Krishnamurti and David Bohm in Dialogue

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Krishnamurti and Bohm Dialogue in Audio
Sunday, September 29, 2019
At KECC

A long-time student of Krishnamurti’s teachings, John Raica from Vancouver, is visiting the Krishnamurti Educational Centre in Metchosin, BC for a month or two. During that time he will be transcribing twelve dialogues that took place in 1975 between K and David Bohm, renowned physicist. The conversations were recorded on CDs and three of them were published in book form titled Reality, Actuality, and Truth (or perhaps Truth and Actuality?) We thought it would be interesting to share the audio of the first dialogue with interested people and to discuss the material. Seven of us were present for the meeting. The dialogue lasted about 1 ¼ hours and was of fairly clear quality. Most of the exploration between the two men was into the distinction between thought-created reality and the energy of truth. Knowledge, the product of thought, cannot reach to truth, but the very seeing that reality cannot be truth is truth. The energy of truth can comprehend reality; reality then can run straight and the contradictions of thought can be informed by insight and therefore be “sane”.
The group engaged in a lively dialogue of our own after listening to the CD, exploring some of the points made and ranging into other aspects of Krishnamurti’s teachings. It was an enjoyable and educational afternoon and we thank John and Ralph for promoting the event.

You Are the World Weekend Retreat, September 20 – 22, 2019

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“You Are the World” Weekend Retreat
September 20 – 22, 2019
At KECC

This retreat was intended to provide an opportunity to inquire into the current state of our human predicament. Beginning with an examination of the climate change emergency and the environmental crisis, we then proceeded to consider the responsibility we bear through our highly materialistic and affluent consumer culture. We also face annihilation due to the nuclear arms race, runaway global heating, climate chaos and the mass extinction of species on Earth.
Since this crisis is the result of our way of life, we have to look to ourselves to find the cause and the cure. While people are busy everywhere trying to find technical solutions, which are obviously necessary, there appears to be much less emphasis on the psychological and cultural factors that have brought this crisis about and that continue to perpetuate it. We turned our attention to some of these factors, including our deep sense of personal, spiritual and cultural separation from Mother Earth.
Krishnamurti’s unique way of seeing and living in the world offers hope in this time of existential threats to humanity. He points to the importance of clearly seeing the relation between the inner and the outer and that awareness, intelligence and insight are critical factors in generating the creative and compassionate ground of a new culture based on essential and holistic values.
The retreat was facilitated by Peter Carter and Julie Johnston. Peter is a retired physician. As a founding director of CAPE (Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment) and, more recently, as founder of the Climate Emergency Institute, Peter has presented on sustainable development, environmental health policy, biodiversity, and climate change and ocean issues at international science and climate change conferences in Canada, the United States, Europe, Asia and South America.
Peter was an expert reviewer for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s fifth climate change assessment (AR5, 2014) and the
IPCC’s 2018 Special Report on 1.5ºC. His mission now is to spread the full truth about the extreme risks and magnitude of the global climate and ocean disruption emergency.
Julie Johnston is a climate change activist and sustainability education teacher and consultant, with a master’s degree focused on environmental adult education. She works with international students at Royal Roads University and with educators around the world through GreenHeart Education, an organization dedicated to promoting transformative education for sustainability and greening the heart of education systems at all levels.
The retreat opened with a public talk by Peter and Julie on the Friday night entitled “Profound Personal and Global Transformation” and attended by twenty-one people in all, including facilitators and KECC staff. Peter spoke of how he came to be so interested in the climate change issue and in the teachings of Krishnamurti and Julie shared some of her personal history. We watched a short video entitled “Is There Intelligent Life in the Universe” which presented the dire situation we are in on planet Earth. Also shown was a short film with Krishnamurti speaking on “Transformation”. Julie then asked participants to briefly introduce themselves and to relate some significant change they had recently made in their lives. This lead to a rich and sensitive sharing, which created a deep sense of connection within the group.
The rest of the weekend, attended by eleven people, continued to be an investigation of the inner and outer causes and “remedies” for the emergency situation we find ourselves in and have created. We watched a short clip of the teenage climate activist Greta Thurberg addressing a recent conference in Poland and another one of Krishnamurti speaking at the UN. Several more videos of K were shown, including “The Challenge of Change”, and there was a good deal of group dialogue. Julie lead us outdoors on Saturday to explore the environment and tune into our senses with some awareness exercises. Delicious meals were catered by Glenrosa Restaurant and the weekend was one of rich inquiry and companionship within the context of some very serious issues confronting the human race.

Approaches to Self-Inquiry, September 8, 2019

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Approaches to Self-Inquiry
Sunday, September 8, 2019
At KECC

A small group of three were in attendance for this afternoon session, one of whom was visiting the Centre for the first time. This was a meeting in an ongoing series exploring various approaches to self-inquiry which are felt to resonate with that of J. Krishnamurti but which can perhaps illuminate the subject from different angles. In this case we viewed some video clips wherein Paul Smit explored some questions relevant to the central question, “Who am I?” He explored, through interviews with a few scientists, whether we are consciously in control of our choices or those choices are being made by the subconscious, beneath the level of our conscious awareness. Related to this issue is the question as to what is the self and is there a separate individual or more accurately just a movement of life without a “doer”. Paul’s way of presenting these issues is fresh and interesting. The video clips were interspersed with discussion of the material, the subject of self-inquiry, and its place in our lives. Krishnamurti’s approach to the questions was included in the discussion and some written material about his teachings was taken away by the new participant.

Non Duality Meeting

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Non Duality meeting was held on Aug.11 with 4 attendings.
Video: Rupert Spira
KNOW YOUR OWN BEING AS IT IS (part two)

Question:
Because we are saddled, with ongoing commentary of thoughts, are we unwittingly creating our reality?

Discussion:

“The world is the activity of consciousness. Like a wave that arises out of the ocean then returns back into the ocean. Consciousness vails itself with activity and assumes the form of thinking, feelings, imagining. It colors itself with its own activity. The same as a tv screen colors itself with a movie and appears as a landscape, consciousness has that ability also, while watching itself as the movie, be also the screen. Being pure knowing, while thinking, feeling, sensing and feeling. By doing so, appears to be something other than itself, called the world. So the world is the activity of consciousness. “ Rupert Spira

If we can really understand the problem, the answer will come out of it, because the answer is not separate from the problem. – Krishnamurti

Exploring Awareness, September 1, 2019 Afternoon Session

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Exploring Awareness

Sunday, September 1, 2019

At KECC

This session was attended by six people in all. The intention of the “Exploring Awareness” meetings is to offer opportunities to directly experience the presence and function of awareness through the medium of guided meditations. For this meeting we presented meditations by Fred Davis and Sam Harris. The Davis meditation focused on entering a state of being the unbounded space which contains the whole universe and seemed to produce at least somewhat of that direct knowing or being. We then took a walk on the property and enjoyed the lovely natural settings.

The group returned for a second meditation by Sam Harris which emphasized resting as the awareness that notices all that arises within it and within our thoughts and emotions. It was a very practical and clear meditation which was appreciated by the participants.

Krishnamurti Study Session, September 1, 2019 Morning Session

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Krishnamurti Study Session

Sunday, September 1, 2019

At KECC

This meeting we focused on the January 23 entry in The Book of Life: Daily Meditations with Krishnamurti entitled “Self-Knowledge is a Process”. K emphasizes being aware of ourselves in relationship, not isolating ourselves. When it came to group dialogue the four participants explored what might be meant by this. Is he saying that it is important to be in a special kind of relationship or can self-knowledge be discovered in our everyday relationships with the store clerk or the mailman? Is the most essential thing to be looking, listening, and learning in all kinds of relationships without giving greater value to some situations than others? Is the “alertness of mind and keenness of perception that K mentions in this passage the most significant thing? And what prevents alertness or supports it? The group engaged in an exploration in which all shared their perceptions and questions, making it a rich inquiry

Resolving Conflict with Passion, August 23 – 25, 2019

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Resolving Conflict with Passion
Weekend Retreat with Hillary Rodrigues
August 23 – 25, 2019, at KECC

This was the tenth annual retreat with Prof. Hillary Rodrigues at the Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada in Metchosin, BC. Hillary is a professor of Eastern religious traditions at the University of Lethbridge and a former teacher and administrator at the Krishnamurti school that once existed at the site of the KECC. He has published books and articles on aspects of Krishnamurti’s thought, including the book Krishnamurti’s Insight, and has given presentations on K’s teachings in New York, New Delhi, Victoria, and Ojai, California. Entitled “Resolving Conflict with Passion,” Hilary made it clear at the Friday night introductory talk that this was not to be an academic workshop, but an opportunity to inquire deeply into particular issues in a personal and holistic way with others. Krishnamurti’s teachings would regularly be used as entry points for looking at our own experience.
Hillary’s Friday talk addressed the idea of two types of passion, the passion with a motive or a cause and the passion without cause that Krishnamurti speaks of. The passion with cause inevitably leads to suffering, whereas the second kind of passion can bring about the ending of sorrow. The discussion addressed the topics of suffering, sorrow, and passion, inviting participation by the fifteen attendees. The interchange was very rich and inviting of real questioning and investigation.
Twelve people were present for the remainder of the weekend, during which ongoing group dialogue was supplemented with short talks by Hillary, handouts with quotes from Krishnamurti, and a video of K in conversation with Alan Anderson at San Diego University. Hillary skillfully guided the group through the dialogues and the group participation created an atmosphere of interested and focused presence within which listening, looking, and learning could take place. The quality of the inquiry was very much appreciated by all. There was time for quiet walks on the lovely property and delicious meals were provided by Glenrosa Restaurant. It was another meaningful and profound meeting with Hillary and sincere participants. We are grateful for his contribution and anticipate his return next year.

Krishnamurti Study Session, August 18, 2019

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Krishnamurti Study Session

Sunday, August 18, 2019

At KECC

The material for study this session was from The Book of Life: Daily Meditations with Krishnamurti. Bill ran the meeting in my (David’s) absence and shared a brief report. Five people were in attendance as the January 22 entry entitled “Can I Rely on My Experience” was looked into, followed by the January 23 entry, “Self-Knowledge is a Process.” Krishnamurti questions whether our experience can be reliable given that it is conditioned by limited interpretations, ideas, and beliefs which we have assumed to be true without any deep understanding. Reality can only be known, K suggests, when there is an observation without the past and without “the analyzer.” The second selection focused on the significance of being aware in our daily relationships and the challenge of being alert to our responses and reactions. Group discussion of the pointings led to some exploration of “projection” and a number of issues related to self-knowledge which were found to be of interest as they arose in the reading and dialogue.

KNOW YOUR OWN BEING AS IT IS (part two)

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Question:
Because we are saddled, with ongoing commentary of thoughts, are we unwittingly creating our reality?

Discussion:

“The world is the activity of consciousness. Like a wave that arises out of the ocean then returns back into the ocean. Consciousness vails itself with activity and assumes the form of thinking, feelings, imagining. It colors itself with its own activity. The same as a tv screen colors itself with a movie and appears as a landscape, consciousness has that ability also, while watching itself as the movie, be also the screen. Being pure knowing, while thinking, feeling, sensing and feeling. By doing so, appears to be something other than itself, called the world. So the world is the activity of consciousness. “ Rupert Spira

If we can really understand the problem, the answer will come out of it, because the answer is not separate from the problem. – Krishnamurti

Approaches to Self-inquiry, August 11, 2019

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Approaches to Self-Inquiry
Sunday, August 11, 2019
At KECC

These sessions held on the second Sunday afternoon of each month are intended to expose interested people to spiritual teachings that are felt to be in alignment with those of J. Krishnamurti and which may present a somewhat different but helpful lens for approaching the art of self-inquiry. In this case we looked at two half-hour video presentations by an unusual teacher, Fred Davis. In the first video, Fred turned a commonly heard statement upside down. It is often said that “I understand non-duality intellectually but I just don’t experience it.” Fred suggests that the opposite is actually the truth: we experience non-duality (because it is the very nature of things) but we don’t understand it intellectually (because the thinking mind can only function in duality). He goes into this perspective from a number of different angles.
The five participants present explored this koan or puzzle which was perhaps not immediately easy to grasp but which seemed to yield some fruit in the examining of it. Is there in fact any division, if we look purely without the separating habit of our thinking? Where is the actual boundary between me and you, me and an object of perception? The second video supported the same kind of seeing that Fred had introduced in the first and participants also found it both challenging and interesting.