UVic Stillness Within Noveber 27th Meetup: Chuck Hillig – Tangled Up in You

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November’s Meetup featured a recorded talk from the 2015 Science and Non-duality Conference: “Tangled up in You” by Chuck Hillig.

The meet up brought together 18 people including a number of first timers to watch a 40 minute video exploring the nature of self and ego and its ultimate illusory reality. Chuck Hillig presented a logical  look at ego/identity with practical tools to explore the conceptual self and begin to untangle the systems of thought that mimic our sense of being. The group enjoyed a few minutes of silence before the talk and a heartfelt debrief afterwards where people shared what stood out for them and their own wisdom around the self inquiry process.

Krishnamurti has also had some interesting perspectives on how much lighter things can be when the mind-based (or egoic) self relaxes it’s hold:

“…the idea of ourselves is our escape from the fact of what we really are.”

And…
“It is only when the mind is free from the old that it meets everything anew, and in that there is joy.”

Similarly…
“Happy is the man who is nothing”

It’s a challenging message to convey! Chuck Hillig’s humorous perspective on the topic was wonderful although the talk was faster paced than most would have liked. Thanks as always for supporting this gathering to KEEC and Ralph!

Krishnamurti Study Session, November 17, 2019

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Krishnamurti Study Session
Sunday, November 17, 2019
At KECC

There were only two of us present for this Sunday morning meeting in the Main House at the Krishnamurti Centre of Canada in Metchosin, BC. We explored the January 28 and 29 entries in The Book of Life: Daily Meditations with Krishnamurti, which are focused mainly on the topic of “self-knowledge” and are entitled “Self-Knowing” and “Creative Emptiness”. K emphasizes the importance of looking at ourselves without any judgement or agenda concerning our observations. The looking and listening to the movement of the mind – our thoughts, feelings, and sensations – without any interpretation or “doing” brings about an understanding of the mind’s projections and an emptiness in which a transformation happens without effort or conscious intention.
In discussing the pointers, we investigated such issues as the difference between merely hearing what is being pointed to and listening with one’s full attention. We also explored in detail the implications of each statement in the selected quotes from K’s talks, including the necessity of understanding through insight into ourselves (the operation of our own minds) as well as through listening to another such as Krishnamurti.

Exploring Awareness November 3, 2019 at KECC

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Exploring Awareness
Sunday, November 3, 2019
At KECC

Five people were present for this Sunday afternoon session whose purpose was to provide an opportunity to directly experience what awareness is, mostly through guided meditations. In this meeting, we began with a meditation on the “inner body” led by David. We then were guided by Mooji on CD into a second meditation entitled “An Invitation to Freedom”. The result of the two experiences was a deep silence within the group and a strong sense of having moved from our starting consciousness to a fuller sense of Being. Staying in this quiet space we listened to an audio presentation of some excerpts from I Am That by Nisargadatta Maharaj which pointed beyond the relative to the Absolute reality prior to consciousness. Our listenings were punctuated by sensitive sharing and inquiry within the group.

Krishnamurti Study Session, November 3, 2019

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Krishnamurti Study Session
Sunday, November 3, 2019
At KECC

Four participants joined on a Sunday morning to study a selection from The Book of Life: Daily Meditations with Krishnamurti. For this session we explored the January 27 entry entitled “Quiet Mind, Simple Mind” in which K states that “if one begins to understand the ‘me” in all its various activities from day to day, then in that very understanding, without any effort, the nameless, the timeless comes into being. The topic is investigated more fully in the text and provided good material for group sharing and dialogue.

UVic Stillness Within Meetup: Rumi and Friends

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The October UVic Meetup explored the works of a few poets who have inspired many with their ability to express the depths of their devotion and celebration of existence.  The group enjoyed listening to recorded productions, reading and reflecting on the works of Rumi, Hafiz and J. Krishnamurti.  We looked into our own experience and found many areas of convergence with these amazing mystics.

The writings of Krishnamurti surprised the group with a softer tone and some deeper emotion.  In “I Am All” we  pondered the nudge to release judgement, concept and comparisons.

K. writes for example:   “I am the tree that towereth among the mountains… And the blade of grass in the peaceful lane…”   Closing with:  “O friend, I contain all… I am clear as the mountain stream, Simple as the new spring leaf. Few know me. Happy are they That meet with me.”

One of our favourite discoveries was the Rumi poem performed by Coleman Barks:  Only Breath.  In it, Rumi explores his sense of existence beyond the personal stories we tend to carry:  “I am not from the East or the West, not out of the ocean or up from the ground…. My place is placeless, a trace of the traceless… Neither body or soul.   I belong to the beloved, have seen the two worlds as one…”

We closed up with a sharing on our own gleanings, curiosities and expressions from deeper knowing.  It was a fun gathering!

Thanks to KECC for sponsoring this gathering!

Science and Nonduality Conference 2019

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Science and Nonduality Conference
Livestream and Recorded Transmission
October 25 – 27, 2019
At KECC

It has become an annual tradition for us to bring this conference from California to Victoria via the internet. This year the conference was held in San Jose. Thirteen people were in attendance at the Krishnamurti Centre for the weekend streaming of the event, beginning on the Friday evening. We showed opening talks by A.H. Almaas, Swami Swarvapryananda, and Adyashanti. Almaas spoke about embodying love and how relationship and nonduality fit or don’t fit together. He pointed out that there are many different qualities of love and experiences of it and made a good case for the idea that both the personal and the transcendental aspects of love are precious.
Adyashanti also explored the subject of love and its embodiment. The spiritual impulse of absolute love wants to be fully embodied in the life of the individuals. How this can happen is a “life koan,” or a question to be held constantly in our consciousness. Wisdom and human warmth are both necessary. Can we look through the eyes of the heart and invite “redemptive love” into our lives?
Swami S presented a condensed form of Advaita Vedanta in twenty minutes, focusing on the capacity to witness all that appears in consciousness and to realize that we are that which cannot be objectified.
Saturday was rich with numerous presentations focusing on various aspects of Oneness and Compassion, the Absolute and the relative aspects of love and presence. There was a good deal of discussion about trauma and its effects and the importance of self-compassion for healing. Rupert Spira spoke on the essence of nonduality, Jean Houston gave a passionate presentation about the mystic path, and Paul Levy explored the relationship of quantum physics and spiritual realization. Others spoke from multiple perspectives within the container of science and non-dual awareness and participants had their own favourite presentations. We watched a movie produced by Micheal Mendizza (“Walking Beside the Mind”) investigating some of the interactions and inquiry between J. Krishnamurti and the quantum physicist David Bohm, who had many dialogues over the years.
Sunday continued to be a rich blend of male and female presenters as well as panel discussions on climate change and how to approach the challenges facing us today in terms of the threats to the planet and the creatures depending on it. There were suggestions that we need new paradigms and ways of understanding reality and ourselves in order to live in harmony with nature and each other. The final words of the last presenters left us with some hopeful and uplifting viewpoints.
It seemed that everyone participating in our retreat felt the weekend was very interesting and worthwhile. We had opportunities for some walks on the lovely property and many informal conversations and sharings which added to the experience of being together. Delicious meals were catered by Glenrosa Restaurant and, as always, breakfasts were prepared by Luis and Nao, who work tirelessly keeping the property in wonderful condition and cleaning up during and after the meals and the retreats. They are a much appreciated part of the “team” that provides the environment for the retreats to take place. Ralph Tiller did a great job, as usual, in organizing practical aspects of the weekend.

Krishnamurti Study Session, October 20, 2019

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Krishnamurti Study Session
Sunday, October 20, 2019
At KECC

Seven of us were present for this Sunday morning session. The text for our study was the January 26 entry in The Book of Life: Daily Meditations with Krishnamurti. The selection is entitled “Creativeness Through Self-Knowledge”. After introducing ourselves (there were a few first-time participants), reading the passage, and sitting silently for a few minutes, participants were invited to express what was significant for them or what questions arose in contemplating K’s pointers. Then we engaged in an open dialogue for the rest of the meeting. We looked into the tendencies to seek a result or an outcome in our self-observation, to look for some kind of security for ourselves. This, says K, is not the understanding of oneself. We inquired into the meaning of “creativeness in self-knowledge” and the statement that authority prevents self understanding. What is really meant by these concepts and in what way are they true or not? It was a lively discussion with moments of spontaneous silence which seemed to bring a balance or wholeness to the experience.

UVic Stillness Within – Exploring the ‘I’ With Direct Inquiry

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With the fall return of UVic’s Stillness Within Meetup, eight of us met in September to look at direct inquiry approaches and considerations.  Five of the group were existing members and three were new.

The content and discussion took many turns, looking at advaita teachings such as Richard Sylvester (“I Hope You Die Soon” is one of his recent writings).   He suggests that the sense of ‘I’ is constantly being created and recreated by every one phenomenon, every thought, sensation and feeling.   Yet, he offers little in the way of practices or strategies for inquiring into the nature of the ‘I’, suggesting that the act of looking can only strengthen the ‘I’ sense.

Krishnamurti isn’t that far off from Sylvester in some ways…. In “Freedom From the Known” he even states that:

“To find out what takes place when you die, you must die before you die… not physically but psychologically, inwardly, die to the things you have cherished and to the things you are bitter about.  If you have died to one of your pleasures, the smallest or the greatest, naturally without any force or argument, then you will know what it means to die.  To die is to have a mind that is completely free of itself, empty of its daily longings, pleasures and agonies.  Death is a renewal, a mutation, in which thought does not function at all because thought is old.  When there is death, there is something new.  Freedom from the known is death, and then you are living”.

We tried out a couple of practical applications of direct inquiry, first using dyads to explore the question “Who am I” in a facilitated way, and then the group also explored a guided self inquiry provided by Peter Dziuban excerpted from his book “Simply Notice”.

It was a great group with many insights,…. as well as stretching moments where everything ‘worldly’ simply faded out, replaced only with a ‘still silent truth’.

Thanks all for your contributions to this month’s meetup and for the KECC for their support for the event.

Approaches to Self-Inquiry, Sunday, October 13, 2019

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Approaches to Self-Inquiry
Sunday, October 13, 2019
At KECC

Five people were present for this afternoon meeting in which we explore once per month, usually through video, a spiritual teacher other than Krishnamurti who we think may throw light on the teachings from a different angle. In this case we listened to and watched an interview with Robert Wolfe who has been teaching non-dual perspectives in Ojai, California, for many decades and was very much influenced by Krishnamurti in his formative years. In fact, Robert touched on some of the central tenets of K’s teachings while discussing the question of the “observer and the observed” and the “practice” of choiceless awareness. The interviewer’s questions challenged Robert to give clear and concise explanations of the key concepts of “non-duality”, or the understanding that there are not separate parts but only an undivided unity in the structure of the universe and in the human being.
Our group engaged in an interesting discussion after the video, with some very pertinent questions and observations. The issue of the difference between conceptual understanding and direct insight was explored along with a number of other relevant issues which seemed to be of deep interest and import to the participants.

Exploring Awareness, October 6, 2019, at KECC

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Exploring Awareness
Sunday, October 6, 2019
At KECC

Only three of us were in attendance for this Sunday afternoon session exploring the nature of attention and awareness through guided meditations. We started by listening to a meditation by Rupert Spira focusing on beginning as awareness and remaining as that fundamental truth of our existence, the “knowing” by which all experience is known. Rupert is very skilled in leading such inquiries into our true nature.
David then led a guided meditation based on two central themes of J. Krishnamurti’s teachings: being with our experience without naming it and becoming aware of the split between the “observer” and “the observed.” Bringing attention to these two issues created a sense of stillness, silence, and wholeness which could then be “carried” with us into our lives in the world, so to speak. The meditative approach for the afternoon was appreciated by each of us.