Online series with Jackie McInley, January 17, 2026

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Three new friends joined our dialogue meeting: they were asked if they would open the session with possible questions to the group. In turn the group then expressed what they felt was the general approach in this group. It emerged that we were understanding Krishnamurti but also experimenting with direct observation that might reveal itself as shared in the group. We are attempting to expose the mind as it is: see things about ourselves anew. This is a challenge to minds that are very much rooted in the “old”: rooted in time and thought. 
 
One participant wondered if we had a sense of being of a shared mind (a collective consciousness); or whether we saw ourselves as separate from each other. If so they also asked what was creating this strong sense of separateness. Two others noticed that agreeing or disagreeing might be a factor of separateness. Another participant highlighted the tremendous difference in perception between perceiving a thought happening directly and being driven by that thought. Yet another friend found it difficult to have any sense of a collective consciousness since our identification with our own individual content is so strong. 
 
One of the newcomers to the group expressed a dissatisfaction that we seemed to be discussing dialogue itself, rather than using dialogue to explore our topic. Discussing the way the dialogue is unfolding might be a means to examine our relationships with each other and with our own thoughts and feelings. What is inhibiting our thinking together? Does identification with our own thoughts and feelings narrow perception down to individual conclusions and does this make “thinking together” almost impossible? We are often not sensitive to this identification process and so we might miss how our very exploration is “en-darkened” by a believed separation between us. 
 
We ended the session with one friend asking whether Krishnamurti referred directly to consciousness being one, or did he underline that we are fundamentally separate within thought and time? 
  

Our consciousness is not actually yours or mine; it is the consciousness of man, evolved, grown, accumulated through many, many centuries. In that consciousness is the faith, the gods, all the rituals man has invented. It is really an activity of thought; it is thought that has made the content – behaviour, action, culture, aspiration; the whole activity of man is the activity of thought. And this consciousness is the self, is the ‘me’, the I, the ego, the personality and so on. I think it is necessary to understand this very deeply, not merely argumentatively, logically but deeply, as blood is in all of us, is part of us, is the essence, the natural process of all human beings. When one realises this, our responsibility becomes extraordinarily important. We are responsible for everything that is happening in the world as long as the content of our consciousness continues. As long as fear, nationalities, the urge for success, you know the whole business of it – as long as that exists we are part of humanity, part of the human movement.

Krishnamurti to Himself 

 

  • Jackie McInley