Archive for category: Event Summaries

The January 24th UVic Stillness Within “Waking Up” meet up was well attended by nine people.

The topic – waking up – was very provocative we looked at what it means (e.g. spiritual awakening, enlightenment, self-realization, liberation and many other definitions).   There was a fulsome discussion of how that happens for people, different spiritual teachers’ experiences, research that’s been done about what peoples’ common subjective experiences appear to be, and we also enjoyed some practical meditative exercises.

The content we looked at included written and recorded work from Salvador Poe, Daryl Bailey, Ella May and Krishnamurti.   There was some discussion about the challenge of looking at awakening as something that happens, an event or an experience, when many who have had some kind of enduring revelation seem to indicate that it isn’t an actual change in one’s state, but rather a change in perception or awareness.

For example, Daryl Bailey has asked the question:

“Is an awakening something that happens as a result of having done lots of hard work on ourselves? No, it’s a recognition that we are an expression of something bigger… something we don’t understand with our mind.”

Ella May describes her own seeing as follows:

” In truth nothing has changed, ever. Although it appears that the inner environment has changed, there is no longer an illusion of a thinker or a doer or a have-er. There is just a mind, with thoughts, a body with sensations, awareness and feelings…. These words are words and are pointing to something so free and beautiful it cannot be known, I do not know it…. There is nothing more free than what is, which is simply this.“

We looked at our own paths of seeking, of insight and the falling away of what we thought it meant to be fulfilled. It’s hard to describe what was bubbling quietly within all the words and concepts that were exchanged at the gathering, but it was beautiful – to me, it felt like the face of a more innocent and precious ‘seeing’ was also peering out amidst the diverse thoughts and ideas in the room.

It occurred to me after the event to look in Krishnamurti’s Notebook, as it captures many glimpses into the small moments that speak of a quiet yet profound beauty beyond the sense of self. Krishnamurti was somehow able break through the barrier of words to beautifully express his own sense of awe and love of existence:

Walking in the rain he noted:

“Everything was being washed clean, the past and the present, there was no time, no future. Every step was timeless, and thought, a thing of time, stopped; it could not go further or go back, it had no existence. And every drop of that furious rain was the river, the sea and the un-melting snow. There was total, complete emptiness and in it were creation, love and death, not separate. You had to watch your step, the busses passed almost touching you.”

We’ll be looking more closely at Krishnamurti’s Notebook at the February meetup so come out and join us on February 26^th (see the KECC calendar for details).

Thanks to KECC for hosting this meetup and for all those who came and shared their experiences.

Krishnamurti Study Session
Sunday, January 19, 2020
At KECC

There were three of us in attendance for this Sunday morning meeting to study The Book of Life: Daily Meditations with Krishnamurti. Our selection was the February 3 entry entitled “Can the Crude Mind Become Sensitive?” It was suggested by David at the beginning that this entry expressed a very significant aspect of Krishnamurti’s approach to self-observation and transformation. He clearly points out in this passage that observing oneself without any attempt to become something different actually transforms what is. Any trying to become the ideal is only a creation of a different egoic self and not a transformation. Being fully present with, and aware of, what we are is what brings about real change. The small group explored these pointers in some depth, including questioning what he really means when he speaks of “crudity” and “stupidity” in this context. The words took on a meaning other than the conventional understanding one might have of those terms. The inquiry was well enjoyed and went on long past the official end time for the session.

Exploring Awareness
Sunday, January 5, 2020
At KECC

Nine of us were present for this Sunday afternoon session at the Gatehouse. The meeting began with a short description of some aspects of Krishnamurti’s teachings which then led into a meditation guided by David inviting an experience of what K calls “choiceless awareness.” The guidance alternated with spaces of silence in which the participants could integrate the experience provoked by the words. After the half-hour meditation there was time for sharing of the experience, and this turned out to be a rich interaction and group discussion.
At what seemed like an appropriate time Ralph played a recording of a guided meditation by Ram Dass. The twenty minute meditation was similar in many ways to the previous meditation with some variations. Again there was sharing afterwards, which became quite spirited and energetic. It seemed that the visitors thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon.

Krishnamurti Study Session
Sunday, December 15, 2019
At KECC

There were just two of us present for this Sunday morning meeting. The book we are studying is The Book of Life: Daily Meditations with Krishnamurti, and the selection was the January 31 entry entitled “Relationship is a Mirror”. Self-knowledge, K says, “comes into being when we are aware of ourselves in relationship, which show what we are from moment to moment.” If we can look at ourselves with “full attention”, without judgement or evaluation, then we will see that the mind can free itself of its conditioning and discover what is beyond the field of thought. And freedom lies only beyond: it is not within the realm of thought.
We explored deeply what K is saying in this chapter and touched on related aspects of self-observation which we have experienced in our process of self-discovery. What is “full attention”, and what prevents it from being present? What supports it? How is freedom “entirely different” from functioning within the field of thought? These and other questions kept us exploring and sharing for two hours.

Exploring Awareness
Sunday, December 1, 2019
At KECC

The Sunday afternoon session was attended by six of us. We stayed with our usual format for these meetings with two guided meditations and some discussion of our experiences. We began with a meditation, guided by David, into being with our experience without naming it or creating any story about it. We were invited to be fully present with all our attention, with “full-body” awareness or what Krishnamurti calls “choiceless awareness”. Not naming experience can bring about a more direct and insightful understanding of “what is”, and bring about a deeper silence in the mind. There was then the invitation to notice if we were creating a division between ourselves as an “observer” and the thing being observed. What happens if this duality is noticed? Does a different quality of perceiving come about, a unitary and whole sense of presence and awareness?
The second half of the session featured a recording of one of Scott Kiloby’s guided meditations offered at his recent retreat given at the Centre. The focus was on looking at the ways in which thought creates a sense of not being good enough, a “deficiency story” about ourselves. The meditation also went quite deeply into the process of observing thoughts and feelings and allowing them to fall away as they arise, without needing to do anything. The experience seemed to be valued by all participants and considered very relevant to our daily lives. It was a rich afternoon of “meditation” and sharing.