Archive for category: Event Summaries

I’m pleased to report that the February UVic Spiritual Awakening Meetup went very well, with a growing number of returning members. 15 Awakeners attended, and the discussion was intelligent, lively and dynamic. The topic was “Exploring Empathy and Compassion”. We began with a video on self-compassion by Kristin Neff. Following that we looked at some definitions of empathy, compassion and a Buddhist term called “maitri”, which refers to “unconditional friendliness towards oneself”. Some thoughts about compassion, kindness and love were briefly explored. The notion of “self-compassion” then sparked a discussion about “self”, and the value of having compassion for something that might, ultimately, be a delusion. We explored whether self-compassion and mindfulness could be used to bring a spaciousness to the mechanism of thought that might help to disempower the ego and its self-perpetuating strategies (which exist in thought). While compassion and self-compassion are themes in many Buddhist teachings, many of the teachings also include notions such as “emptiness” and “no self”. It was interesting to explore how these different elements might be compatible. Some of the members (including myself) are passionate about K’s teachings, and the so conversation was very much grounded in his teachings, although it allowed for and acknowledged other perspectives as well. For instance, we discussed the limited value of adopting a practice and how simply relying on a new behaviour pattern may be limited and potentially counterproductive; others shared tools and practices that are helping them to relate to thought differently and better understand that they are not necessarily the “self” they had to come to believe themselves to be. We discussed awareness and inquired into the question of whether we can be something that appears in our awareness, which includes our identification as individuals. A Krishnamurti quote on compassion was shared towards the end, and as it turns out the essence of the content had already been significantly discussed. I’m certainly still learning as I go along, but the event seems to be going very smoothly at this point. Many people made a point of saying they would be returning, and I was surprised to receive hugs from a few folks who were very appreciative of the content and the good company.  Here is the quote that was shared: “Compassion is not hard to come by when the heart is not filled with the cunning things of the mind. It is the mind with its demands and fears, its attachments and denials, its determinations and urges, that destroys love. And how difficult it is to be simple about all this! You don’t need philosophies and doctrines to be gentle and kind. The efficient and the powerful of the land will organize to feed and clothe the people, to provide them with shelter and medical care. This is inevitable with the rapid increase of production; it is the function of well-organized government and a balanced society. But organization does not give the generosity of the heart and hand. Generosity comes from quite a different source, a source beyond all measure. Ambition and envy destroy it as surely as fire burns. This source must be touched, but one must come to it empty-handed, without prayer, without sacrifice. Books cannot teach, nor can any guru lead to, this source. It cannot be reached through the cultivation of virtue, though virtue is necessary, nor through capacity and obedience. When the mind is serene, without any movement, it is there. Serenity is without motive, without the urge for the more.” -J. Krishnamurti, The Book of Life  

  Church of Truth Event Sunday, February 8, 2015          Eleven people were present for the Sunday event at the Church of Truth in Victoria.  We began with a short video clip of Krishnamurti speaking on the topic of “conditioning” and whether it is possible to be free of all conditioning.  This was followed by a lively dialogue on the subject, including sharing of what conditioning means to each of us and how we are with it in our lives. After a tea break we watched a clip of Rupert Spira speaking about thought as a habit and answering a question about the persistence of thinking even though it has been seen that it produces conflict and limitation.  We then engaged in further discussion, which brought up a number of disagreements and some energy of conflict and frustration.  It was pointed out that the value of dialogue is often to be found in looking at our disturbances and reactions to what others are saying:  we then see something about ourselves.  The session concluded with another short clip, this time from Eckhart Tolle TV, in which he dealt with the same subject as Rupert but from a slightly different angle.  He gave some practical tips about how to weaken the addiction to thought that seems to be so strong.      It is interesting to see how these three teachers approach the fact of conditioning, and it seemed that participants were finding the explorations interesting and valuable.  The next session in March will look at “Awareness”.

A few years ago I had the good fortune of being ‘in relationship’ with a lovely woman who happened to be a practicing Naturopathic Physician. Her modality consisted of what is termed Classic Homeopathy. And as I understand it; the principal is to dilute the original organism that is apparently causing a particular disease by many thousands of times and administering it to the patient. The theory is, rather than fight the symptoms, we go in and shore up the immune system and administer the cure at the root. Anyway, just now I was reading some of an interview between Douglas Harding and Richard Lang. The word that popped up was ‘Homeopathy.’ By turning around and ‘looking from’ the so-called problem the solution becomes apparent. There isn’t anyone there to cause a problem! And it also reminded me of K’s famous quotation. “You are the world, and the world is you.” + + + + RL: This revolution in personal relationships must have an effect on one’s relationship with foreigners, animals and plants, inanimate objects – you name it. I’m thinking of all the conflict going on in the world today at all levels and how you might help. DH: I think that if we try to ameliorate, or abolish even, the dreadful things that are going on in the world – war and exploitation, starvation, all those things – if we try to do that at the level of the symptoms we’re not going to do very much. I wouldn’t say it’s useless, but it’s going to be insufficiently radical. We will not really make a contribution here until we tackle the root of the thing, and the root of the thing is to be found in each of our personal lives. If I’m suffering from this disease of confrontation in my relationship with you at this moment, what’s the use of trying to deal with the same problem of confrontation at other levels – national and international – confrontation between sexes, ethnic groups, religions, ideologies, power blocs, and so on? In other words, service to the world begins at home. Repeat: service to the world begins at home – if only because when you’ve found out who you are, you find you are the world. RL: How do you think it affects personal problems, psychological problems? Such as depression, anxiety, fear, loneliness? DH: There’s a sense in which it leaves those human things to carry on at their own level. At the centre of my life is this Awareness whose very nature I find is freedom – freedom not only from thinghood but from thoughts and feelings of all kinds. Certainly from problems of all kinds. As the source of those things, the origin of those difficult things, its business must be to leave them alone, free to be what they are. Who I really am doesn’t in itself change what I like to call my human nature. What it does, Richard, is to place it. This difficult and sometimes heart-rending stuff is not denied. In fact it is far more honestly reckoned with and cheerfully taken on board, from the state of freedom at the centre, than ever it was from that illusory person. Now there’s no necessity to deny and every reason to acknowledge these troubles in so far as they persist – loneliness and depression etc. It is part of the price of involvement in the world to have these feelings, some of which are agreeable, some of which are disagreeable, some of which are tragic. I can’t exist, can’t express at all, without this dualism out there. The dualism of good and evil, beauty and ugliness, black and white, etc. is the inescapable condition of expressing into the world from the place that is free of those dualities. So it’s not a case of being free from these things, in the sense that one abolishes them, but of being free from them in the sense that one locates them. They are no longer central. This not only removes one from them – without removing oneself from them: in the long run and when persisted in, it changes them. How exactly it does so remains to be seen. RL: Do you find in your own life that you have arrived at a sense of deep peace through this awareness? DH: Yes, I do indeed. It couldn’t be deeper. It couldn’t be more available, and it couldn’t be more natural or native to oneself. It’s been here all the while, and can never be achieved, or improved upon, or cultivated. It simply is here for the looking at. This peace is our very nature, not something we come across. It’s where we are, nearer than all else. We don’t come to it. we come from it. To find it is to allow ourselves to go back to the place we never left. Click here to read more

    Krishnamurti Study Group Saturday, January 3, 2015.       The group began its study of a second book by J. Krishnamurti entitled “The First and Last Freedom”.  Seven people attended the meeting which began with some reading from the first chapter.   The focus was on the difficulty of communicating and of meeting on the same level at the same time.  K emphasizes the importance of listening without prejudice or pre-formulations so that one is open to what is being said and may be able to see the truth or falseness of it in the moment.  We must be aware of ourselves as we actually are and not as we would like to be.  Group members were free in interject at any time and a good deal of discussion was triggered by the reading.   It was suggested that if judgements do arise, which will usually happen, then one can simply notice them and thereby neutralize their power to distort the inquiry.   The discussion naturally flowed from one subject to related ones and participants were very much engaged in the exploration.   The meetings on the first and third Saturdays of the month will continue to focus on the same book. Inquiry Sunday January 4, 2015 Nine people were in attendance for the morning session in which the inquiry approach of Rupert Spira was presented via an excellent video interview of Rupert in conversation with Chris Hebard.   The two explored the book “The Transparency of Things”, Chris asking pointed questions about what Rupert is pointing to.  It was an excellent experiential journey, a looking at the nature of our present moment experience and questioning many of our assumptions about the reality of separateness.  Rupert is masterful at guiding people to an experience and understanding which undermines the assumption of duality.  We will be continuing to explore this DVD in future Inquiry Sunday meetings. The afternoon session began with a half hour video from the “Beyond Myth and Tradition” series produced by Evelyn Blau in which excerpts of talks by Krishnamurti are presented on a particular subject, in this case “Change”.  Krishnamurti himself is usually very passionate in these clips and urges us to be equally passionate ourselves in looking into the issue of what he says is a necessary change in the structure of society which can only come about when we ourselves transform our own consciousness through insight or direct seeing of our ways of thinking and behaviour.  These challenging talks by K always seem to stimulate lively discussion following the video presentation.  We will continue with further episodes from the same series in the coming months.  

Today I received an invite to attend an event to celebrate the what is termed “Winter Solstace” or new beginning or rebirth of a new world. From here there is no need to attach any significance to the calendar as far as “New Beginnings” are concerned. I am reminded of K’s talk. “The first step is the last step… … The first step is the last step. The first step is to perceive, perceive what you are thinking, perceive your ambition, perceive your anxiety, your loneliness, your despair, this extraordinary sense of sorrow, perceive it, without any condemnation, justification, without wishing it to be different. Just to perceive it, as it is. When you perceive it as it is, then there is a totally different kind of action taking place, and that action is the final action. Right? That is, when you perceive something as being false or as being true, that perception is the final action, which is the final step. Now listen to it. I perceive the falseness of following somebody else, somebody else’s instruction—Krishna, Buddha, Christ, it does not matter who it is. I see, there is the perception of the truth that following somebody is utterly false. Because your reason, your logic and everything points out how absurd it is to follow somebody. Now that perception is the final step, and when you have perceived, you leave it, forget it, because the next minute you have to perceive anew, which is again the final step.” AND Here is my reply to the invitation… Thank you so much for the kind invitation! Wishing everybody all the best in your apparent journey. From here, there is no calendar to a “New Beginning.” It is ever-fresh and shining in each apparent moment of Existence as I Am. I Am is synonymous with Love. It doesn’t come and go…or even begin or end. And Love is all that truly Exists. It shines in the Heart as… Peace.