It was my pleasure to organize and facilitate the January UVic Spiritual Awakening Meetup. 21 Awakeners attended, and the discussion was very meaningful. I’m always pleasantly surprised by the insight that people bring to such gatherings.             We explored approaches to overcoming self-limiting thoughts, with a special focus on beliefs and the meaning and practice of mindfulness. The evening included a Krishnamurti quote from The Book of Life, followed by a short Mooji video clip called “Unhappy Is Just A Thought”. After some discussion, we then looked at a definition of mindfulness, and watched a relevant clip featuring yogi and Buddhist teacher Michael Stone, who also happens to be from Vancouver.             I have received some great feedback from enthusiastic Awakeners, which will help make this an even more meaningful and engaging gathering in the near future.             We’re certainly off to a good start, and I’m looking forward to the next UVic Spiritual Awakening Meetup.             Here is the K quote that was featured in the Meetup: “One can see how political and religious beliefs, national and various other types of beliefs, do separate people, do create conflict, confusion, and antagonism which is an obvious fact; and yet we are unwilling to give them up… One can see, obviously, that belief is separating people, creating intolerance; is it possible to live without belief? One can find that out only if one can study oneself in relationship to a belief. Is it possible to live in this world without a belief? Not change beliefs, not substitute one belief for another, but be entirely free from all beliefs, so that one meets life anew each minute? This, after all, is the truth: to have the capacity of meeting everything anew, from moment to moment, without the conditioning reaction of the past, so that there is not the cumulative effect which acts as a barrier between oneself and that which is.”   J. Krishnamurti, The Book of Life  

  Krishnamurti Study Group Saturday, December 20, 2014.     We brought the year to an end for the study group with a feature length video about K’s life and teachings entitled “With A Silent Mind”.   There were some beautiful quotations about silence and meditation combined with nature scenes.  Old film clips of K included his speaking at the 1929 Ommen gathering where he dissolved the Order of the Star and there were quite a number of interesting interviews with people who had known K and been influenced by his teachings and presence.  Various viewpoints about his teachings were presented in a refreshingly honest way.  After the video there was a discussion of some of the points raised in the film and of the group participants’ own experience with Krishnamurti. In the new year we will begin the study of the K book The First and Last Freedom.

Krishnamurti states in today’s quote: “Why need you have an ideal of non-violence?” “You have been brought up, most unfortunately, on ideals. Ideals are just words. They have no meaning whatsoever, they have no substance. They are just the barren children of a vain, thoughtless mind! You have been brought up on the ideal of nonviolence. You go around preaching all over the world nonviolence. Nonviolence is the ideal…(read the whole quote).  As I am just re-entering the world of Facebook, one thing that stands out is the number of “issues” and “causes” people appear to be involved in. There seem to be a myriad of “save the world” or “help make the world a better place” crusades. Although on the surface this activity might seem noble and spiritually correct, the underlying motives appear to be “causing” as much division and hatred, conflict and separation between “us.” And hence, non-acceptance of the way “things” (including people) actually are…at least in this “picture” or dream world. I remember attending a David Hawkins lecture in Sedona. One of the questions from the floor was something like… “What should I do to help others become more spiritual?” Hawkins responded… “If you are required to save the world, you will be notified.” From “my” viewpoint, there is absolutely nothing wrong with anybody or any activity that appears to happen in day-to-day life. Nothing to change. And certainly nobody to fix. “I have no idea what’s going on, and I wouldn’t know what to do about it if I did.” – George Carlin

      Mooji Retreat December 12 – 14, 2014         This weekend event featured video showings of a retreat with Mooji held in Zmar, Portugal, in May of 2014,  The opening Friday night session was attended by seven people and after some heart-felt expressions about what had brought them to the Swanwick Centre, we watched the introductory satsang with Mooji, followed by a silent sit and guided meditation.  Some of the participants at the Portugal venue were obviously ready to jump right in and some serious questions and inquiry took place very quickly.   On Saturday we were joined by two more participants and watched a second satsang (in two parts) and had two more silent sits and guided meditations as well as a dialogue session during which people shared their understanding and experience of Mooji’s teaching and how it is relevant in their lives.  An introductory video was also shown about Krishnamurti’s life and teachings.   There was time during the day for outdoor walks on the property and rest time.  In the evening one more half of a satsang was shown.  Sunday started off with a satang in the morning and there was another one in the afternoon, with a period for sharing before lunch.   The retreat was essentially conducted in silence until lunch on Sunday, after which participants elected to lift the silence but to remain “present” while speaking.  The retreat was brought to a completion by late afternoon.  The atmosphere of the weekend was one of serious but joyful contemplation and sharing.   Mooji’s pointings were, as usual, very focused in asking people to look again and again at their actual experience and to ask “who” or “what” the experiencer is in fact.  One of his main emphases is to help people to see that the “I-me” is nothing but a fabrication of thought and that we are suffering from a false sense of self which then suffers from ideas it has about itself.  At times the conversations with seekers were very humorous, at times quite fierce and challenging.   The participants at Swanwick enjoyed tremendously the explorations of what we are and what we take ourselves to be and reported some significant shifts in their understanding and “seeing”.          

“To discover what is beyond time, thought must come to an end” …(Link to full K quote) Last evening I enjoyed the new movie “Theory of Everything” – the life story of Stephen Hawking. An extraordinary love story, with some extraordinary acting and cinematography. The scientific aspects of his quest to find the beginning of time are kind of in the background. This whole business of time and space as illusion has been known for centuries by sages and mystics, however, it appears science is still trying to “get it,” so to speak, using thought and thinking…which is all that time is. But the beginning of the universe and time simply cannot be located by time (thought). It’s only a matter of time before science runs out of molecules or thought. “Physics tells us that time functions relative to the one that is observing time. It would appear that every last particle of the observable stellar universe, even at the smallest quantum level, seems to function and have its basis in never-present time. Even at the level of energy, every bit of the observable universe appears to be vibrating, moving; it never stops passing in on in time, or not-being, to genuinely be. It means the entire universe never is present. What’s more, it takes time to observe the universe. And, the entire functioning of the very human, thinking mind that claims to observe that universe has its basis only in never-present time. Therefore that observing mind never is present, or being. Einstein demonstrated that time doesn’t move at a fixed rate, but seems to move at a speed “relative” to the one who is observing time. Now, let’s take a look at being or presence. From the standpoint of being, one now can see that time is not relative. Time takes on an “absolute” status again, but in a new way. From the premise of being, time isn’t relative to anything because in being, time never occurs! Being’s changeless presence precludes “the arrow of time.” Just as infinity has no spatial measurement, neither does being. There is absolutely no space or dimension in being, in the present. Being, the present is not present at all points in physical space. Being does not “fill” or occupy space. Why? To speak of movement in space, thus time, is to speak of what-is-not-being, instead of what-is-being. Being, the present, is the absence of time, which is also the absence of measureable space or dimension. As only the infinite-present, pure being, is what is being, and is the absence of time, then it does not permit or co-exist with time. Thus the infinite-present is not between past and future, but is the utter preclusion of past and future, all time. That which is truly present – being, infinity – involves no time, no space, no matter. As being is time-less, space-less, quality-less – then, being, like infinity, is irreducible. So, being makes it clear that the last irreducible “something” we’ve been seeking isn’t a quantum particle, string, or other form, but is Being, itself. The fact that infinity, being, is measureless, of course means it is un-observable and un-testable – and therefore unacceptable in scientific experimentation. The infinity of Being is clean and simple – an eternal absolute, standing present outside of time, cause and effect. Ever-elusive as being seems, science should not leave it completely out of consideration, just because being isn’t observable or measureable, or has no form. To be reality, reality has to be. Not to belabour the point, but if something isn’t specifically present, if it isn’t really being, then it certainly isn’t being real. Whatever the “ultimate reality” of life or existence is, does it not have to truly exist and be present? Whether one expects “ultimate reality” should have an incredibly small sub-atomic form, a mathematical form, or even a mental, theoretical form – to say reality has not yet been found, is saying no form has been found. While science may claim we are not yet able to say what reality is, it can be said with certainty that reality is. Again, by definition, in order to be reality, reality has to be. So it can be said for certain that reality must be that which is being. The fact that being has no measureable form means reality has no form. Being, thus reality, is the absence of time – and this shows in another way why reality has no form. In time-less reality, no time passes in which anything could be formed! No time passes in which any form could be discovered – or even considered un-discovered! One implication of Godel’s famous incompleteness theorem is that it is possible for something to be un-provable, yet true – and that points directly at being, infinity. Being, Infinity, can’t be proven mathematically or by data, for true infinity exists outside of numbers, formulas and data. Infinity exists outside of time. Yet un-provable infinity, being, is what truly is, or what is true. One simply cannot get around this, for if one attempts to say there is no being, one first has to be in order to even say that!” Excerpted from “The New Infinity” by P Dziuban