What is the Nature of Enlightened Being with JC Tefft, March 16, 2025

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Part of a six-day series led by JC Tefft entitled “Investigating Truth.”
Sponsored by the Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada
Day Five: March 16, 2025
8 Attendees Present

Using Krishnamurti’s teachings as a guide, we asked and investigated the question: ‘What is the Nature of Enlightened Being?

“He alone shall know truth who is not seeking; not striving; not trying to achieve a result…. Truth is not continuous. Truth has no abiding place; it is seen from moment to moment. Truth is always new, therefore timeless.”
~ J. Krishnamurti ~

“Attachments to conceptualizations of Mind focus attention onto concepts created of Mind – to the exclusion of Truth. Such attachments are the root cause of the many and varied psychological problems that are not only unique to humankind, but also is the root cause of psychological suffering within humankind?”
~ JC Tefft ~

Referencing Krishnamurti’s teachings throughout, JC shared testimony and insight into the nature of Enlightened Being. JC shared his personal experience in this way. Attendees were encouraged to share insights of their own as well.

Primary references for Krishnamurti quotations came from: ‘The Book of Life’ – ‘Krishnamurti’s Journal’ – ‘Probing the Mystery: J. Krishnamurti’s Process’ – Scott Kiloby, ‘Reflections of the One Life’ – and ‘Krishnamurti to Himself: His Last Journal.’

JC Tefft
jctefft.com

Exploring Ourselves with Jackie McInley, March 1, 2025

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Exploring Ourselves
Online dialogue with Jackie McInley
March 1, 2025

We began this session with a question about feeling right or wrong. What does it mean to be right, or to have a sense of being right or good? Is being right a fact, or is it a psychological standard that I must adhere to? Does this standard come with a certain weight or pressure to be right? Is my energy very invested in being right and what is being avoided during this psychological investment?

Does the need to be right create conflict? The more acute the conflict, the less space there is for neutrality and objective fact. The expectation to be right generates a need to hold opinions, which in turn guarantees a position of psychological self righteousness. These opinions seem to turn the neutrality of direct perception into the bias of a particular perspective. Belief overrides actuality: bias justifies lack of restraint and often violates goodness itself. The mind is following ideas rather than seeing clearly. The self identifies itself with what it sees is right and good: when there is an attachment created to being right – attention is fragmented.

Has the self confused right and wrong, preferring to see justice through distorting masks, rather than from an innocent awareness of what is?

Jackie McInley
open-door-worldwide.com

What is the Nature of True Freedom with JC Tefft, March 2, 2025

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Part of a six-day series led by JC Tefft entitled “Investigating Truth.”
Sponsored by the Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada
Day Five: March 2, 2025
9 Attendees Present

Using Krishnamurti’s teachings as a guide, we asked and investigated the question: ‘What is True Freedom?

“Freedom from the known is to be a light unto oneself – then it is not an abstraction, a projection conjured up by thought. Actual freedom is freedom from dependency, from attachment, and the craving for experience. Freedom from the … structure of thought is to be a light unto oneself. In this light all action takes place, and such action is never contradictory.”
~ J. Krishnamurti ~

“Freedom means to have no psychological conflict inwardly.”
~ J. Krishnamurti ~

“True freedom is present when the conditioned mind is no longer in the foreground of conscious being – not unlike when we were a child – prior to when concepts of mind appeared that caught our attention and increasingly assumed center stage.”
~ JC Tefft ~

“True freedom is limitless – meaning – not limited to concepts and thoughts. True freedom has no boundaries – no limitations at all. It is totally free of attachment to the content of mind.”
~ JC Tefft ~

Referencing Krishnamurti’s teachings throughout, JC shared testimony and insight into the nature of freedom from attachment to the content of Mind. Attendees were encouraged to share insights of their own as well.

Primary references for Krishnamurti quotations came from: ‘The Book of Life’ – ‘Krishnamurti’s Journal’ – and ‘Krishnamurti to Himself: His Last Journal.’

JC Tefft
jctefft.com

Loving What Is with Kathryn Jefferies, Feb 21-23, 2025

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Loving What Is
Online Workshop with Kathryn Jefferies
February 21-23, 2025

The intention of this workshop was to give participants direct experience of the non-conceptual mind through the process of self-inquiry, specifically The Work of Byron Katie. Kathryn framed the content with Krishnamurti’s directive to look deeply at why people behave as they do, and notice the tendency of the mind to instead assess the world. Kathryn invited the participants to become acquainted with “the one mind” by seeing for themselves the justifications the mind uses for its activities and the effects of judging (i.e. drawing conclusions about) the world.

“I think one should be aware of what is happening in the world, and not be depressed by it, or optimistic or pessimistic, but to observe impartially, dispassionately what is actually going on.”

“But we are always seeking answers for fundamental human disturbance in the outward symptoms by trying to deal with superficial symptoms without going very, very deeply into why human beings throughout the world are behaving as they are …”

“First we ought to look, I think, at the consciousness of mankind. Why this consciousness, which we are, why it has become what it is …”

Kathryn asked the participants to consider the possibility that their resistance to life isn’t needed, that life’s apparently negative occurrences are happening in support of their awakening to reality, in service of their freedom.

We looked at how resistance is necessary to avoid completely accepting how things are, and how this very resistance creates the illusion of the separate self by creating boundaries of identity. In inquiry, people could experience for themselves the effects of resistance on the physical self as well as the emotional-mental self.

Participants generated personal lists of what they believed was going wrong in their worlds and they were guided to notice if these were statements of fact or rather just interpretations, and therefore if they could open to the possibility that their initial perceptions could be just images generated by the mind — i.e. pure imagination — and that through thought they could never perceive accurately.

From there, working with a single thought, Kathryn invited participants to notice who they are without it, thereby removing the obstacle to experiencing themselves as pure awareness.

Kathryn Jefferies
inquirywithkath.com

Exploring Ourselves with Jackie McInley, February 15, 2025

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Exploring Ourselves
Online dialogue with Jackie McInley
February 15, 2025

Today’s dialogue was about “Choiceless Awareness”. It was pointed out by a participant in the group that choices we make are both conscious and also unconscious. How aware are we of the choices we actually make? Choice also implies a chooser: a “me” that is making decisions. This chooser or observer is separate from the object of its choosing and points to a continuous evaluation of preference. The group then stated that any psychological reaction, such as hurt or offense, often brings up a choosing of what needs to be done to mitigate the pain felt.

The group penetrated further into this question of Choicelessness and reaction. Reactions perpetually trigger the past to life even though the conscious mind is still felt to be operating in the present. The self is felt as an intelligent, protective mechanism that underlines the need for mitigating action. The reaction is in fact a memory and yet appears as immediate: “I am hurt” is seen by the conditioned mind as a fact. However, is hurt actually an idea informed by thought? Can the mind – seeing the reaction as a kind of belief – question the validity or truth of the reaction of hurt?

But hang on, how can one question the pure physical sensation of hurt, one participant pointed out? The sensation is surely real? Perhaps the sensation is real, but is the recognising of that sensation from memory? We call the sensation, pain, because it has become identified and conditioned as pain. Can we question the label, “hurt” yet stay in attention of the immediate sensation that remains unnamed? Here, is the mind in a state of choiceless observation of what is? Is this a new kind of freedom? I am, in effect, happening right now and no longer defined within the movement of a conditioned responding. Can we see this directly in ourselves?

Jackie McInley
open-door-worldwide.com

Investigating Truth with JC Tefft, February 16, 2025

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Part of a six-day series led by JC Tefft entitled “Investigating Truth.”
Sponsored by the Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada
Day Four: February 16, 2025
12 Attendees Present

Using Krishnamurti’s teachings as a guide, we asked and investigated the question: ‘What Does it Mean – To Be Purely Aware’?

“If you give … complete attention – which is to be attentive with your whole being – then you might see that there is an immediate perception in which no time is involved; in which there is no effort, no conflict, no division; and it is this immediate perception – this choiceless awareness – that brings an end to sorrow.”
~ J. Krishnamurti ~

“Your mind is conditioned right through. There is no part of your mind that is unconditioned. This is a fact, whether you like it or not.”
~ J. Krishnamurti ~

“Note that Krishnamurti did not say that part of your mind is conditioned, while other parts are not. Nor did he suggest that it’s okay for some activity of Mind to be in play for that which is other than mind to come forth. In fact, the opposite is true. Krishnamurti repeatedly declared that the mind must be still for Pure Perception to be in the foreground of conscious being.”
~ JC Tefft ~

Referencing Krishnamurti’s teachings throughout, JC shared testimony and insight into the nature of Pure Awareness the underlies all that appears in consciousness. Attendees were encouraged to share insights of their own as well.

Primary references for Krishnamurti quotations came from ‘The Book of Life’ – ‘Krishnamurti’s Journal’ – and ‘Krishnamurti to Himself: His Last Journal’

JC Tefft
jctefft.com

Investigating Truth with JC Tefft, February 2, 2025

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Part of a six-day series led by JC Tefft entitled “Investigating Truth.”
Sponsored by the Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada
Day Three: February 2, 2025
8 Attendees Present

Using Krishnamurti’s teachings as a guide, we asked and investigated the question: “Is There a Process We All Go Through?”

“Self-knowledge is a PROCESS – not an end in itself. And to truly know oneself, one must be AWARE of oneself in action – in relationship. You discover the truth of yourself, not in isolation – not in withdrawal, but in relationship – to society, to your husband or wife, to your brother, to your fellow man. It is to discover how you react in every situation; what is your response? … And this requires an extraordinary alertness of mind and keenness of perception [in every situation].”

“We only learn about ourselves when there is no attachment to the past as knowledge – when [that which is perceived is not translated] in terms of the known…. I only learn about myself moment to moment…. Learning is never accumulative. It is a [constant] movement of ‘knowing’ that has no beginning and no end.”

“You must become AWARE of the PROCESS of attachment to – and dependence on [the content of Mind]. [And you must] then … PERCEIVE the significance of the conflict of opposites [that is projected of mind]. [And – as you become more] deeply AWARE [of this ongoing PROCESS occurring within you, you might then come to understand] … the full meaning … of dependency on [and attachment to – the content of mind].”
~ J. Krishnamurti ~

Referencing Krishnamurti’s teachings throughout, JC shared testimony and insight into the nature of the process that we all go through as the Truth of ‘What Is’ is unveiled from within. Attendees were encouraged to share insights of their own as well.

Primary references for Krishnamurti quotations came from ‘The Book of Life’ and ‘Krishnamurti to Himself: His Last Journal’

JC Tefft

Exploring Ourselves with Jackie McInley, February 1, 2025

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Exploring Ourselves
Online dialogue with Jackie McInley
February 1, 2025

We opened today’s dialogue with the question: How can a perception be totally new and can we explore and discover a very different energy of newness in our dialogue itself?

We first wondered – for our actual approach to be new in nature – whether there is a way of looking that does not have a hidden purpose to it. We then explored what manifests the old way of looking; we discovered motive, conclusions, judgement, image making and control, as factors rendering perception “old”.

Our inquiry brought us to the point where we wondered how a mind so steeped in its recorded content, could possibly ever be new at all. The past is always ready to interpret the present moment though the lenses of what it already knows. How can a past mind so continuously active, be aware without the past operating? Indeed there is nothing one can do about the continuous, mechanical activation of the past. However, the question is: can this past be seen, yet not acted on? One member of the group suggested that we never give ourselves totally to what is taking place; in fact we evaluate how much we give according to the situation.

We discovered that thought itself believes that it is already fully aware of reality, when in fact it is remembering rather than awake to what is. Consequently, attention is never fully engaged, since it is left to thought to engage from the safety and security of the past. Can an intensity of attention – giving everything we have – end this complacency of awareness? Each one of us has find out for ourselves.

Jackie McInley

Investigating Truth with JC Tefft, January 19, 2025

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Part of a six-day series led by JC Tefft entitled “Investigating Truth.”
Sponsored by the Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada
Day Two: January 19, 2025
12 Attendees Present

Using Krishnamurti’s teachings as a guide, we asked and investigated the question: “What is True Meditation?”

“Meditation has nothing to do with achieving a result. Nor is it a matter of breathing in a particular way, or looking at your nose, or awakening the power to perform certain tricks…. Meditation is not something apart from life. When you are driving a car or sitting [in a waiting room], or visiting with others who are chatting aimlessly, or walking by yourself in the woods, or watching a butterfly carried off by the wind – to be ‘Choicelessly’ aware of all that is part of meditation.”

“True mediation is a movement without any motive – without words and the activity of thought [getting in the way]. It must not be deliberately set about. Only then is meditation a movement of the measureless Infinite – without a goal.”
~ J. Krishnamurti ~

Referencing Krishnamurti’s teachings throughout, JC shared testimony and insight into the nature of the presence of true meditation in daily life. Attendees were encouraged to inquire and share insights of their own as well, as we looked within ourselves to discover the Truth of true meditation in the eternally present Now.

Primary references for Krishnamurti quotations came from ‘The Book of Life,’ ‘Krishnamurti’s Journal,’ and ‘Krishnamurti to Himself: His Last Journal’

JC Tefft

Exploring Ourselves with Jackie McInley, January 18, 2025

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Exploring Ourselves
Online dialogue with Jackie McInley
January 18, 2025

We started our dialogue today with the topic of, observation. Having read Krishnamurti, we are all familiar with the notion that the conditioned mind only observes through the lenses of the past. However do we actually see this as a living fact, or does it remain a mere idea for us?

As we observe, are we being informed by our past experiences and past knowledge, whereas the impression we share, is that this observation is very much in the present moment. The mind is oblivious to this “past”. As we look more closely we see that a simple observation – of a friend for example – may be full of ideas, conclusions and judgments; all of which obscure the actual reality of the person and inform us according to our own recorded impressions. The damage to the quality of love and relationship is clear.

So why do we hold on to this knowledge stored in our minds as the past? It would seem that the mind automatically processes perception in this way so as to “know” and feel secure, protected. We questioned together what happens if the past knowledge is not committed to, or adhered to as fact; can a reaction be questioned and admitted as memory from the past, unfolding in the present? If this break in process occurs, a strong sense of vulnerability is felt, one of the group brought out. The habitual safety of the known is no longer available as the mind opens itself to “not knowing” and not “managing” as per usual.

We asked, can we live like this? Can we “test it out” as Krishnamurti suggests?

Jackie McInley