly moving, and you have to move with it, instead of trying to hold onto what came before, no matter how pleasant or comforting.

Whenever you encounter the truth of Reality or Existence (however you conceive it), you may be in tune for a short time with the "immeasurable," as Krishnamurti calls it, but it won't last. The next moment, a new truth will take its place, and if you try to hang onto the old one, you'll miss it.

#3: Continue the Search

The search for what's true will continue for as long as you live, and perhaps even longer. Truth is available to each and every one of us at every single moment, but it expires quickly. It's only the mind that is alert, flexible, open, and loving that can ever approach it.

Life will always remain exciting and vivid as long as we're constantly pursuing new truths and remain willing to let go of them just as quickly as we wait for the next one to come along. The important thing in all this is to never give up the search, never stop asking questions, and never stop wondering.

READ ALL THE ACTION STEPS HERE

This Book on Amazon:

On Truth, by Jiddu Krishnamurti

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OK, that’s it for now…

I’ve got plenty more excellent book recommendations coming your way soon though!

And if you want to learn how I’ve built an audience of 160,000+ followers across social media, became a full-time creator, and how I’m rapidly growing my audience and my profits in 2025, join us inside Creator Launch Academy and that’s exactly what I’ll teach you — we’d love to have you in the community!

With that said, I hope you enjoyed this edition of The Reading Life, and enjoy the rest of your day!

Until next time…happy reading!

All the best,

Matt Karamazov

P.S. Whenever you're ready, here are two more ways I can help you:

1. Content Creators: Book a 1:1 call and I’ll help you hit $5K/month with a plan tailored to your business (If the link works, I can still fit you in this month).

2. Join Creator Launch Academy, my mastermind for educational content creators building real revenue and real freedom.