Self-Inquiry with Harshad, May 3, 2023

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Self-Inquiry

With Harshad Parekh

Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Esquimalt Gorge Pavilion

 

Jackie has departed and Harshad has arrived from India to spend a month at the Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada in Metchosin, BC. While he is here, Harshad will be guiding meetings at the Centre and in Victoria at the Gorge Pavilion on Sundays and Wednesdays respectively. Nine of us were present for his first session at the pavilion. He began with an introduction of his own person and his long-time interest in the teachings of J. Krishnamurti and their value to him. As K has often explained, one can be born in India and carry an Indian passport but need not identify oneself as an Indian. One is a human being with traits and tendencies similar to all humans, and all humans have shared experiences of suffering and joy. We are all conditioned in similar ways, Harshad noted, and we may have an interest in inquiring into our ways of behaving and experiencing in relationship with the world. In that endeavour we may look to Krishnamurti as a source of wisdom and insight. Harshad shared that he finds K’s investigations with the observation of our minds and feelings, and the consequent “renewal of the mind”, particularly relevant. Developing a capacity to see things freshly and to observe with a silent mind that does not judge is important.

Why does the mind deteriorate? Harshad asked. The question provoked some discussion in which we looked at the issue of conflict and competition in communicating with others and the desire to be something or someone we are not. The fear of silence and being alone was explored, along with the need to start looking inwards in order to understand ourselves. Harshad read a passage written by Krishnamurti about renewing the mind, which was followed by some discussion. There was a good amount of participation from the group in the discussion/dialogue. It seemed like an auspicious beginning to Harshad’s stay in Canada

DB

Self-Inquiry, April 26, 2023

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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

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Self-Inquiry, April 23, 2023

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Self-Inquiry 

With Jackie McInley 

Sunday, April 23, 2023 

In-person at Swanwick Rd. 

 

Nine people attended this meeting at the Metchosin location of the Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada. The session was facilitated by Jackie McInley, who was visiting the Centre from the UK and facilitating a variety of events during her one month stay. She opened the meeting by bringing up the topic of “responsibility” which was often mentioned by Krishnamurti in his talks and writings. After some discussion of ideas and feelings around the idea of responsibility, one participant introduced a question about our sense of separation and the importance of looking into how we separate ourselves from each other and the world around us. We spent a good deal of time exploring various aspects of the topic, including the difference between solidity and flow in our experience of ourselves in our daily lives. The significance of space in our consciousness was mentioned and the question was asked “What creates space in us?” It was offered that insight is what creates space and the question naturally followed “What is insight?”  

The exploration of insight engaged us for some time, with looking at such ideas as the relationship between words, insight, and attention. The possibility was brought forward that the human being may have a capacity to see the truth or falseness of something that is said immediately and directly. At least it seemed to be a shared “truth” that insight is not a doing. There is also the possibility that our listening may always be distorted and conditioned in some way and that clear seeing is a rare happening. 

We spoke further about the nature of inquiry and the process of manufacturing an identity or sense of self and the process was apparently experienced by everyone as a worthwhile sharing and exploration of our thinking – and perhaps something of what is beyond. 

 DB

Exposing Ourselves to Ourselves, April 21 – 23, 2023

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Exposing Ourselves to Ourselves 

With Jackie McInley 

April 21 – 23, 2023 

Zoom Online 

 

While Jackie was visiting us at the Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada, located in Metchosin, BC, she was most willing to facilitate a number of meetings both in-person and online. This particular offering consisted of three two hour sessions online and was attended by fourteen people, including staff as well as participants from various locations in North America. To begin the workshop, Jackie gave an opening talk on the nature of dialogue or group inquiry. She shared that her intention was for the participants to be directly aware, as the event unfolded, of what is happening in the present moment in their thoughts and feelings. She also invited the participants to question ourselves in a way that could reveal ourselves to ourselves or bring insight and understanding about how our consciousness is operating as we interact and relate with other members of the group. She then questioned what is “understanding” and how it is different from interpretation of what others are saying. This led to some sharing of fears about exposing ourselves and some discussion of the place self-images play in such experiences of fear. The sharing moved on to wondering what produces cohesion in a group and how we know that we are understanding each other. It was an interesting first engagement of the group with the process of dialogue. 

 For the second meeting there was an attendance of 16 people. The dialogue focused on a number of issues that were of primary interest to participants: 

  • Looking outside ourselves for help. Awareness of this tendency is a central aspect of Krishnamurti’s teachings and is deeply woven into the nature of many spiritual groups. It may be believed that the world is not enough to resolve our problems, so we look for assistance in many ways, from God, guru, other people, and so on. 
  • Can thinking solve the problems created by thinking? 
  • Dialogue is only intelligent when we are able to open to what is being said rather than arguing about who is more correct. This is dialogue rather than discussion. 
  • Are we entirely different from each other? Can the separateness be broken down? Do we need help in this enterprise? Are we maintaining a sense of separateness? 
  • Do we have to get rid of thinking or is it just necessary to expose the “me”?  
  • Thinking and the “me” cannot be avoided. Can we see the problem in the question? Is the seeing enough? 
  • What is “seeing”? 
  • The importance of interest. Am I interested in seeing the thoughts that create separation? Am I able to face what is happening right from the beginning? 
  • Our way of listening and our attachments to our own ideas. Is our sense of connection with each other actually a limited connection? 
  • Our need for outward validation 
  • The tendency to force others to see 
  • Looking into who or what I am is a fundamental activity 
  • What is left when my self-images fall away? 
  • The fear of being alone 
  • What is the urge to enter into the conversation, to assert one’s viewpoint? Can one stay with the feeling? Does this create an opening? 

 Many other questions were raised on the third day related to awareness and observation. A few of the participants asked if we are not missing something essential in the inquiry when we give thought the power to block the exploration? Are we not ignoring the presence of something beyond thought which is part of our capacity to see clearly? Could we call that “thing” (or no-thing) awareness without giving its power away to the label “awareness”? Can that awareness see the truth or falseness of our concepts? 

Participants expressed appreciation for the quality of inquiry generated by the group and supported by Jackie’s facilitation without her being a “leader”. It was a very interesting weekend.

 

DB 

Self-Inquiry, April 19, 2023

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Self-Inquiry

April 19, 2023

With Jackie McInley

At Esquimalt Gorge Park Pavilion, Victoria, BC

 

Ten people were present for this dialogue meeting with Jackie McInley who is visiting the Krishnamurti Centre in Metchosin for the month of April. She is facilitating a good number of events, both online and in-person, in town and out in Metchosin. The lovely new facility at Gorge Park has been booked for group meetings in Victoria.

As she usually does, Jackie gave an informative presentation about the nature of dialogue and its foundation in questioning our conditioned beliefs and ideas. Krishnamurti has spoken and written at length about the suffering and conflict created by our attachment to accepted concepts and beliefs and this has inspired the practice of inquiring into the truth or falseness of them, both on our own and in a group format. Jackie launched us into a very interesting hour and a half of sharing what each of the participants finds most significant in K’s teachings and in their own self-exploration. It proved to be a very challenging and revealing process of looking as deeply as we could into the structures of our own thinking, the possibility of being free of them, and what that might imply as we live our daily lives. The issue of instability of the self was investigated quite exhaustively, along with numerous related aspects of our experience of daily life and the challenges of such. We explored what we understand by letting go of the known and entering into the “Unknown”. It was a group inquiry with a great attention to the details of our ways of responding to our relationships both in the room and beyond.

DB

Self-Inquiry, April 16, 2023

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Self-Inquiry

With Jackie McInley

Sunday, April 16, 2023

KECC 538 Swanwick Rd., Metchosin, BC

 

This was our second meeting with Jackie at the Metchosin location and sponsored by the Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada. She is visiting us from the UK and is in residence at the Swanwick Centre for the month of April. Nine people in total were present for the gathering in the Gatehouse. Cold and wet weather prevented us from meeting outside on the lawn.

As she usually does, Jackie gave a thorough introduction to the practice of “dialogue” as a means of exploring our ideas and understandings of ourselves and our lives. She explained the place of J. Krishnamurti’s teachings in our observation of ourselves and in our persistent questioning of beliefs and concepts that arise in the group interactions that unfold as we communicate about what is important to us and how we can gain wisdom concerning such highly relevant issues.

As the conversation became more focused on questions from the individual participants deeper questions and challenges arose from the group. One participant was very interested in how trust could develop in a group of people who hardly knew each other. Another wondered if it might be more fruitful to approach the question negatively as Krishnamurti often suggested. Could we ask what the impediments to trust might be, or how we create a lack of trust? In looking at how we create mistrust, perhaps a sense of trust might spontaneously arise.

The dialogue then turned to some personal sharings concerning the feeling of self-consciousness and the fear of being judged or criticised. It was acknowledged that most likely we all felt some of those uncomfortable feelings and Jackie pointed out that there was often a deep resistance to feeling the discomfort of fear and insecurity. Is it not necessary, if we are going more deeply into our authentic natures, to expose the more sensitive aspects of our personalities? Is it not necessary to clear the habitual responses that prevent us from responding to the world with love? When the focus seemed to turn towards the “self” and what the self could do, it was asked, “What is the self?” This led to the idea of ”Being” and its significance.

The session went on for over two hours and people seemed reluctant to bring it to an end. There seemed to be a deeply shared interest in the inquiry process and a positive anticipation of future dialogue meetings.

DB

Self-Inquiry, April 12, 2023

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Self-Inquiry

With Jackie McInley

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Gorge Park Pavilion, Victoria, BC

 

Ten people were present at the new building close to the lovely Japanese flower garden in Esquimalt Gorge Park off of Tillicum Road. We had gathered in order to engage in a “dialogue”, or group inquiry, aimed at coming to understand our own true nature and living more fully from the “truth” of that very nature. In practice the endeavour turns out to be largely an exercise in bringing forth the love within ourselves and engaging with others in our lives from that “place” of love or from “the heart”. It is firstly a challenge for the individual to realise himself or herself in a deeper way and to live a meaningful life of compassion and intelligence which can, at the same time, bring about a radical change in the way we relate with others and create our society. The teachings of Indian philosopher J. Krishnamurti are taken as valuable guidance as we seek to understand and transform ourselves through careful observation of our thoughts, feelings, and actions. Our life thus becomes a kind of meditation wherein we are looking and listening to ourselves and others and gaining insight into the workings of our minds and hearts. The insights can spontaneously change us and our world.

Jackie McInley from the UK is visiting the Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada in Metchosin, BC, for the month of April. While here, she is facilitating a series of dialogue meetings where people can come together to consider these issues and share the process of self-exploration recommended by Krishnamurti in his talks and writings while he was living (1895 – 1986). This meeting, as her meetings usually are, was begun with an explanation by Jackie of what she feels to be the purpose and the way of going about the project of self-observation that can awaken an intelligence in us which can guide our living. What we find in our own exploration, Jackie said, can be shared with others in a group situation in such a way that can bring greater insight and understanding of our “conditioning” and the possibility of freedom from that conditioning. This is not merely an intellectual exercise but is a direct seeing of the contents of our minds as they are revealed in our interactions with each other, in “the mirror of relationship”.

The session was about ninety minutes in length. As it progressed the participants gradually shared more and more intimate details of sensitive aspects of their inner and outer world and the issues and challenges that were most important to them. We went quite deeply into the workings of fear in our thinking and felt experience and came to see that most or all of us have basically the same psychological problems and challenges that we struggle with and would like to resolve if possible. Jackie skillfully invited every member of the group to share what brought them to such a meeting and what issues they were deeply interested in exploring and learning to deal with in an effective way. This was the third such meeting offered in the past couple of weeks and it seemed to indicate a real possibility of meaningful inquiry.

DB

Self-Inquiry Meetup, April 9, 2023

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Self-Inquiry Meetup

With Jackie McInley

Swanwick Centre Metchosin

April 9, 2023

 

After a long period of non activity at the physical location of the Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada in Metchosin, BC, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Centre was re-opened to in-person gatherings. Our first on-site meeting was held on Sunday, April 9, 2023 at the Swanwick Road location at 3 pm. The meeting lasted for almost two hours and was attended by six participants in total, all of whom showed their proof of vaccine before the meeting started. The session was facilitated by Jackie McInley, who is visiting the Centre from the UK for the month of April. Up to this time, Jackie has been facilitating meetings via the Zoom online application.

Jackie asked that each participant share something about their motive for coming to the meeting, which gave each person an opportunity to share some details about themselves and their interest in J. Krishnamurti’s teachings. These introductions took some time to complete but were very interesting to hear. Jackie questioned people further in a skillful attempt to draw them out and to stimulate a deepening of inquiry into the issue of who or what we truly are. This led to a penetrating questioning and exploring of people’s perspectives and understandings of themselves and the process of self-observation that became the central subject of examination in the dialogue that spontaneously unfolded. There was a depth of subtle inquiring and sharing of insights which felt quite profound as participants took up the challenge of looking at themselves within the context of what was being brought forward by the members of the group. We had a prolonged and in-depth discussion about the nature of intelligence which was very revealing and rich with valuable insights, It seemed that everyone found the conversation to be very interesting, relevant, and promising of further meaningful inquiry in future meetings.