Two recent Eckhart Tolle meetups brought Stillness Within members and others together yet again on April 8th and March 25th.
In March the Stillness Within Meetup group watched a webcast from the home of Eckhart Tolle. There were 11 of us and after the meditative talk, the group took pause to deepen our own sense of inner being through a group awareness session of simply noticing.
Krishnamurti, in Choiceless Awareness notes:
“…if you are aware of outward things, the curve of a road, the shape of a tree, the color of another’s dress, the outline of the mountains against a blue sky, the delicacy of a flower, the pain on the face of a passerby, the ignorance, the envy, the jealousy of others, the beauty of the earth, then, seeing all these outward things without condemnation, without choice, you can ride on the tide of inner awareness“
There was little discussion but lovely sense of community at this gathering.
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The April meetup featured a recorded talk “The Awakening Experience – Before and After”. The talk described Tolle’s understanding of the nature of experience. The talk focused on the unfolding of deeper consciousness and in his words “the liberation that comes when we transcend the limitations of a solely conceptual identity”. We had some interesting discussion afterward and a group awareness exercise. With a few new members joining in, it made for a wonderful Saturday afternoon in the gatehouse.
In Freedom from the Known, Krishnamurti points to the dropping away of identity and concepts in a very beautiful way:
“When you look at the stars there is you who are looking at the stars in the sky; the sky is flooded with brilliant stars, there is cool air, and there is you, the observer, the experiencer, the thinker, you with your aching heart, you, the centre, creating space. You will never understand about the space between yourself and the stars, yourself and your wife or husband, or friend, because you have never looked without the image, and that is why you do not know what beauty is or what love is. You talk about it, you write about it, but you have never known it except perhaps at rare intervals of total self-abandonment. So long as there is a centre creating space around itself there is neither love nor beauty. When there is no centre and no circumference then there is love. And when you love you are beauty.”
I love this expression – or love loves itself!
Being… with Eckhart Tolle (Stillness Within Video Gatherings)
/in Event Summaries /by David BruneauTwo recent Eckhart Tolle meetups brought Stillness Within members and others together yet again on April 8th and March 25th.
In March the Stillness Within Meetup group watched a webcast from the home of Eckhart Tolle. There were 11 of us and after the meditative talk, the group took pause to deepen our own sense of inner being through a group awareness session of simply noticing.
Krishnamurti, in Choiceless Awareness notes:
“…if you are aware of outward things, the curve of a road, the shape of a tree, the color of another’s dress, the outline of the mountains against a blue sky, the delicacy of a flower, the pain on the face of a passerby, the ignorance, the envy, the jealousy of others, the beauty of the earth, then, seeing all these outward things without condemnation, without choice, you can ride on the tide of inner awareness“
There was little discussion but lovely sense of community at this gathering.
************************************************************
The April meetup featured a recorded talk “The Awakening Experience – Before and After”. The talk described Tolle’s understanding of the nature of experience. The talk focused on the unfolding of deeper consciousness and in his words “the liberation that comes when we transcend the limitations of a solely conceptual identity”. We had some interesting discussion afterward and a group awareness exercise. With a few new members joining in, it made for a wonderful Saturday afternoon in the gatehouse.
In Freedom from the Known, Krishnamurti points to the dropping away of identity and concepts in a very beautiful way:
“When you look at the stars there is you who are looking at the stars in the sky; the sky is flooded with brilliant stars, there is cool air, and there is you, the observer, the experiencer, the thinker, you with your aching heart, you, the centre, creating space. You will never understand about the space between yourself and the stars, yourself and your wife or husband, or friend, because you have never looked without the image, and that is why you do not know what beauty is or what love is. You talk about it, you write about it, but you have never known it except perhaps at rare intervals of total self-abandonment. So long as there is a centre creating space around itself there is neither love nor beauty. When there is no centre and no circumference then there is love. And when you love you are beauty.”
I love this expression – or love loves itself!
Weekend Retreat at the Centre
/in Event Summaries /by David BruneauSelf Inquiry and the Unfettered Mind
With Kathryn Jefferies, Ph.D
April 21 – 23, 2017
Dr. Jefferies teaches in the education department at Lakehead University in Orillia, Ontario. Her Ph. D thesis on the subject of “Education for Enlightenment” included perspectives on education from J. Krishnamurti, Byron Katie, and others. In this weekend workshop, she wove together the approaches of Krishnamurti and Katie in order to inquire into the meaning of living a life of wholeness and true satisfaction and the effect that has on the world around us. “We are the world” is one of the core principles of her teaching, along with the idea that we are our own authority. The ultimate truth of any idea, perspective, or spiritual teaching is only realized in our own actual experience. Understanding the difference between concepts and actually seeing the truth about ourselves for ourselves is something often not appreciated but is essential for self and societal transformation.
Kathryn gave an introductory talk on Friday night at which sixteen people were present. She spoke of her background and experiences with education and self-awareness, outlined her basic approach to both, and shared her vision for the weekend. Thirteen people were able to stay for the full weekend during which Kathryn guided the group in several meditations, both walking outdoors and sitting in the meeting room. The meditations were focused on the simple observation of “what is”: the breath, the body, and the thoughts and feelings arising moment to moment. She presented “The Work” of Byron Katie and guided the group in exploring issues relevant to them through its method of questioning assumptions and beliefs about others and ourselves. Participants used worksheets to write down their stressful thoughts and then worked together in dyads to investigate the beliefs contained in their statements. Kathryn was very skillful in facilitating the process and in bringing people out of their thinking minds and back to their actual experience. Real understanding will come from simply doing the work, she suggested.
A short video about Krishnamurti was shown on the Saturday night and there was time for rest and for exploring the lovely property and surroundings. The weekend was a challenging and profound exploration of ourselves and our relationship with others and the world. There was great support for insight and direct seeing into the nature of our thinking and feeling and for going beyond the conceptual mind to a deeper experience of being. Kathryn embodied the spirit of real inquiry and is planning to return next year to offer another weekend of inquiry at the Centre.
Krishnamurti Study Group
/in Event Summaries /by David BruneauKrishnamurti Study Group
Saturday, April 15, 2017
This week’s topic for study was from The First and Last Freedom by J. Krishnamurti, Q & A # 8 “On Awareness.” The question was “What is the difference between awareness and introspection? And who is aware in awareness?” K goes into the motivation behind introspection and points out that it always has a motive to achieve something, which then maintains the self at the centre of the activity. Awareness, on the other hand, looks at the self without judgment or the intention to modify it, and this choiceless awareness dissolves the self. As to “who is aware”, K points out that at the moment of experiencing there is no observer or observed, neither the person who is aware nor the object of awareness. There is only pure observation and experiencing. The six participants engaged in an excellent dialogue, seeking to see clearly for ourselves what K is indicating in the chapter. There was a sense of freshness and immediacy to the inquiry.
The Certainty of Our Own Being 2
/in Event Summaries /by David BruneauPlease be advised that the blog post on this topic that was entered yesterday was discussing the teachings of Rupert Spira. We held a meditative session at Swanwick and listened to a Spira audio. Then we discussed it. The key ideas are not mine, but rather Spira’s.
Rick Mickelson
The Certainty of Our Own Being
/in Event Summaries /by David BruneauThe key points–
Victoria Krishnamurti Event
/in Event Summaries /by David BruneauVictoria Krishnamurti Event
Friday, April 7, 2017
Our first Friday night session at the Church of Truth was quite successful. Five of us watched a couple of clips of Krishnamurti speaking at Brockwood Park on the subject of death and then formed a circle for some group dialogue. Three of the participants were new to Krishnamurti, and all found the material and the discussion of great interest. They were also intending to attend events at the Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada in Metchosin. In the videos, K spoke of the illusion of being a separate consciousness and the limitation of the thought-constructed sense of a “me”. Can we die to our attachments and our sense of being a separate, isolated entity? Out of the act of dying, love makes itself known. The participants had a good deal of pertinent input for exploration and discussion.
We looked at a Rupert Spira video addressing a question about the fear of dissolution. His approach was slightly different than Krishnamurti’s, but everyone felt the two were complementary and valuable in our inquiry into the meaning of living and dying.
Krishnamurti Study Group
/in Event Summaries /by David BruneauKrishnamurti Study Group
Saturday, April 1, 2017
Three regular inquirers met on Saturday afternoon to continue looking at the Questions and Answers in The First and Last Freedom by J. Krishnamurti. We completed the reading of the section “On Suffering” and engaged in a pointed dialogue stimulated by the material. K points out that any resistance to suffering or any attempt to escape it only maintains the state of consciousness that produces suffering. We looked deeply into this issue from different perspectives and all felt it was a significant exploration of this very essential subject.
Inquiry Sunday at the Centre
/in Event Summaries /by David BruneauInquiry Sunday
Sunday, April 2, 2017
Six people were present for the morning session of our Inquiry Sunday. We looked at a video interview with Gilbert Schultz, founder of the Urban Guru Café radio show. Gilbert was being interviewed by Richard Miller on his own show called NeverNotHere. The topic was non-duality, what it is and what its vision of life entails. Richard was adept at raising interesting questions for contemplation and the conversation provided excellent material for our own group discussion and inquiry. Everyone expressed a great appreciation for the material and the group interaction.
For the afternoon session there were four participants. We watched a couple of clips of Krishnamurti responding to written questions from his audiences at public talks in Ojai and Brookwood Park. The questions touched on the issues of being hurt in childhood and how to deal with such hurt as well as a question about the capacity of thought to be aware of itself at the moment of its arising. K went into the issues of the self image and the possibility of awareness within the appearance of a thought in such a way as to provoke some in-depth looking and dialogue in our small group.
It felt like a day of meaningful inquiry with a sense of an ongoing deepening of the understanding.
Krishnamurti Study Group
/in Event Summaries /by David BruneauKrishnamurti Study Group
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada
Our selection for study this session was from The First and Last Freedom by J. Krishnamurti, Q & A #7 “On Suffering”. The reading and discussion focused on a number of issues such as the difference between pain and suffering and the nature of suffering itself. The emphasis was on exploring psychological suffering rather than just physical pain. Is it the resistance to an experience that is responsible for the experience of suffering? Is the identification with thought and the limited mind the significant factor? Is the true nature of the mind limited or unlimited? We looked into the possibility of a spaciousness arising in the mind which can contain whatever is arising in our experience and be the ground for the flowering of love. The eight participants were fully engaged in the looking and listening, the sharing of questions and insights, and the felt sense of something beyond the limited mind.
Weekend Retreat with Ravi Ravindra
/in Event Summaries /by David BruneauSelf Inquiry and Inner Transformation
Weekend Retreat with Ravi Ravindra
March 10 – 12, 2017
For the fifth consecutive year Ravi Ravindra offered a weekend retreat at the Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada. A Ph. D and former professor of physics and philosophy, Ravi resides in Halifax. The retreat opened with a public talk on Friday evening at the Centre in which Ravi addressed the question “What is essential for self inquiry and transformation?” Eighteen people in total were present for the meeting. He spoke of the need to be receptive to the subtle energies and levels of reality that may ordinarily be overlooked. Where are we focusing most of our energies and how can the mind be quiet to receive subtle impressions and insights? Meditation was suggested to be very helpful in this regard. It involves a process of “coming to zero,” or a cleansing of our conditioning. In this we need to go beyond the words of any teaching and contact the reality being pointed to. Teachings are fingers pointing at the moon.
Twelve people attended the rest of the weekend. There were guided meditations on the breath, listening attentively to music, small group interactions around some quotations about self transformation, and a great deal of discussion with the whole group. Topics explored were the need for self study and some of its dangers: it can lead to despair on the one hand and fantasy on the other. Ravi pointed to “direct perception” as being essential. Whatever I become aware of in myself changes in its quality and relationship with me. It was postulated that in order to know the divine we must become the divine. Interesting issues related to culture and self inquiry were presented by Ravi, noting that the Eastern religions and the Abrahamic traditions emphasize very opposite characteristics of the human being, the universal and impersonal vs. the personal and unique. This has profound ramifications in how the societies function and humans interact.
Also included was a short video on the life and teachings of J. Krishnamurti, which was new to some of the participants. Delicious food was provided by Pearson College and we thank Ravi for making another visit to our Centre.