How does Krishnamurti explain observer and observed unity?

Krishnamurti explains the unity of the observer and the observed by revealing that the separation between the two is a product of thought, and this division is the root of inner conflict. He argues that the "observer"—the one who analyzes, judges, or resists—is actually a construction of accumulated thoughts, memories, and conditioning. In psychological observation, the observer is not distinct from what is being observed; rather, they are part of a single movement.kfoundation+1​

When a person looks inward to observe anger, fear, or any psychological state, the mind habitually creates a division: a separate observer who tries to control or overcome the observed state. Krishnamurti teaches that if one deeply and attentively examines this process, it becomes clear that the observer is made of the same substance as the observed—both are products of thought and memory. He says, “Awareness has revealed that there is a central image put together by all the other images, and the central image, the observer, is the censor, the experiencer, the evaluator, the judge... The other images are the result of judgements, opinions and conclusions by the observer, and the observer is the result of all the other images—therefore the observer is the observed”.krishnamurti+2​

When this insight arises—when the mind sees there is no independent observer but rather only the movement of observation itself—there is an absence of inner division and, consequently, of psychological conflict. This direct understanding is not an intellectual conclusion but a state of choiceless awareness, where the observer and the observed are seen as one process. In Krishnamurti’s words: “If I see very clearly the observer maintains, sustains, nourishes this division—the danger, you follow?—then the observer is not. There is only the observed”.krishnamurti+2​

1. https://kfoundation.org/the-observer-and-the-observed/
2. https://www.krishnamurti.org/transcript/when-the-mind-realises-the-observer-is-the-observed-there-is-a-release-of-energy/
3. https://www.reddit.com/r/Krishnamurti/comments/s27th0/observer_is_the_observed_what_does_that_mean/
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS9r2_fUtWM
5. https://www.krishnamurti.org/transcript/the-observer-and-the-observed/
6. https://www.sriramanateachings.org/blog/2016/08/the-observer-is-observed-only-when-we.html
7. https://www.facebook.com/theimmeasurable.org/posts/you-cannot-observe-the-observer-by-itself-you-can-only-observe-the-observer-in-r/944326181059160/
8. https://theimmeasurable.org/the-observer-is-the-observed