Swanwick Star Issue Nr. 11 (2018)

A Personal Retreat

I tried to apply K’s teachings to my own experience of nature at the K Center. I find the Center to be an extraordinarily beautiful place, and I spent most of my days walking in nature on the beaches, trails and country roads.

I spent a lot of time watching my thoughts as K suggests, and can confirm that they are entirely made up of the past, or anticipation of the future. I find that being in nature makes it easier to experience the present moment without division, where the observer is the observed, where there is only experiencing, but no experiencer. I noticed that when one is just listening and looking openly then the mind is silent. When thinking comes in it wants to label experience, and comment about it. But there can never be a thought about the absolute present, it’s too immediate – the moment a beautiful flower is seen there is no separation in that instant but when the mind comments about the beauty, it is already in the past and not fresh.

Taking photos can aid in noticing beauty. It seems to heighten attention and I love noticing the details of nature that are entirely missed if we are walking in nature and lost in thought. The pictures below illustrate this beautifully – notice the heart on the wildflower and the incredible detail and beauty of the rocks on the aptly named Pebble Beach. Simply stunning.

The picture book “Flowering” sums it up well:

“Beauty is where you are not. It is a tragedy if you don’t see this. Truth is where you are not. Beauty is, love is, where you are not”.

KL
Krishnamurti Centre Personal Retreat
April 14-18, 2017