Krishnamurti Study Group Saturday, March 7, 2015     Five people gathered on another sunny day to continue with the study of the Krishnamurti book The First and Last Freedom. Again we were able to sit outside and enjoy the lovely setting, with the ocean and mountain views, the trees, and the sounds of birds singing. We started on Chapter 2 of the text, entitled “What Are We Seeking?” K addresses the issue of seeking happiness and whether or not it can actually be sought. Perhaps we are seeking some form of gratification or pleasure, some sense of permanence and security in an insecure world, but that is not the same as happiness. He makes the distinction between pleasure and joy and points out that we must understand ourselves, the “seeker” before we can have any real clarity about these matters. The reading of the first paragraphs of the chapter quickly stimulated participants to question and inquire into the subjects being spoken of and the rest of the session alternated between discussion and reading further short passages. There was a definite sense of the importance of what was being said and of understanding it for ourselves, as K says we must.

  Krishnamurti Study Group Saturday, February 21, 2015.        Three participants met on a lovely sunny day at the Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada in Metchosin. It was warm enough to sit outside and enjoy the spectacular view from the front of the main house, looking out over the Juan de Fuca Straight. The intention was to begin study of Chapter 2 in the book The First and Last Freedom. We began with a short silent period during which we sat with the question “Who was it that drove to the Centre and who is it that will engage in dialogue?” The idea was to see what images we may hold of ourselves as an entity and what happens when we are consciously aware of these images. This meditation spontaneously led into a discussion which lasted for the two hours set aside for the meeting, and when we did look briefly at the chapter material it was seen that we had been talking about very much the same subjects as K presents in the text. The conversation touched upon the creation of the self by thought, how the sense of a “doer” arises, how seeing what thought is doing can impact our experience, and various other interconnected issues. We will look again at Chapter 2 in the next session and presumably explore the text itself in more detail.

  Today I came across this quote by Krishnamurti that I would like to share with you:     “It is the mind, it is thought, that creates time. Thought is time, and whatever thought projects must be of time; therefore, thought cannot possibly go beyond itself. To discover what is beyond time, thought must come to an end -and that is a most difficult thing because the ending of thought does not come about through discipline, through control, through denial or suppression. Thought ends only when we understand the whole process of thinking and, to understand thinking, there must be self-knowledge. Thought is the self, thought is the word which identifies itself as the ‘me’, and at whatever level, high or low, the self is placed, it is still within the field of thought. And the self is very complex; it is not at any one level but is made up of many thoughts, many entities, each in contradiction with the other. There must be a constant awareness of them all, an awareness in which there is no choice, no condemnation or comparison, that is, there must be the capacity to see things as they are without distorting or translating them. The moment we judge or translate what is seen, we distort it according to our background. To be is to be related, and it is only in the midst of relationship that we can spontaneously discover ourselves as we are. It is this very discovery of ourselves as we are, without any sense of condemnation or justification, that brings about a fundamental transformation in what we are -and that is the beginning of wisdom. J.Krishnamurti, Collected Works, Vol. VI,220, Choiceless Awareness  

  Church of Truth Event Sunday, February 8, 2015          Eleven people were present for the Sunday event at the Church of Truth in Victoria.  We began with a short video clip of Krishnamurti speaking on the topic of “conditioning” and whether it is possible to be free of all conditioning.  This was followed by a lively dialogue on the subject, including sharing of what conditioning means to each of us and how we are with it in our lives. After a tea break we watched a clip of Rupert Spira speaking about thought as a habit and answering a question about the persistence of thinking even though it has been seen that it produces conflict and limitation.  We then engaged in further discussion, which brought up a number of disagreements and some energy of conflict and frustration.  It was pointed out that the value of dialogue is often to be found in looking at our disturbances and reactions to what others are saying:  we then see something about ourselves.  The session concluded with another short clip, this time from Eckhart Tolle TV, in which he dealt with the same subject as Rupert but from a slightly different angle.  He gave some practical tips about how to weaken the addiction to thought that seems to be so strong.      It is interesting to see how these three teachers approach the fact of conditioning, and it seemed that participants were finding the explorations interesting and valuable.  The next session in March will look at “Awareness”.

“Any movement of any kind on the part of the mind only gives strength to the continuance of thought, with its envious, ambitious, acquisitive pursuits. When the mind is totally aware of this fact, as it is totally aware of a poisonous snake, then you will see that the movement of thought comes to an end. Then only is there a total revolution, not the continuance of the old in a different form. This state is not to be described; he who describes it is not aware of it.” J. Krishnamurti, Commentaries On Living Series 3   This is perhaps my favourite quote from Krishnamurti. It’s challenging, but I feel vital to anybody who seriously pursues spiritual inquiry. I say it’s necessary because once we really start to find a “path” that yields meaningful insights, we may find ourselves inadvertently wrapped up in thinking about the meaning and significance of these insights. We may get very excited to finally feel a deep connection to teachings that actually seem rooted in our own experience, and go to our minds for validation and elaboration. Nondual teachings continue to open my eyes in amazing ways, but I’m very aware that my mind loves to claim this all as experience and knowledge, and then integrate it into my old patterns of thinking, which have not always served me well (to say the least). This quote helps me come back to a more open awareness when I’ve let my mind start claiming “my” experiences and insights for itself and turning them into something they aren’t. Whether thought comes to an end may not be our concern, but I find this quote points to a deep truth about the human mind which helps me step back and relate to this whole mechanism of thinking in a less personal way. At the core of this quote, as with the whole of Krishnamurti’s message, there lies this essential question, “Why don’t you learn about yourself? About this mind that currently rules your very existence?”