Archive for category: Event Summaries

The Urgency of Change Dialogue Group

Sunday, January 17, 2021

Zoom online meeting

 

This was the first meeting of the year for this group that will meet at least once per month until the end of 2021. The group is expected to remain constant in size in order to support a deepening of the process of inquiry through consistency of participation. One of those who had signed up did not attend for as yet unknown reasons. Including the KECC Programs Director, who will most likely not always attend the meetings, there were thirteen participants.

The meeting began with a guided meditation inviting an attentive awareness and observing of whatever arises in the form of thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations. This attention can create a space for insight and clear seeing of oneself and one’s relationship with one’s inner and outer world. As many of the group were new to each other, we took some time for each one to introduce themselves and to share what self-inquiry or self-exploration means to them and why it is important in their lives. It was recommended that we listen to each other with full attention. This kind of listening is a meditation in itself and may produce a shift in consciousness into a more unified and whole experience. Participants then shared a rich expression of their journeys to this point with self-observation and Krishnamurti’s teachings.

The focus then moved to the question “What is awareness to you?” and “What did you find particularly relevant to the subject of awareness in the first chapter of the Krishnamurti book The Urgency of Change, (which is our study material for the year to come)?”. Participants had spent time with the chapter before coming to the meeting and brought up some interesting questions and observations about what they had read. The meeting was then brought to a close with details about the next meeting and the readings in the text to follow. It felt like an auspicious beginning to the group process and feedback was positive about individuals’ experiences of the session.

Self Study Meeting

Sunday, January 3, 2021

Zoom Online

 

Seventeen people in total attended this first meeting of the new year. The readings chosen for the session were the December 23 to 31 selections on “Meditation” from The Book of Life. The last entries of the book seemed appropriate as a completion of 2020 as well as a relevant opening for 2021, as meditation is central to Krishnamurti’s teachings and will be a central theme throughout the year.

The meeting began with a guided meditation based on the December 23 entry wherein Krishnamurti says that “what one has to do is to be aware of the thinker, and not try to resolve the contradiction and bring about an integration between thought and the thinker.” That basic idea was filled out a little more during the meditation and presumably in the following discussions. We experimented with a new format, using one of the Zoom options, in which, after the guided meditation, the group was split into smaller groups of four or five so that there could perhaps be a more intimate sharing in the smaller groups than in the full group. Although there were some technical difficulties, mostly involving a problem with a participant’s computer, it turned out that people enjoyed the experience of the smaller groups. Generally they were all very gracious and accepting of the difficulties. The group reformed in its full size for the last forty-five minutes.

Hopefully the problems will be remedied before the next meeting so we can take full advantage of the “Meeting Breakout” option and have a more focused session with minimal distractions. Anyway, it seemed that the experiment was considered worthwhile and something worth continuing with in the future. The online format involves a continuous learning process!

The Urgency of Change Dialogue Group

Sunday, December 13, 2020

Zoom online meeting

 

This meeting, the last of 2020, was attended by nine participants in all. The focus was on the chapter entitled “What Is” in the J. Krishnamurti book The Urgency of Change. It is a short chapter, but very direct in its treatment of our human experiences and problems. The main point K makes is that no matter what our experience is, “to live with it without conflict frees us from it.” He discusses this in a few different ways in conversation with the questioner, and some of his statements inspired questions and insights from the group members which seemed to challenge our conventional ways of looking at ourselves and our lives.

Towards the end of the meeting, we reviewed the past year’s experience and asked what changes we might like to see for the 2021 explorations. One participant expressed a desire to explore more deeply our feelings and our “hearts” when looking into issues that arise in our self-inquiry and how they affect us in our daily lives. This was taken to be an invitation to share all dimensions of ourselves and to move beyond the intellectual discussion that can take over when investigating these kinds of issues within the context of “spiritual” teachings. It seemed like a relevant and significant invitation to realize that inquiry is not just a mental activity but is essentially an activity of the “heart” .

Beauty and Sensitivity in a Troubled World

November 20 – 22, 2020

Zoom Online

 

This retreat was led by Cynthia Overweg from Ojai, California, where she has been involved with the work of the Krishnamurti Foundation of America. The three-session retreat consisted of three Zoom meetings of one and a half hours each which were each attended by a total of twenty-four people. The attendees were mainly from the USA and many were appearing at a KECC event for the first time. Cynthia presented a number of questions each day while emphasizing that the most important questions are those that arise in us and are part of our observation of ourselves. Some of Cynthia’s questions were as follows:

– What is sensitivity?

– How do we approach living with sensitivity?

– Can we see and listen without the mind interfering?

– Can we not make sensitivity personal? What are the implications of realizing the impersonal nature of it?

– How can we be sensitive and remain grounded?

– Can we have an authentic relation with beauty when we are bombarded with ugliness in the world?

 

Each day Cynthia gave a talk on the subject of beauty, with lovely pictures of nature and numerous quotes from K books: Krishnamurti’s Notebook, Krishnamurti’s Journal, and Krishnamurti to Himself. She included quotes from other “teachers” like Jane Goodall, which added to the universality of the subject. There were also regular periods of silent meditation. All of this provided an experiential context for the exploration. Suggestions were given concerning ways we might support our living with sensitivity, which Krishnamurti says is “the highest form of intelligence and love”. It means being sensitive not only to beauty and joy but also to ugliness and sorrow. On the third day, Cynthia brought in the dimension of beauty in relationship and the importance of learning about ourselves in the “mirror of relationship”, in which we see the “hidden causes of sorrow” and awaken compassion. The challenges of relationship in the time of a pandemic were touched on and discussed in the group. Each session included time for group sharing and exploration.

The presentation was very well done and was much appreciated by the participants

The Urgency of Change Dialogue Group Meeting

Sunday, November 8, 2020

Zoom online

A few members of the group could not attend our gathering this time, resulting in a meeting of five participants. Our focus was on the chapter entitled “Discipline” in the Krishnamurti book The Urgency of Change. As well as some references to the text, participants also raised a number of interesting questions related more generally to the process of dialogue and self-inquiry. It was asked if we are entering into the new in our exploration or just repeating what we already know. It seemed like an excellent question which provoked some inquiry without perhaps coming to any final conclusion. In fact the limitation of all conclusions was pointed out and discussed. Another subject of investigation was the nature of the “I” or “me”. What are we referring to when we use such words? Is there a “self” that can be defined or said to be a real entity? These seem to be questions worthy of looking into in a way that can perhaps bring fresh insight. The nature of awareness and attention was questioned and their nature as non-conceptual, non-objective, indescribable, and ungraspable was explored, again with an emphasis on looking without conclusions. Perhaps such an inquiry is an opening to the “new”, to something beyond thought.

Some statements about “saints” made by Krishnamurti in the chapter were questioned by one group member and feedback requested from participants. The discussion moved in the direction of wondering about the need for compassion and non-judgement in our perceptions and conceptions. Again we left some openness around the question. The session invited sharing from all participants and hopefully provoked ongoing inquiry in our daily lives until our next meeting in December, the last one for 2020.