It was an exceptional weekend retreat for the 11 of us who took part.  Participants were from near and far, having poured in from across BC, as far east as Grand Prairie, Alberta with one driving up through Washington State. One of the early Eckhart Tolle talks suggested that dedicated time away from work and home life could provide an opportunity for us to retreat from our own minds.  The mind can be habitually active through our daily life but Eckhart points out, we always have access to a stillness that underlies this stream of thought (or more accurately, that we ARE this stillness).  Eckhart made it sound easy… gradually becoming more oriented to the stillness that we are.  One opportunity he mentioned is to notice the aliveness or sense of our inner body – simply noticing our aliveness and even becoming aware of that awareness.  For some, this can seem challenging amidst day to day existence… Eckhart made light of our ‘connected’ culture where life seems to find so many of us in a state of constant stimulation.   There were fits of laughter in the room as Eckhart playfully demonstrated the pull towards constant attention on externals (through TV, social media, mobile devices, or a variety of other distractions). As the weekend progressed, the talks built on this theme, exploring the balance between doing vs. being.  It seemed like a few of us could see how a mind-dominated way of living is closely linked to a need for constantly putting effort in one direction or another.  An ‘efforting approach’ can even be applied to spiritual seeking and the need for attainment.  Eckhart points to a gentler freedom from effort, allowing our sense of the moment, presence and relaxed perception.  This state can form a foundation from which creativity, and a natural flow of doing can emerge. One segment of the series explored how past events and experiences can leave accumulations in the mind.  Eckhart proposed that this is where people get their sense of self from.  He also noted that in general, people spend inordinate amounts of time trying to “solve the problem of themselves”; they see themselves as a collection of imperfections that require a solution.  Luckily, this goes away when we realise that the essence of who we are is perfect and even ‘formless’.  The sense of accumulated self is in fact an illusion.  When this illusion is een through, one may begin to experience their true identity as pure ‘space consciousness’. Later in the series of talks, Eckhart explored the nature of true power.  If we are able to allow full attention to activities such as cooking or folding laundry (allowing for some practical thought but not slipping into unconscious repetitive thinking) one can find an expression of the divine in each and every action.  This applies to interactions with other people as well – if we are coming from stillness, we are much more likely to perceive others in their ‘beingness’ rather than the attuning to their more human dimension.  I had opportunity to apply this to very difficult personal matter involving someone not at the retreat… as I sat with what was – just sat with it, it seemed that any judgements that tried to emerge spontaneously kept slipping away like flimsy soap bubbles down a drain – fleeting and insubstantive. In a clip shown from a series called The Real Revolution, Krishnamurti spoke passionately about the need for a transformation of consciousness.  Eckhart echoed this in a most optimistic way, noting in the final talk that there is a shift that many have experienced – away from life as automated role playing, towards the direct realisation and unique expression of our true being.   

At this month’s video showing at Church of Truth, there were a dozen or so in attendance and we enjoyed four videos (two were Krishnamurti talks, one was Rupert Spira, and one was Eckhart Tolle).   One of the key points made was that listening is often difficult amidst a constant stream of mind-based judgements, classifications and reactions.  According to K., When one listens completely, there is no internal stream of commentary, no judgement. In the absence of mind filtering, listening is pure.  K. suggests that the real quality of listening is pure ‘attention’ without acceptance or rejection.   Looking and seeing also are subject to the same dynamic.  The mind inherently distorts visual images with its own meaning and storyline.  Pure seeing is a way of perceiving with much more  depth, as the filters have fallen away.   Rupert Spira puts this another way:  Don’t look – just see…   Finally, Eckhart describes the possibility of having a compassionate relationship with our mind… We see its limitations (which are not a problem).  In time, awareness may become less fettered by mind activity, but there’s no need to fight or resist thought when we see it arising.    The group enjoyed lively debate on many of the concepts, especially as to whether one can cause their mind or self-surrender based on effort or will.  Another view on this was that a slight relaxing of awareness may be all that’s required for a deeper realisation to emerge.   It was an enriching afternoon – Thanks to all who came out!  

January’s Eckhart Tolle video get-together showed a talk given by Eckhart in Belfast, Ireland. The talk explored the process of awakening of consciousness, from early egoic formation through to life after the realisation of our essential nature.  The seven of us who attended found it to be an interesting and contemplative talk which emphasised (like Krishnamurti) the value of self inquiry as a path to discovering our underlying true nature.   Eckhart pointed towards the cultivation of inner awareness which one can begin to experience as boundless and self-less.  Over time, through the awakening process, many may begin to notice the falling away or unravelling of many fictional egoic identities of self… leaving behind a simple sense of limitless being and freedom. Thanks to KECC for hosting us!  

Krishnamurti Study Group Saturday, January 16, 2016   A small group of three were present for this session. We were reading from chapter 10 in The First and Last Freedom by J. Krishnamurti entitled “Fear”. The participants were regular inquirers who immediately jumped into the topic at some depth. We looked closely at how thought tends to move away from what is happening in the moment and to objectify ourselves and our experience by creating images. Underneath the movement of thought in the psychological sense is a fear of emptiness or ego dissolution. We explored various aspects of this in our current experience and entered into a sense of discovery, insight, and awareness of the dimension of “being”. A very interesting and fruitful meeting.

  Krishnamurti Study Group Saturday, January 2, 2016 Four of us, all very regular participants in these K study sessions, met to continue exploring chapter ten in The First and Last Freedom. The reading of the text quickly stimulated some dialogue about the subject of fear in relation to Krishnamurti’s words equating fear with the desire to live in a particular pattern. Some interesting questions arose about the issue and in looking into them we entered a shared state of consciousness where there was freedom from the projections of thought and a falling away of all problems and conflict. It was agreed that the quality of presence and attention in the group inquiry  had enabled a shift into a stillness and silence of mind in which pure being beyond thought was the predominant experience.