Krishnamurti Study Session
Sunday, December 15, 2019
At KECC

There were just two of us present for this Sunday morning meeting. The book we are studying is The Book of Life: Daily Meditations with Krishnamurti, and the selection was the January 31 entry entitled “Relationship is a Mirror”. Self-knowledge, K says, “comes into being when we are aware of ourselves in relationship, which show what we are from moment to moment.” If we can look at ourselves with “full attention”, without judgement or evaluation, then we will see that the mind can free itself of its conditioning and discover what is beyond the field of thought. And freedom lies only beyond: it is not within the realm of thought.
We explored deeply what K is saying in this chapter and touched on related aspects of self-observation which we have experienced in our process of self-discovery. What is “full attention”, and what prevents it from being present? What supports it? How is freedom “entirely different” from functioning within the field of thought? These and other questions kept us exploring and sharing for two hours.

Exploring Awareness
Sunday, December 1, 2019
At KECC

The Sunday afternoon session was attended by six of us. We stayed with our usual format for these meetings with two guided meditations and some discussion of our experiences. We began with a meditation, guided by David, into being with our experience without naming it or creating any story about it. We were invited to be fully present with all our attention, with “full-body” awareness or what Krishnamurti calls “choiceless awareness”. Not naming experience can bring about a more direct and insightful understanding of “what is”, and bring about a deeper silence in the mind. There was then the invitation to notice if we were creating a division between ourselves as an “observer” and the thing being observed. What happens if this duality is noticed? Does a different quality of perceiving come about, a unitary and whole sense of presence and awareness?
The second half of the session featured a recording of one of Scott Kiloby’s guided meditations offered at his recent retreat given at the Centre. The focus was on looking at the ways in which thought creates a sense of not being good enough, a “deficiency story” about ourselves. The meditation also went quite deeply into the process of observing thoughts and feelings and allowing them to fall away as they arise, without needing to do anything. The experience seemed to be valued by all participants and considered very relevant to our daily lives. It was a rich afternoon of “meditation” and sharing.

Five Day Inquiries Retreat with Scott Kiloby,
November 22 – 27, 2019
At KECC

We were fortunate to have Scott join us for the sixth year running, this time for a five day intensive retreat exploring his “Living Inquiries” and “Kiloby Inquiries” methods of self inquiry. Scott is the founder of the Kiloby Centre for treatment of addictions in Palm Springs, California. A total of eighteen people were in attendance for the retreat, which began on a Friday evening with a talk on the topics of “awareness, awakening, embodiment, readiness, honesty, authenticity, intimacy, and inquiry.” Scott pointed out skills can be taught but readiness cannot. He questioned what stops people from doing the self inquiry work and suggested a number of factors, always emphasizing the need for each one of us to look for ourselves. Resting as awareness is the basic practice, whereas his other techniques are to be used when resting is not easily accessible. Other talks throughout the retreat focused on describing his inquiry methods, some of which were new since his last visit, the nature and trajectory of “awakening”, the need to learn skills for working with our conditioning, contractions in the body, the challenges of the embodiment process, and working with trauma. Interspersed were sessions working with the inquiries experientially and practicing them so we could do them on our own after leaving the retreat. There were a number of practice sessions in pairs with participants facilitating each other. This produced some deep work and insights. An assistant was available for private sessions if desired. All the work was supported by the basic practice of resting in and as awareness, which involves recognizing that awareness is our essential nature. From there we can observe everything that arises in and as awareness without taking on the belief that we are those phenomena, without identifying with the thoughts, feelings, and sensations. Scott mentioned that his work was influenced in its development by J. Krishnamurti and is in essence very similar to that of Krishnamurti. Participants familiar with Krishnamurti’s teachings experienced the Inquiries to be an effective way of applying K’s teachings in a very specific and practical manner.
Other activities over the five days included plenty of Q and A opportunities, a Krishnamurti video, time for self-reflection, walks, and sharing at meal times. Spontaneous conversations took place in the unstructured periods. Meals were provided by catering from Glenrosa Restaurant and Toque. We were also treated to a delightful music concert organized by Chanda Siddoo and featuring her own compositions. The concert was described as an offering to combat the threat of nuclear war and to inspire peace on our planet. By the end of the retreat there was a strong sense of unity and affection amongst the group members – a direct result of the honesty and authenticity of the sharing and working with the sometimes difficult issues of our human experience. It was an opportunity much appreciated and valued by all the participants. It is a great joy and a privilege to have Scott at our Centre and we look forward to his return at about the same time next year to continue with the exploration of awareness and its embodiment into all aspects of our life experience.

Krishnamurti Study Session
Sunday, November 17, 2019
At KECC

There were only two of us present for this Sunday morning meeting in the Main House at the Krishnamurti Centre of Canada in Metchosin, BC. We explored the January 28 and 29 entries in The Book of Life: Daily Meditations with Krishnamurti, which are focused mainly on the topic of “self-knowledge” and are entitled “Self-Knowing” and “Creative Emptiness”. K emphasizes the importance of looking at ourselves without any judgement or agenda concerning our observations. The looking and listening to the movement of the mind – our thoughts, feelings, and sensations – without any interpretation or “doing” brings about an understanding of the mind’s projections and an emptiness in which a transformation happens without effort or conscious intention.
In discussing the pointers, we investigated such issues as the difference between merely hearing what is being pointed to and listening with one’s full attention. We also explored in detail the implications of each statement in the selected quotes from K’s talks, including the necessity of understanding through insight into ourselves (the operation of our own minds) as well as through listening to another such as Krishnamurti.

Krishnamurti Study Session
Sunday, November 3, 2019
At KECC

Four participants joined on a Sunday morning to study a selection from The Book of Life: Daily Meditations with Krishnamurti. For this session we explored the January 27 entry entitled “Quiet Mind, Simple Mind” in which K states that “if one begins to understand the ‘me” in all its various activities from day to day, then in that very understanding, without any effort, the nameless, the timeless comes into being. The topic is investigated more fully in the text and provided good material for group sharing and dialogue.