Inquiry with Vala Legan, September 13, 2026

/in /by

We met at the Centre. The dialogue unfolded around the question: Is Krishnamurti’s understanding of love enough for a full human life and for deep, ongoing relationships?

The conversation began with the suggestion that love, as Krishnamurti describes it, is a quality of presence and attention – without comparison, desire, attachment, or wanting. But does it fully include the passionate wish for the well-being of another person, especially someone close to us? Could such care exist without becoming attachment or a transactional relationship?

The group considered several descriptions of love: awareness, attention, presence, and a state in which problems are resolved. One participant described love as something experienced directly, beyond words, while another suggested that awareness itself may be love. The possibility was raised that when we give complete attention – to another person, an animal, nature, or even an ordinary activity – the self may temporarily disappear. In that sense, attention itself could be an act of love.

The inquiry then moved toward preference and resistance. If we prefer peace to disturbance, pleasure to discomfort, or one experience to another, what happens when that preference becomes effort or striving? Trying to move from what is toward what we think should be creates conflict. The group asked whether love can exist in conflict, and whether the attempt to become loving is itself a form of separation. Rather than trying to change an experience, could we simply observe resistance, discomfort, or annoyance with complete attention?

The group also questioned the difference between love itself and an image or idea of love. Statements such as “we are love” can feel deeply meaningful, but they can also become conclusions that thought uses as a resting place. An insight or profound experience of love may later become only a memory if it is not alive in the present. The dialogue therefore returned repeatedly to the importance of seeing what thought does with every experience, including beautiful experiences of connection, insight, and love.

Finally, the discussion opened into the possibility that love cannot be defined or possessed. Perhaps living in love means remaining in the unknown rather than reaching a conclusion about what love is.

 

  • Anastasia Shtamina