Krishnamurti Study Group

Krishnamurti Study Group
Saturday, August 5, 2017

Three people attended this session looking into Krishnamurti’s book The First and Last Freedom, Q & A # 13. The topic, “On Hate” was a little daunting, but the reading and discussion was rich and insightful. K spoke of the need for us to be disturbed so that we look clearly at our state of consciousness and face it directly. Being with our feelings and thoughts without judgment or labelling allows us to be in communion with them, which in turn supports transformation of “what is.” We explored the pointings verbally and in silent self-observation as we enjoyed sitting on the lawn on a warm if hazy day.

Healing Your Traumas Weekend Retreat

Healing Your Trauma with the Living Inquiries

July 21 – 23, 2017

This weekend retreat was facilitated by Lynn Fraser and Fiona Murphy. Lynn is a Senior Facilitator Trainer of Scott Kiloby’s Living Inquiries and a senior teacher in the Himalayan Tradition of Yoga Meditation. She works online and internationally with individuals and groups. Fiona, MSW, RSW is a Living Inquiries Certified Facilitator and an experienced therapist with a Masters in Social Work. Fiona works with people online and has a counselling practice in Victoria, British Columbia. http://www.livinginquiries.com/fiona-murphy/

The workshop, as described by Lynn, focused on freeing ourselves and healing from the residual effects of hurt and trauma. The intention was to “learn and understand how the events in our lives impact us on all levels – body, breath, energy and thought. Experiences of abuse, neglect and feeling unsafe trigger our fight/ flight/ freeze. This survival system activation generates a cascade of cortisol, adrenaline and other chemicals. Our Central Nervous System goes into a state of hyper-vigilance that can last for decades and we naturally seek ways to self-soothe and down-regulate our level of distress. Trauma and survival instinct underlie addiction, compulsive and catastrophic thinking, anxiety and suffering.

“Safety IS the treatment. In this experiential workshop we do practices to begin and deepen trust in yourself and authentic kindness and compassion within. We’ll cover the essentials of “how it works” so you understand your body, system, shame, judgment and the essential role of social trust. We strengthen our capacity to see through and release identification with these experiences that commonly lead to core deficiency beliefs of unworthiness, unlovability and feeling like there is something basically wrong with us. The Living Inquiries developed by Scott Kiloby allow us to freeze-frame and look directly at what is driving fear and anxiety.”

Beginning with a public talk on Friday evening, Lynn and Fiona created a very safe space for people to explore their difficult experiences and their capacities to be free of past hurt. A video clip of Scott Kiloby talking about his “Living Inquiries” was shown on the first night. Throughout the weekend a good number of very useful tools were taught for grounding ourselves and being with the issues that inhibit free expression and well-being. Guided awareness exercises were relaxing and nurturing and promoted release and letting go of limiting patterns. Gazing and Laughing meditations approached the subject from different experiential

angles. Gentle yoga was included as a complementary practice for healing trauma, with a focus on the breath and inhabiting our bodies. Group discussion and communication played a central role, and the quality of sharing was remarkable for its depth and honesty.

A large amount of material was covered over the weekend but there was also time for walks on the property and rest. Delicious meals were provided by nearby Pearson College. The retreat was very much appreciated by all and attracted a good attendance of twenty-four participants, facilitators included. We thank Lynn and Fiona for presenting a profoundly practical and valuable workshop.

Krishnamurti Study Group

Krishnamurti Study Group

Saturday, July 15, 2017-07-17

 

Four people gathered on the front lawn to explore the text The First and Last Freedom, Q & A # 12, on the topic “Boredom and Interest.” K point out in this section that we are always escaping from uncomfortable feelings and asks what happens if we can just be with an experience like boredom without resisting the feeling or trying to change it. It may then have a much deeper significance. In his treatment of the issue he offers a way to be with all experience that invites learning about ourselves and the workings of our consciousness. Readings of the text were interspersed with discussion and inquiry into the truth or falseness of what K points to in our own experience. It was interesting to learn about ourselves in relation to the topic and was definitely an engaging dialogue rather than a boring one!

Victoria Krishnamurti Event

Victoria Krishnamurti Event

July 7, 2017

This month’s meeting at the Church of Truth focused on the topic “Observing Without the Observer.” Four people were in attendance as we began with a sixteen minute video clip of Krishnamurti speaking at Brockwood Park on August 28, 1979. He approached the issue of attachment and began by asking if we are actually aware that we are attached, not just as an idea but as a fact. He then questioned if the fact is different from “you” who are observing it. Do we look at a fact like attachment as being something separate from us, or do we see that we are attachment. Attachment is the “me”. If there is no division or duality, what can I do about attachment? How can there be any action towards it? In seeing this there is only pure observation without thought, not “I am observing, choosing, etc.” What happens in this kind of observation? There is a gathering of energy, an intensity of attention in which attachment is not. We must be totally clear about this, K said.

We engaged in an in-depth dialogue about the material and our understanding of the issues involved. There was an authentic questioning and probing into the truth of how we perceive ourselves which provoked an intention to continue looking into our ways of observing. To finish off we watched part of a guided inquiry by Rupert Spira on the nature of perception presented at the Science and Nonduality Conference in 2013. It was an excellent exploration which some appreciated tremendously and others found difficult to follow. The session stimulated the participants to pursue further investigation in their own time.

Weekend Retreat at the Centre

Preparing the Ground for Meditation

Weekend Reteat with Dr. Ashwani Kumar

July 7 – 9

Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada

Dr. Ashwani Kumar is currently a professor of Education at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax. He has been seriously engaged with J. Krishnamurti’s work for more than 14 years and has spoken at Krishnamurti schools and study centers in the US, Canada, the UK, and India. He is the author of the book Curriculum As Meditative Inquiry (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) which explores Krishnamurti’s insights regarding meditation, consciousness, and education. Dr. Kumar joined us for the fifth year in a row to present, this time, a weekend retreat entitled “Preparing the Ground for Meditation.” The retreat began on Friday evening with an introductory exploration of the subject of self-deception. Ten participants engaged with him in looking at how the mind is constantly deceiving itself by creating realities which are assumed to be true and dependable when in fact they are illusory concepts and ideas which serve mainly to bolster up a sense of a false self “me” which wants to be solid and secure. Ashwani does not present anything as knowledge to be accepted or rejected but, rather, as encouragement to look clearly for ourselves at what is actually happening in us from moment to moment. He invites an intense looking and listening which involves the whole being rather than just the intellect.

The participation in a number of awareness and relaxation exercises, including some very dynamic forms of “meditation”, promotes a balanced approach to self-inquiry and meditation. Over the course of the weekend we jumped into meditations involving dance and movement, laughing, and speaking in gibberish. We engaged in group dialogue sessions and were guided in deep explorations of the questions that were most important to us. There was also a generous amount of time to be quietly with ourselves and to be in nature in order to integrate what had arisen in the dialogues and meditations. Ashwani regularly asked us to share our experience of what was going on for us as we engaged with the exploration of what it means to “prepare the ground for meditation” in the sense of the word pointed to by J. Krishnamurti and others and by our own understanding as we look and listen.

Ashwani presented an experience of real substance and depth which all group members found of great interest and benefit. We look forward to his return to the Centre in the future.

Inquiry Sunday at the Centre

Our morning session, attended by six people, focused on viewing a video of Gangaji on the topic of “Unravelling the Knot of Suffering”. It was made in 2002, but the subject matter was timeless in looking at the basic causes of suffering and the remedy for the condition. The issue of suffering was approached in a few different ways but the essence seemed to be the attachment to an identity as a separate self who has to defend and protect itself from the apparent threats continuously presented by the impermanence of life. Gangaji’s interactions with people made the topic relevant to daily existence and her pointers were clear and useful. Our group engaged in some discussion which sometimes strayed from the direct looking at suffering  and perhaps, in hindsight, became overly conceptual, but which was hopefully useful to some degree.

The afternoon session involved looking at three video clips of J. Krishnamurti responding to questions put to him at various talks and dialogues. As usual, K emphasized the importance of looking for oneself rather than looking to him or any other for an answer. He always comes back to self-knowledge as the essence of spiritual development and minimizes the significance of conceptual understanding in favour of direct seeing. The group of three present for the session enjoyed a lively exploratory discussion of each short video.

Krishnamurti Study Group, July 1, 2017

Canada Day was celebrated by four participants with an exploration of Q & A # 11 in J. Krishnamurti’s book The First and Last Freedom. The subject of the chapter was “On Fear” and began with looking at the idea of attempting to get rid of fear. Whatever is overcome has to be overcome again and again, K said, and who is the identity that will conquer fear? He suggests we be with fear, or any other emotion, without any intention to modify or change it. What happens when we stay with fear without imposing our opinions and interpretations on it? K suggests that when we are in complete communion with the fact of fear then fear is not. It is only when we are not in communion with it that fear continues. As a group we sat silently looking at our thoughts and feelings related to fear as well as engaging in verbal inquiry into our experiences and understandings. We were able to enjoy the beautiful grounds of the property in Metchosin and the gorgeous views as we sat on the lawn in the sunshine. We discussed the significance of learning about ourselves in all our daily challenges and experiences and looked at some more personal questions of relationship and “socializing” with others. It was a very worthwhile way to spend the afternoon.

Being In Awareness – June 24th Stillness Within Gathering

A lovely Saturday afternoon welcomed 8 of us to Swanwick Centre for a series of group exercises or experiments in sensing and falling into awareness in deeper ways.  The group who came together had walked many paths but all shared a passion for discovery, sharing and deepening into stillness or presence (we all gravitate to different language it seems).

Lincoln Stoller provided a guided meditation on subtle awareness of internal ‘movements’ or senses and external perceptions.  For me this led to a sense of settling in to an ‘sense-continuum’ where that which was sensing could not be distinguished from the objects being noted.

The group watched a snip of an interview with Mooji, where he covered a number of themes…   One key point was that the wholeness of Being does not seem to have the job of teaching anything – it simply is.  This truth is the only thing that is here, pointing to uncreated space, prior to any movement at all.  There was lots of laughing in the video as the Jetz-TV interviewer himself (Reinhold) seemed to take delight in Mooji’s sparkling way of expressing (the dancing blue light surrounding him may have added a sense of magic as well).

Other activities of the afternoon included a Pure Conscious Experience talk and solo practice on the grounds surrounded by nature (the focus was on open-hearted pure sensual seeing without judgement or thought).

Perhaps Krishnamurti was also pointing to something similar when he said:  “When the mind is creatively empty – not when it is positively directing – there is reality. ” Ojai, California | 2nd Public Talk 21st May, 1944

We closed off the afternoon with a Lester Levinson inspired collective awareness circle.  Another non-mind based experiment, it brought us together in a lovely space of supportive openness.

It was a joy filled afternoon with wonderful people!

Thanks to Krishnamurti Centre for hosting us once again.

 

Skype with Darryl Bailey

DEFINITIONS SIMPLY DO NOT APPLY!

Review of the Skype session with Darryl Bailey – Sunday June 25, 2017

On behalf of Robert Keegan, this post is an attempt to define the happening that we call a Skype session with a so-called nondual teacher/speaker labelled Darryl Bailey.

The session started with Darryl guiding the participants through an exploration of the “happening of this moment”. We were invited to explore ‘all’ of the apparent movements as they are presented including all the normal, apparent, body/mind functions of seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and touch as well as thoughts and sensations. It was suggested that we suspend our normal tendency to “label” these sensations because none of these labels apply to ‘what is’ apparently happening.

He then went on at length about his experiences with Robert Adams and other apparent “awakened ones”, like Ramana Maharshi, Huang Po, UG Krishnamurti and finally Jiddu Krishnamurti.

Here are some comments and feedback from some of the participants…

Brigitte: It was a dream come true to finally “meet” him. Darryl’s session last Sunday has affected me profoundly. Since then I’ve been camping with my daughter and her two small boys at Rathtrevor Beach. The key words that Darryl’s message contained…expression, happening, eventing and movement…really helped to inform my awareness and appreciation of my grandsons as they moved spontaneously in every direction.

Instead of wanting to monitor or control their movement I spent more time observing and enjoying them. I kept thinking of the “tomato plant” and relating it to their behaviour. Consequently a lot of my anxiety has been alleviated….not only regarding my grandsons but for life in general. For this I am truly grateful!

Erik: Refreshing “story line”

Shannon: Darryl offered the group an honest view into his calm beingness. But of course, it wasn’t HIS beingness and even the word beingness doesn’t come close to capturing what we truly are.

For me, it had been a week of mind noise in the throes of a stranger than strange work world. What cut right through the din was the field of non-formed words that Darryl didn’t say but guided us toward, in his unique way. There was an alive sense of falling within whatever spark created all this… bubbling up in the space I sometimes call me. The group were truly touched by this unique opportunity – thanks so much for the K. Centre support which enabled this to come together.

Laurie: Darryl talked at length about how we do not direct anything that is occurring in our life. The only thing existing is an indefinable happening in nature. We don’t create our physical and mental abilities, needs, interests, urges, actions. This raises the question of freedom and free will. I asked Darryl how it applies to K’s teachings about choiceless awareness and the first and last freedom. Darryl studied K and had recurring contact with K for a number of years.

He said K was stating that “choiceless awareness” is just the seeing of the moving, shifting liveliness that is this moment. It is the first and last freedom. There is the only freedom.

I had always interpreted K’s teaching as something complicated I needed to understand in order to see, but the dialogue with Darryl and the group shifted that. Darryl pointed out that the mind always wants to understand but all that is required is “to simply acknowledge the life experience you already have in this moment”. This acknowledgment is not about coming to another idea or description. It’s not about a focus on new and complicated thoughts. It’s a simple acknowledgment of something we already know. Life expresses itself clearly; it simply happens on its own. There’s nothing else to get.

And finally, a few retrospective words from Darryl…

I enjoyed yesterday’s session as well. I’m happy it was of some practical use to you.

I’m including some of my favourite Krishnamurti quotes that relate to what I was expressing.

“The ebb and flow of the tide is like human action and reaction. … we are the ebb and flow of life … the outward and the inward. We try to establish a relationship with the outward, thinking that the inward is something separate … But the movement of the outer is the flow of the inner. They are both the same, like the waters of the sea, this constant restless movement of the outer and the inner.
Outer and inner are one movement, not separate, but whole. One may perhaps accept this as a concept, but when one focuses on concepts one never learns … To feel this movement … this ebb and flow … is to learn.”
[from Krishnamurti To Himself Ojai California Wednesday 28th March 1984]

“… you begin quietly and gently to feel a movement that is not of time … what is meant is a movement that has no beginning or end. A movement in the sense of a wave: wave upon wave, starting from nowhere and with no beach to crash upon. It is an endless wave.”
[Krishnamurti To Himself Ojai California Friday 11th March, 1983]

“When we look at this life of action the growing tree, the bird on the wing, the flowing river, the movement of the clouds, of lightning, of machines, the action of the waves upon the shore then you see that life itself is action, endless action that has no beginning and no end. It is something that is everlastingly in movement, and it is the universe, God, bliss, reality. But we [conceptually] reduce the vast action of life to our own petty little action in life, and ask what we should do …”
[Krishnamurti, Bombay 1958]

“Life is always in a state of arising. In this arising, there is no continuity, nothing that can be identified as permanent. Life is constant movement … action. Each moment of this action has never been before and will never be again.”
[from The Mirror of Relationship, Ojai, 7th Talk in the Oak Grove 17th May,1936]

“Perfection is not an end, an absolute, fixed point … there is a continual movement, a continual flow of reality. Perfection is the action, the continual flow … not an absolute objective to which you are progressing …”
[Rio de Janeiro 4th Public Talk 10th May, 1935]

Take care,
Darryl

Krishnamurti Study Group

 

Krishnamurti Study Group

Saturday, June 17, 2017

 

This session we looked into Chapter # 10 in the Q & A section of The First and Last Freedom. The chapter was entitled “On War”. We first explored why such a topic might be relevant to our daily lives even though we are not actually engaged in activities of war, in the external sense at least. We began to look at the conflicts in our lives, in our relationships, and at the “inner wars that we might be fighting. Our reading of the section was interspersed with very engaged dialogue which, as it often does, went into the issue of believing ourselves to be separate individuals who then have to protect and defend ourselves psychologically. There was plenty to inquire into and the reading of the chapter was only concluded at the very end of the meeting. It was a creative and interesting exploration. Four people were in attendance.