UVic Spiritual Awakening January Meetup: Awakening… What is it? What gets in the way?

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January’s UVic meetup was a really nice gathering and a welcome break for some inquiry. There were eight of us who joined in and we had some really great discussion, sharing of experience and a bit of practice.

A number of clips describing aspects of spiritual awakening included: Eckhart Tolle, Ananta Kranti, and researcher Jeffery Martin.

We also reflected on the words of Rumi and Krishnamurti‘s advice that we observe our thoughts and reactions with non-judgement, curiosity and acceptance…. eventually discovering a deeper stillness of being.

Some of the group sharing explored:
~ the challenge of stilling constant thought,
~ suffering as an opportunity to surrender to deeper being,
~ having experiences of expansion of being only to find oneself return to the dramas of life

Pointers that seemed to resonate focused on – sensory awareness as a starting point for being in the now, an openness that accompanies being in nature and beauty, the gift of surrender, and ‘falling into openness’ rather than making an exerted effort.

We also listened to two short audio recordings from Ella May and Salvadore Poe. These offered two guided experiences of being in the now with present moment awareness.

In closing, the following Krishnamurti quote speaks poignantly about freedom not as an end state but as a beginning of something wonderful:

“I think it is important to understand that freedom is at the beginning and not at the end. We think freedom is something to be achieved, that liberation is an ideal state of mind to be gradually attained through time, through various practices; but to me… Freedom is not to be achieved; liberation is not to be gained. Freedom, or liberation, is that state of mind which is essential for the discovery of any truth, any reality, therefore it cannot be an ideal; it must exist right from the beginning. Without freedom at the beginning, there can be no moments of direct understanding, because all thinking is then limited, conditioned. If your mind is tethered to any conclusion, to any experience, to any form of knowledge or belief, it is not free: and such a mind cannot possibly perceive what is truth.”

J. Krishnamurti, first Bombay talk, March 4th, 1956

 

Thanks to Michael Hoppe for support in this event and to KECC for sponsoring the gathering!

 

Winter Retreat at the Centre, January 26-28,2018

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A Contemplative Winter Retreat
January 26 – 28, 2018

This residential weekend retreat at the Krishnamurti Educational Center of Canada in Metchosin was attended by ten participants, mostly from the Victoria area. Unfortunately one of the two facilitators, Lynne, was unable to attend due to health issues, leaving David as the sole presenter. He organized a program consisting of talks by J. Krishnamurti, Rupert Spira, Mooji, Adyashanti, and Clare Blanchflower on video or audio, guided and silent meditations, group discussions, and contemplation of significant questions about our experience of life and self. There was time for rest, walks, and quiet integration of the material presented. Most of the retreat was in silence other than while in the group activities. The central topic tying everything together was awareness and its fundamental place in spiritual practice and self-inquiry. The various teachers, the guided meditations, and the discussions all emphasized that effortless awareness is our very nature and can fruitfully be explored as the doorway to and essence of peace and well-being. The participants expressed an appreciation of the silence in the retreat and some would have liked more of it. All activities were optional, so participants could to a significant degree create their own blend of verbal and non-verbal engagement. The feedback indicated that the great majority valued and enjoyed the weekend greatly. Delicious meals were provided by Glenrosa Restaurant.

Krishnamurti Study Session at the Centre

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Krishnamurti Study Session
KECC, Saturday, January 20, 2018

Five people took part in this afternoon meeting to explore the text of J. Krishnamurti’s book The First and Last Freedom. The chapter studied was Q & A # 23, “On Death”. A question was put to K, “What relation has death to life?” He asks the questioner why we make a distinction between life and death and pursues the issue in a number of different ways. The chapter ends with some vital questions. “Now is it possible, while living, to die – which means coming to an end, being as nothing?
…. Is it possible to end … the inward attachment … to psychological security … which means dying every day so there may be a renewal tomorrow? It is only then that one knows death while living. Only in that dying, in that coming to an end … is there that renewal, that creation which is eternal.”
The participants engaged in a group dialogue as we read through the chapter, exploring the issue of death as the letting go of the known, with its implications and challenges. The participants have been quite regular for some time now and are able to dive deeply into inquiry, which makes for an enjoyable and insightful sharing.

The Second Awakening

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Rupert Spira Session

January 14th, 2018

In attendance—Rick M. & Laurie S.

In today’s session, we listened to a section on Disc 3, The Second Awakening.

Rupert explained that, although Reality is One, three states of Being appear to manifest themselves in Consciousness. The first is the dream state. In the dream state, everything is projected from mind. That is to say, for example, when you travel to Hawaii in a dream, you only travel there in your mind.

You have to wake up and enter the waking state to realize that the hallucination you were having was only a dream. The waking state is based on the life of a subject, moving about a world of objects in space and time.

According to Rupert, you can have a second awakening. You can move into the experience of pure consciousness and finally know who you really are. That is to say, you can become aware of being aware. In that state, you see that the basis of Reality is Consciousness, not mind or matter. When you have that second awakening, the waking state is seen as very dream-like in nature. In the third state, a person experiences being in the Now, in the flow of life—moving freely in dimensionless, timeless Reality. At that point life becomes peaceful, clear, tranquil and joyous.

After listening to the tape we discussed these matters further and then had some delicious refreshments. It was a very worthwhile way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

 

Inquiry Sunday at KECC, January 7, 2018

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Inquiry Sunday at KECC
January 7, 2018

The Inquiry Sunday is comprised of morning and afternoon events. Six of us were in attendance for the morning session, which featured two video clips of Vancouver Island spiritual teacher Clare Blanchflower speaking in a spontaneous and meditative manner on the subject of awareness and our true nature. She expressed very beautifully in her own unique style some of the truths being communicated by many of the contemporary nondual teachers. The emphasis was on the simple but profound fact that there is an awareness that notices everything that arises within it – and that is what we are. This message is being presented more and more widely it seems and can have radical implications for shifting our consciousness from identification with thoughts, feelings, and sensations to being grounded in that which is aware of them all. There was some interesting group dialogue between the two video clips as we explored the material in terms of our own understanding and our own lives.
In the afternoon seven participants choose from a selection of questions on video, watched the responses to the questions, and engaged in a group inquiry. The first question was put to Krishnamurti, “What is our consciousness, are there levels of consciousness, and can we be free of the content of our consciousness?” K pointed out that consciousness as we normally know it is equivalent to the content, which is our conditioning. If we can have a depth of insight into the structure of our thinking, and especially the structure of “the me”, then it is possible to empty the contents of consciousness and experience wholeness and love.
The second question was put to Mooji and was concerned with free will, choice, and destiny. The main point that Mooji made was that, beyond the issue of whether or not we actually have free will, we do in practical terms have the power to remove our focus of attention from the objects of perception, such as thoughts and feelings, and place it on the awareness which is the witness of all phenomena. This pointing was very similar to what Clare Blanchflower had been saying in the morning. The afternoon videos were complimented with group inquiry. It was an enjoyable and fruitful day of self-examination.

Krishnamurti Study Session, January 6, 2018

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Krishnamurti Study Session
Saturday, January 6, 2018

Six participants gathered to explore J. Krishnamurti’s book The First and Last Freedom, Q & A # 22. The chapter was entitled “On Love.” It began with a question put to Krishnamurti, “What do you mean by love?” K. responds by saying that we would find out what love is by first seeing what it is not. In his usual style of negation, he strips away all the conventional concepts about love, fundamentally saying that love is not of the mind and that all projections of thought are not love. “Love is the unknown …. What we are going to do is … look at the known, and when that is looked at purely, without condemnation, the mind becomes free from the known; then we shall know what love is… It is only when there is love that all our problems can be solved, and then we shall know its bliss and its happiness.”
The material in the text gave the group plenty to grapple with in the discussion that accompanied the reading and we had a very interesting investigation of the topic. There were a couple of newcomers along with some of the more regular attendees, all of whom were most welcome.

Victoria Krishnamurti Event

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Victoria Krishnamurti Event
Friday, January 5, 2018

The monthly meeting at the Church of Truth in Victoria was entitled “Self Transformation”. There were three of us in attendance on a very wet, rainy night. The session started with some discussion of J. Krishnamurti’s teachings on self-knowledge and awareness. There were several handouts available, including one from the first chapter of his book Freedom from the Known, which provides the foundation for the Church of Truth meetings. We then elected to watch two video clips of Rupert Spira responding to questions about awareness and the challenge of non-identification with thoughts and emotions. As always, Rupert was very clear in his pointings and they were felt to be very useful. We then had a lively discussion of the subject matter in the videos. The participants were experienced in such inquiry and were able to explore quite deeply.

Stillness Within Year end Meetup featured the movie: Being Here – A Beginner’s Guide to Non-Duality

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A dozen of us gathered for a year-end meetup, enjoying the film – Being Here – A Beginner’s Guide to Non-Duality.  As a follow up from film-makers’ production of “Who’s Driving the Dream Bus“, Being Here was released in fall of 2017, capturing an ambling drive through the UK countryside as filmmakers re-visit a few local characters who describe their own sense of what non-duality means (and, what it doesn’t mean)! The interviewer posed questions that many have asked:  Is there some knowable reason to pursue a non-dual type of knowing? Does it mean something? Is there a way one can get there?

The answers always seemed to circle back to a few key messages:

  • there isn’t any ‘one’ who can get this ‘truth’… it’s beyond any kind of mental concept;
  • it isn’t actually elusive – it’s right here to be felt within every moment of existence (it is existence after the filtres we tend to see through have fallen away);
  • there aren’t notable benefits to the individual to acquiring this type of knowledge – what Tony Parsons calls “The Open Secret“… (the ‘me’ frequently hopes for some gain or reward yet finding the absence of a ‘me’ within spacious awareness is the ultimate discovery)

The group also watched a Jetz TV interview with Mooji, followed by a guided meditation exploring facets of our own awareness. We also enjoyed some wonderful discussion and sharing of people’s inquiry journeys.

Krishnamurti once suggested that “From innumerable complexities we must grow to simplicity; we must become simple in our inward life and in our outward needs.” This seems to speak to letting go of expectation and striving, relaxing into the current moment.  In my own experience, when ‘efforting’ and striving fall away, one can find something beautiful and mysterious in it’s wake!

Thanks so much for hosting us – people were very grateful for the gathering!

Krishnamurti Study Session at KECC, December 16

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Krishnamurti Study Session
Saturday, December 16, 2017

We continued with our study of J. Krishnamurti’s book The First and Last Freedom. Five people were present as we looked at the Q & A section 21 “On Sex.” The questioner asked how we can deal with the problem that sex seems to create in our lives. In response, K asks “Why is it that everything we touch we turn into a problem?” It was a good question for group inquiry. A little later in the text K says, “sex becomes an extraordinarily complex and difficult problem so long as you do not understand the mind which thinks about the problem.” He opens the question up to involve the way we live and the contradictions in our daily lives, pointing out that sex becomes a problem when there is no love.
The chapter provided a good deal of material for discussion and exploration of various questions related to the nature of thought, why sex is given such importance in our society, and how the issues around it may really be an expression of a general tendency of the mind to create endless problems and confusion. It was a good session, with authentic inquiry into ourselves and the human condition.

Stillness Within December Meetup: Eckhart Tolle – A Deeper Knowing

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At the December meetup, six of us gathered to enjoy a recent talk by Eckhart Tolle.  The talk delved into the two ways of knowing:  conceptual and intuitive.  Eckhart emphasized that while both are necessary, in modern society we have over-valued conceptual knowledge, leading to widespread habitual or even compulsive thinking. He also suggests that while thinking can be used to manifest our reality, it is only through spaciousness and the cessation of thinking that we are able to create from the depths of Being.

Members resonated with many of the key messages such as taking many small moments each day to rest into beingness and allowing thoughts to settle.  Eckhart for example, pauses in between activities to enjoy the sense of ‘un-doing’.  It was fun to imagine those around him asking why he is sitting in his car so long after turning it off!  In a society that often calls us to move immediately to the next priority or activity, I loved this affirmation of the joy of stopping to simply remember our essential beingness.

“There is a great happiness in not wanting, in not being
something, in not going somewhere” Jiddu Krishnamurti

In another example, Eckhart talked about making the present moment your friend – saying yes internally to whatever arises.  Tricky – for sure when things are not what you would have chosen!  Eckhart suggested that accepting ‘what is’ is a first step – denying or getting angry about what’s happening, often leads to greater suffering and less effectiveness in addressing situations.  He could have had a wonderful discourse with Krishnamurti on this topic, who linked back to the concept of true knowing:  “The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence“.

Thank you to those who came out as well as to KECC for their support for this event.