Krishnamurti = Aspie?

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I was researching somebody else on wiki and happened to click on a biography of Jiddu Krishnamurti. He was an East Indian guy who died in 1986 who was a philosopher, and he sounds to me like he was an aspie. He had great mechanical inclinations, didn't get along well with his followers, and he insisted that people not follow or worship him, or form organized groups to promote him, nor could any other person claim to speak for him. He objected to all forms of organized religion, and organized political structures. A week before he died he told those gathered at his bed that NOBODY understood him or his teachings. He always called his philosophy THE teachings, always avoiding the use of "my" and "mine".

He was discovered as a child by theosophists in India and raised to believe he was the Second Coming of Christ. His minders founded a cult which was devoted to him, The Order of the Star of the East, and which they expected him to head once he reached adulthood. They cut him off from all family except his brother, who died young. He finally had to tell all these thousands of people who thought he was God to f*ck off. They all got mad at him for it, because God had rejected them. He was used by people who he sought out as surrogate parents, and seduced by at least one woman who he viewed as a mother figure. He was focused on helping man obtain true freedom, freedom from all hierarchy. It sounds a lot like some aspies on this forum.

I think that I read one of his books a long time ago. Great stuff! Really gets you thinking!

Coincidentally I've spent the better part of this afternoon reading Freedom from the Known. It's available online but I'm happy to share my PDF if anyone is interested.

I gather that he could easily be regarded as an Aspie (you've done just that). Either way his cognitive approach is refreshing; it's foreign to much of Western philosophy. If you choose to read it, you will not regret it.

Out of curiosity was the other somebody that you were researching Freud, Jung, or Campbell?



Cheers,
Nolan

Actually, it was Rudolf Steiner, founder of anthroposophy. I'd recently run into some anthroposophists, whose lives revolved around Steiner's teachings. So I got curious. I still don't get Steiner. But I noticed that his big break came when he broke away from German Theosophy after his fellow Theosophists went ape over Krishnamurti as the risen Christ. Steiner insisted they were nuts, and struck out on his own. I clicked on Krishnamurti's name. Apparently we have a huge community of anthroposophists here in Sacramento, since one of their main colleges is here, which trains teachers for Waldorf schools.