Self-Inquiry with John Duncan, September 14, 2025

On what at times was a cool, windy day we decided to go ahead and hold the dialogue outside at the Swanwick property with the beautiful ocean view and the wind talking as it flowed through the large trees surrounding us. As before, being outside to dialogue in a beautiful spot added a sense of connection to nature and so between the participants which is indicative of the fact that nature has no problems, no conflict and therefore its relationships and its beauty are in the forefront. We began in silence. 

We spoke for a while on various topics, usually around freedom as that had been picked up from the previous dialogue and one member of the group kept expressing astonishment at the simplicity of what we were discussing compared to the complexity that it is met with in society or as a species. Another person wanted us to be sure about what we were saying, relating how easy it is to say what we know and assume then we are in that space. Another questioned that  if we do know and we are not in that space then we haven’t learned what we have already learned. Most folks seem to be still assimilating what they have learned and which is stored as knowledge, awaiting a direct experience where it becomes real self-knowledge, direct experience, something actual.

After some time we read an entry from The Book of Life, excerpts from Krishnamurti talks. It was the entry dated December 27: A mind in the state of creation. He spoke of demanding freedom at the very beginning and not waiting for it at the end…..this choice of words challenged the group. ‘Demand’? Words are often flexible and don’t mean exactly what the dictionary definition states. In this case it was understood that the only place freedom can exist as freedom is now, otherwise it is a destination, an image, a dictionary definition. So to demand it in that sense is not so strange after all. 

So we understood we are using words to describe something happening at this moment, and the words may put us behind the moment but that it is not necessary that this be true. Listening, the key, listening without interference, without a sound as K said, can digest the word and open up its meaning as energy rather than open up what we think it means. Then freedom, creation is every moment “living, dying, loving and being” which is a state not only beyond but through the word into a listening that is listening in silence to silence, a whole new language.

• John Duncan