Archive for category: Event Summaries

Self-inquiry in Victoria

With Harshad Parekh

May 17, 2023

Esquimalt Gorge Pavilion

 

Six people in total were present for this Wednesday meeting at the beautiful Esquimalt Gorge Pavilion on Tillicum Road. The session lasted from 4 pm to 5:30. It is sometimes difficult to describe what goes on in a dialogue meeting if one is paying attention to the interactions and how one is responding to those interactions and not so much to the content being discussed. The form of the conversation can often seem to dissolve into more of a formless and indescribable happening than something that can be easily described. Some of the dialogue was focused on the very occurrence of a melting away of shape and form in favour of an experience of Beingness which is made more of a “consciousness” which has no form than it is anything concrete. The awareness of such a subtle reality was perhaps more interesting for most than anything more solid. In fact, as I write this report it seems to reflect something even less solid than what can be described with our normal language and I hope it is not too confusing or difficult to grasp hold of. Some of the participants were interested in the kind of inquiry that Krishnamurti says can involve no effort and consideration of such a phenomenon attracted our attention for some time. It was also acknowledged that inquiry may have to begin with an intellectual understanding which can become more subtle and refined as one observes the workings of one’s own thoughts and feelings. Harshad emphasised that the most significant observation is that which looks from a place that is beyond the mind (or thoughts and feelings). Other participants expressed the same idea by giving importance to the concept of Being over the directing of energy in any particular manner. These participants tended more towards quietness than towards verbal expression.

DB

Choiceless Awareness Part 3:

The Necessity of Attention, Energy, and Relaxation

With Cynthia Overweg

Saturday, May 13, 2023

Zoom online

 

This was the third in a series of four presentations on the subject of choiceless awareness. There were a total of sixteen people present, including staff. Cynthia was online from Ojai, California. She began by pointing out that “choiceless awareness” was at the centre of all that Krishnamurti talked about, the central thread of many threads in the teachings. As for relaxation, K never spoke of it directly but, for Cynthia, it is very central and helpful in “practising” what K is pointing us to. She feels it is important to take regular relaxation breaks in one’s life and while considering deeply what Krishnamurti is sharing with us.

Relaxation, energy, and attention are aspects of awareness, awareness of the body, of the breathing, the emotions, and of what is going on around us. Awareness of tension brings relaxation, compassion, and understanding. The individual, according to K, needs abundant energy rightly directed. How does this come about? We need to see how we waste energy by resistance and conflict. When there is no movement, energy is at its height. Silence is a potent energy, quiet like the womb. Wordless observation is energy and non-observation is a wastage of energy, as is anything that divides. Pure energy cannot be sought after but it brings awareness of something sacred. It is attention that allows silence to come upon the mind, opening the “door of creation”. When there is attention all sorrow disappears, K has said.

Cynthia went in greater detail into the topics of attention, energy, and silence then offered a space for questions and comments from the participants. There were questions about belief and the importance of questioning and noticing our beliefs and assumptions, which disarms them. The tendency to give authority to the mind was discussed and the possibility of “getting out of the way” was spoken about by one group member. There was a good amount of exploration on the part of some and more silence on the part of others. Thanks and appreciation were expressed as the session was brought to an end.

Self-inquiry Meetup

Sunday, May 7, 2023

With Harshad Parekh

At KECC

 

This meeting was held on the front lawn at the Metchosin location of the Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada. It was the first time this year that the weather had supported an outside meeting. The facilitator was Harshad Parekh, who is visiting the Centre from his usual place of residence in India. There were six of us present to enjoy the sunshine, the gentle breeze (a little cool sometimes), and the sounds of nature, including many bird songs. It was remarked that being outdoors induced a sense of connection with a larger space of the environment than could be experienced at indoor meetings, which usually feel more limited and less expansive.

Harshad opened the meeting by asking if participants had any pressing questions they would like to discuss or would they like to have him read a passage from a Krishnamurti book and talk about what K’s meaning is when he writes or talks about self-knowledge and self-understanding. One participant said she would like to explore the application of spiritual teachings to the living of them in our everyday life. This seems to be a very common question for spiritual “seekers” who wish to make the teachings real for themselves. This led to a discussion of meditation and what K is referring to if and when he uses the word. Harshad and others shared some of their understandings about the value of a quiet mind and the beauty that can be experienced when there is silence in the consciousness and one can then be in closer contact with nature and one’s own beingness. Several people spoke about Krishnamurti’s use of the “negative” approach when he talks about what something is not rather than what it is. Participants gave examples of their realisations of this truth and how it had affected their lives. They expressed appreciation for the benefits of such “meditation” and its place in the unfolding of their lives. There was also some appreciation for Harshad’s capacity to speak of such things in an effective manner.

We look forward to more such dialogues on the grounds of the Krishnamurti Centre.

DB

Self-Inquiry in Victoria

With Jackie McInley

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Esquimalt Gorge Pavilion

 

Eleven participants attended this in-person meeting at the new Gorge Pavilion. This was Jackie’s last session with us before her return to the UK, but we are hoping she will return before long for more dialogues and friendship. We soon began to explore the quality of our listening and sharing as well as how we listen to ourselves. There was some acknowledgement of the sometimes intense and deep meaning of silence in the midst of the dialogue. We then moved into quite an engaged conversation about what was arising for people in the group as we interacted and noticed our reactions and responses. How did insight and revelations about ourselves show up, and did these bring a greater depth and meaning to our inquiry?

One participant asked if what we were reporting to be our experience was mostly mental or was it significantly “somatic”, or feeling-based. We seemed to sense that it was both bodily based and also a function of what we might call “awareness”, which notices what is going on but may itself be beyond the physical sensations and the thoughts that are arising.

As we continued with the verbal exchange some dialoguers began to take note of something that they called “compassion”. It seemed to be an aspect of “listening carefully” to what others are saying. Even if what they are saying contains some amount of confusion, still the listening transforms it into something that could be called “thinking together” and which brings more “heart” into the communication. Some called the experience of such sharing “meditative” and seemed to be surprised at the heightened sensitivity and sense of closeness that was infiltrating the conversation.

It seemed that everyone felt a great deal of appreciation for the quality of the sharing that had taken place within the meetings during the month of April. It will be interesting to see how things take form in May.

DB