This collection of Krishnamurti's writings and lectures, about the individual in relation to society, examines the importance of inquiry, the role of emotions, the relation between experience and the self, the nature of freedom, and other philosophical ideas.

Described by the Dalai Lama as one of the greatest thinkers of the age, Jiddu Krishnamurti has influenced millions throughout the 20th century, including Aldous Huxley, Bertrand Russell, Henry Miller and Joseph Campbell. Born of middle-class Brahmin parents in 1895, Krishnamurti was recognised at age fourteen by theosophists Annie Besant and C W Leadbetter as an anticipated world teacher and proclaimed to be the vehicle for the reincarnation of Christ in the West and of Buddha in the East. In 1929 he repudiated these claims and travelled the world, sharing his philosophical insights and establishing schools and foundations.