Chapter 22—The Essential Unity Of All Experience

Today’s session can be summed up with the following words from the chapter: The mind, the body and the world are not three different objects that are seen or known; rather, they are ways of seeing or knowing. That is to say, they are three different ways of knowing the same reality and that reality is Awareness, or Pure Knowing.

In the audio tape, Rupert led us into contemplations meant to show us how our many experiences of separateness are really illusions. All we have to do is dig deeper into those experiences. As we penetrate our real experiences, the multiplicity and diversity of objects in the world start to lose their hold on us. Pure Knowing takes the shape of seeing, hearing, tasting, touching and smelling and, as a result, seems to become a world, but never actually becomes or knows anything other than itself. Once we dwell in our true nature we can come back out into the illusory world and participate in it—but we have been transformed and that transformation will impact everything we do and see from that point on.

Love then shows up in relation to people and animals and beauty in relation to objects in that world.

We approached the question: “What hinders us from moving into the world from a base of Awareness” with intensity, searching for answers. Many insights were drawn from this discussion and more will follow as we move to strengthen our community with more meetings, communications and retreats.

Rupert has revealed that the mind is only our current thought and that thought can be dropped immediately to reveal our true nature: the innocent, empty expanse of Awareness. Krishnamurti affirms this in today’s quote:

The mind that is learning is an innocent mind, whereas the mind that is merely acquiring knowledge is old, stagnant, corrupted by the past. An innocent mind perceives instantly, it is learning all the time without accumulating, and such a mind alone is mature.

 

Krishnamurti Study Session, October 21, 2108
Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada

Three participants were in attendance for this Sunday morning session at the Centre in Metchosin. The chapter of study was the Q & A section entitled “On Triviality”. The question posed to Krishnamurti was, “With what should the mind be occupied?” In response K states that conflict is brought into being when we focus on what should be rather than what is. As soon as we establish an ideal we start struggling and our minds become occupied with trivialities—ambition, envy, gossip and cruelty. Since the mind itself is based on memory and time, its very nature is trivial and self-centered. The way to transform the mind is to understand how it works and recognize its activities. In this process of becoming aware of the mind, it becomes quiet. Out of that quietness a creative state arises that facilitates transformation.
The group shared how the world appears to rob us of time and reduce our minds to only trivial matters. Our lives are then lived like we’re moving on a hamster wheel and the faster we run the more trivial and crazy it all gets. We talked about our experiences of a quiet mind and how the silence generated in this state becomes the foundation of a creative life.

Exploring Awareness
Sunday, October 8, 2018
KECC

This afternoon session was attended by four of us. We began with a meditation guided by David on the topic of being with emotions. Participants were invited to notice any emotion or sensation that was present and then to observe any thoughts about it that were taking place. Possibly thought is actually creating the emotion or feeling in the body. What is it like to let thoughts fall away and to be with the sensation without any naming, labelling, or evaluation? As we moved slowly along we were invited to notice, as Krishnamurti suggests, if there is an “observer” separate from what is being observed, and what happens when this is noticed. Perhaps the duality can dissolve and a sense of unity or non-division can be “felt.” Participants reported some very interesting insights when we shared our experiences.
A guided audio meditation with Adyashanti was played as a second exploration. It focused on allowing everything to be exactly as it is. Again, participants shared some interesting perceptions that arose during the meditation, especially with Adya’s question, “Is there anything you are not allowing to be as it is?” The participants all had differing experiences in keeping with the experimental nature of exploring one’s awareness. An enjoyable afternoon.

The UVic Stillness Within Meetup returned on Wednesday September 26 with a new location at the UVic Grad House.  The topic explored this month was “Discovering Stillness – Perspectives and Practices”.  Six of us joined together to share our experiences, ponderings and collective understanding of what it means to explore stillness (and what this looks like in each of our lives).

For some, mindfulness or meditation has helped us to find deeper personal contentment, or supported us in moving through personal crisis (releasing rather than harbouring stress or turmoil).  For some, it has been a part of our pursuit of spiritual understanding or advancement.

We considered the question of whether practice might in fact reinforce a sense of separation or incompleteness – can desire to earnestly practice inadvertently strengthen the belief that we must improve/achieve/advance to find lasting inner peace?  Does sharing a meditation or other similar practice actually reinforce of a sense of personal self?

Krishnamurti spoke about meditation and some of his teachings seem to discourage formal ‘practice’ while other times, give it credence.  Perhaps the quote below helps to shine a light on his perspective.

“Meditation is not the pursuit of an invisible path leading to some imaginal bliss. The meditative mind is seeing, watching, listening, without the word, without comment, without opinion, attentive to the movement of life in all its relationships throughout the day.”

Perhaps one way to look at meditation is really as an exploration or discovery, without an end in mind, that involves observing or inquiring, with as little judgement as we are able.  And when judgement is there, noticing that too.

The group enjoyed a guided meditation by Joseph Goldstein that was intended to explore our inner awareness, or sensing ourselves as awareness.  It also provided opportunity to observe the comings and goings of sensation, conditions and even our own ultimate impermanence.  It pointed to the arising of thoughts and our existence beyond passing thoughts and beyond the concept of self.

Is there something beneficial in gathering with others to share these spaces?  Who knows!! But it seems enriching nonetheless – even joyful – to meet with like minds…. And sometimes something more seems to shine through, something not about our individual selves or what we think we know.

We didn’t have time to listen to both of the guided meditations that were available.  The second is an Eckhart Tolle eleven minute meditation focusing on inner stillness (available here).

Thanks to KECC for supporting the UVic Stillness Within Meetup group.

Krishnamurti Study Session
September 16, 2018
KECC

Three participants gathered on this Sunday morning to study the Q & A chapter 31, “On Simplicity”, in the Krishnamurti text The First and Last Freedom. K is asked “What is simplicity? Does it imply seeing very clearly the essentials and discarding everything else?” He begins by pointing out the falseness of “positive” approaches to any problem. We must put aside ideas and look anew. He suggests that we must first look at what simplicity is not, and after discarding quite a number of concepts he asks if it is a matter of choice. He then asks the crucial question, “What is the entity that chooses?” and how does that entity know what is essential? We must observe all the false ways of the mind in order to realize for ourselves what simplicity is. The mind is then free to receive that which is unnameable.
The group engaged in a dialogue about the ideas as we read the chapter and put attention into clarifying together some questions which arose. It was an interesting exploration and was very much enjoyed.