The Poetry of “K”

A friend sent this K quote yesterday. At one time I seemed to be totally in love with his teaching or non-teaching, which I am sure he would prefer. I think I read almost all of his books and watched many hours of his recorded video talks. But I, like a lot of other so-called seekers, really didn’t understand exactly what he was saying or pointing to. And I still don’t! Now I know there are lots of so-called K experts that attempt to explain what he was saying, and I am in no way belittling anything they might say. However, I think the very fact that he couldn’t really be understood was what seemed so compelling about what he said… that, and the fact that there was finality to his words that somehow seemed irrefutably true. It’s funny, but Wikipedia and others classify his non-teaching as philosophy. And I think he might cringe at that label. For me his words were more like good poetry, or Leonard Cohen’s songs:; one didn’t really understand what’s being said but somehow loved to listen to or read it anyway. – J. Krishnamurti Commentaries on Living Series I Chapter 41 Awareness “Problems will always exist where the activities of the self are dominant. To be aware which are and which are not the activities of the self needs constant vigilance. This vigilance is not disciplined attention, but an extensive awareness which is choiceless. Disciplined attention gives strength to the self; it becomes a substitute and a dependence. Awareness, on the other hand, is not self-induced, nor is it the outcome of practice; it is understanding the whole content of the problem, the hidden as well as the superficial. The surface must be understood for the hidden to show itself; the hidden cannot be exposed if the surface mind is not quiet. This whole process is not verbal, nor is it a matter of mere experience. Verbalization indicates dullness of mind; and experience, being cumulative, makes for repetitiousness. Awareness is not a matter of determination, for purposive direction is resistance, which tends towards exclusiveness. Awareness is the silent and choiceless observation of what is; in this awareness the problem unrolls itself, and thus it is fully and completely understood. A problem is never solved on its own level; being complex, it must be understood in its total process. To try to solve a problem on only one level, physical or psychological, leads to further conflict and confusion. For the resolution of a problem, there must be this awareness, this passive alertness which reveals its total process.”