Exploring Awareness

Sunday, September 1, 2019

At KECC

This session was attended by six people in all. The intention of the “Exploring Awareness” meetings is to offer opportunities to directly experience the presence and function of awareness through the medium of guided meditations. For this meeting we presented meditations by Fred Davis and Sam Harris. The Davis meditation focused on entering a state of being the unbounded space which contains the whole universe and seemed to produce at least somewhat of that direct knowing or being. We then took a walk on the property and enjoyed the lovely natural settings.

The group returned for a second meditation by Sam Harris which emphasized resting as the awareness that notices all that arises within it and within our thoughts and emotions. It was a very practical and clear meditation which was appreciated by the participants.

Resolving Conflict with Passion
Weekend Retreat with Hillary Rodrigues
August 23 – 25, 2019, at KECC

This was the tenth annual retreat with Prof. Hillary Rodrigues at the Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada in Metchosin, BC. Hillary is a professor of Eastern religious traditions at the University of Lethbridge and a former teacher and administrator at the Krishnamurti school that once existed at the site of the KECC. He has published books and articles on aspects of Krishnamurti’s thought, including the book Krishnamurti’s Insight, and has given presentations on K’s teachings in New York, New Delhi, Victoria, and Ojai, California. Entitled “Resolving Conflict with Passion,” Hilary made it clear at the Friday night introductory talk that this was not to be an academic workshop, but an opportunity to inquire deeply into particular issues in a personal and holistic way with others. Krishnamurti’s teachings would regularly be used as entry points for looking at our own experience.
Hillary’s Friday talk addressed the idea of two types of passion, the passion with a motive or a cause and the passion without cause that Krishnamurti speaks of. The passion with cause inevitably leads to suffering, whereas the second kind of passion can bring about the ending of sorrow. The discussion addressed the topics of suffering, sorrow, and passion, inviting participation by the fifteen attendees. The interchange was very rich and inviting of real questioning and investigation.
Twelve people were present for the remainder of the weekend, during which ongoing group dialogue was supplemented with short talks by Hillary, handouts with quotes from Krishnamurti, and a video of K in conversation with Alan Anderson at San Diego University. Hillary skillfully guided the group through the dialogues and the group participation created an atmosphere of interested and focused presence within which listening, looking, and learning could take place. The quality of the inquiry was very much appreciated by all. There was time for quiet walks on the lovely property and delicious meals were provided by Glenrosa Restaurant. It was another meaningful and profound meeting with Hillary and sincere participants. We are grateful for his contribution and anticipate his return next year.

Question:
Because we are saddled, with ongoing commentary of thoughts, are we unwittingly creating our reality?

Discussion:

“The world is the activity of consciousness. Like a wave that arises out of the ocean then returns back into the ocean. Consciousness vails itself with activity and assumes the form of thinking, feelings, imagining. It colors itself with its own activity. The same as a tv screen colors itself with a movie and appears as a landscape, consciousness has that ability also, while watching itself as the movie, be also the screen. Being pure knowing, while thinking, feeling, sensing and feeling. By doing so, appears to be something other than itself, called the world. So the world is the activity of consciousness. “ Rupert Spira

If we can really understand the problem, the answer will come out of it, because the answer is not separate from the problem. – Krishnamurti

Exploring Awareness
Sunday, August 4, 2019
At KECC

Seven people gathered for this Sunday afternoon session of guided meditations intended to give a direct experience of awareness and presence. Some new material was presented in the form of a slow reading of passages from the spiritual classic I Am That by Nisargadatta Maharaj. The readings have pauses between them to allow for quiet contemplation of the meaning. Participants expressed appreciation of the format and took the experience with them for a twenty minute walk on the lovely property. On returning to the location chosen on the front lawn, a choice was made between guided meditations by Adyashanti, Rupert Spira, and Mooji. We listened to a twenty minute meditation with Mooji and then discussed our experiences of the afternoon. People offered feedback that such exploration of awareness was very valuable and worthwhile.

Only One Enlightenment
Weekend Retreat with Michael Mendizza
July 26 – 28, 2019 at KECC

Michael Mendizza is a filmmaker and author now living in Ojai, California, who has been very interested in education and child rearing. He has also been a long-time student of the teachings of J. Krishnamurti and has produced a variety of films about him and his understandings of the human mind. He has recently written a book exploring the similarities and differences between the core teachings of the Buddha and those of Krishnamurti. The book, entitled Always Awakening, features discussions between Michael and Samdong Rinpoche, a close associate of the Dalai Lama.
Michael was invited to present a weekend retreat at the Krishnamurti Centre of Canada in Metchosin, BC. Sixteen people plus facilitators were in attendance as Michael opened on Friday evening with a brief introduction to his background and his intentions for the weekend. He then invited all participants to share what had attracted them to Krishnamurti and what it is they are looking for in joining an exploration such as this. Many spoke of the relevance of K’s teachings to their own life experience, including fears and conflicts. Michael gave feedback and comments as appropriate. The evening ended with a video of K. speaking at Ojai in 1970 and investigating two different ways of perceiving – with and without an “observer”. We watched the video again the next morning and entered a rich discussion of what K was pointing to.
The rest of the weekend was spent in a deepening exploration of the ways in which psychological thought distorts our perception of reality and pretends to have solutions to problems that it itself has created. Videos of K with David Bohm and of interviews with people who knew Krishnamurti were included as we looked at issues such as image-making in relationship, division and conflict, the illusion of a separate self, and the possibility (and difficulty) of transforming our consciousness and finding freedom from conditioning or “the known”. Woven in with our inquiry into fundamental issues in self-discovery was material about the life of Krishnamurti and the qualities of his consciousness, which may be relevant in the attempt to understand his message. How was it that a
silent mind was K’s default mode, whereas for us a noisy mind is our ordinary state? Michael explained that, from his point of view, a shift in state of mind is central to what K is pointing us to. Michael explained some of the basic practices of Tibetan Buddhism and how they might relate to what K spoke of his whole life.
Many more questions were touched on over the weekend. The website alwaysawakening.com is a source of further information for further probing into the material of Michael’s book and the many interesting insights offered along the way. We very much appreciated Michael’s offerings and hope to see more of him in the future.