You are the Unknown
The link below brings to mind K’s classic ‘Freedom from the Known’. Freedom from the known is knowing You are the Unknown. http://youtu.be/R5wZT2E78cY
The link below brings to mind K’s classic ‘Freedom from the Known’. Freedom from the known is knowing You are the Unknown. http://youtu.be/R5wZT2E78cY
Krishnamurti Study Group Saturday, October 25, 2014 Four people gathered at the Swanwick Centre to continue with the ongoing study of the text Freedom From the Known. We covered the first half of Cbapter 16, which is the last chapter of the book. The subjects explored by K in this segment are total revolution, the religious mind, and energy. He asks if the human being can, by seeing the nature of his or her relationship with the world, bring about a different quality of mind which he calls in this case “the religious mind”. There was some questioning of why he uses the word “religious” when he always seemed to challenge any kind of belief system or organizational approach. We explored what might be meant by the true meaning of the religious mind and what is involved in opening to that reality. The issue of wasting energy through conflict was investigated and the nature of the attention or awareness needed to move beyond this habitual and conditioned way of living. It seemed that all participants felt the dialogue had been penetrating and beneficial, and the value of sharing in this way was appreciated.
I gave a printed copy of the last blog, “Keep it Clean,” to a friend and she returned it just now with the comment… “This wasn’t really very helpful to ‘me’ at this stage, but thanks anyway.” I contemplated this and the only thing that kept popping up is kind of the other side of what the “Keep it Clean” blog says as regards to not conversing with “another” or always talking to one’s Self. I have found that it makes all the difference in the world if one is reading, watching videos or listening to tapes that “come from Presence” – ie: Krishnamurti, Mooji, Gangaji et al – by remaining as my Self. I will not “get anything” out of the listening if not listening from Presence. In fact it should feel as if one is not getting anything. How can I “get” what I am already being? Is water ever trying to get its wetness? To an intellect, whose job is to conceptually “get” or grasp, this can be most upsetting. To say I don’t get this, or that it’s “over my head” or it isn’t helpful is quite accurate. It is impossible to mentally grasp the pure Being I Am. One cannot think the marvelous sense of Presence, one can only “feel” It by being It. And to see that is to “get” It. Awareness cannot be “used” to help clear up perceived problems. All seeming problems are due to not seeing or “coming from” the Awareness I Am. For as This, no problems exist in the first place. All apparent suffering comes from identifying with the illusory separate self or little struggling ‘me’ that is trying to “get it”, instead of the pure Self I Am. Coming from the I-Principle or as K says, “Choiceless Awareness,” and not from thought, is being Truly helpful. Of course the Advaita police might say, “And to whom is it being truly helpful? Awareness doesn’t need any help and there isn’t two!” And I would have to agree with that, even though it ‘feels’ kind of unhelpful to do so!
It seems whenever I have been either listening to or in the actual presence of a “wise one” aka : Jiddu Krishnamurti or UG Krishnamurti, there is an energy of Truth to their words…a finality if you will. Sharing this with friend Peter Dziuban he wrote back this morning with a link to a “Stillness Speaks” blog that dealt with this very issue… Robert writes: Hi Peter, I have been in the presence of several “wise ones” and there seems to be a certain richness or depth to their words. Like a carrier wave of Truth that is undisputable. I recall you saying that Alfred Aiken said if one comes consciously “from” Being then the words are imbued with this energy and are definitely “felt”. It seems that “at this point in the game” I almost have to catch “myself” as the thinking seems to draw the attention before I am able to just rest as Awareness and let the words flow from there. Just sharing. No question really. Thanks Peter writes: Hi Robert, Thanks for your emails. That’s right, about “coming from Presence” when talking…there is all the difference in the world. Yes, it may seem at first that it’s necessary to “catch oneself” a lot, but with a little persistence you’ll be surprised how quickly it becomes easier, in fact natural to “talk as Presence.” And it doesn’t have to be done only when talking with a spiritual group–in fact, it’s something that can be done all the time, even on mundane phone conversations, or whatever. Here’s a post titled Keep It Clean from 2011 on the Stillness Speaks website. If you haven’t seen it already, it talks about this very thing: http://peterdziuban.stillnessspeaks.com/ssblog/awareness-presence-not-two-duality-consciousness-self-now-spiritual/ All the best, Peter
Krishnamurti Study Group Saturday, October 18, 2014 Five people gathered on the lawn to continue with the study of Freedom From the Known. None of the participants had not been at the previous meeting and the interest was in looking at the last half of Chapter 15, which had been explored at that time. The main subject being discussed by K was meditation and attention, but other issues were also presented by inquirers. There was a questioning of K’s apparent dismissal of all teachers and the proposal was made that there have been teachers for all of us who have been of great help. It was suggested that K is saying that Life itself is the teacher, which could include “teachers” as well as anyone we meet or any situation or happening in our daily lives. Perhaps he is indicating that depending on teachers is a way of not looking for ourselves at what is actually going on. A further question was concerning K’s sometimes harsh judgements about the pettiness of most people and the seeming contradiction when he says we must look at ourselves without condemnation or approval, without judgement of any kind. Without presuming to have an answer to the question, it was suggested that he may speak the way he does because he is attempting to shock us into paying attention and “waking up.” Next meeting we will enter into the last chapter of the book. Inquiry Sunday Sunday, October 19, 2014 Inquiry Sunday usually consists of a morning and an afternoon session. This time the morning session highlighted a video of American teacher Adyashant entitled “The Redeeming Presence of Love”. In fact most of the talk discussed the issues of birth, life, and death. Four people were present. Adya went into the ideas of birth and death and pointed to the importance of transcending the fear of death, not only as an ultimate event but as a psychological reality every moment of life. The fear of death is inseparable from the idea that we are born as opposed to the awareness of our true nature as that which is prior to birth. He then spoke of the need to go beyond transcendence and to bring the understanding into the day to day small events of living. This merging of the transcendent with the immanent is what he called the redeeming quality of Love. The video was followed by some brief discussion about “how” one brings love into everyday actions. It was suggested that it is a question of love acting and not “us” acting. The afternoon session began with a video of Krishnamurti speaking on “The Violent Self”, a collection of segments of his talks on violence. This is one of the Evelyn Blau compilations in the “Beyond Myth and Tradition” series. The main emphasis of K’s pointings was that if we can look at ourselves without division, without the conflict of the observer and the observed, then a tremendous energy is made available which puts an end to violence completely. This is an understanding and an action that Krishnamurti applies to all self examination and possibility of radical change. The video was as usual followed by a discussion of aspects of what had been listened to which were of particular interest to the participants.
An introduction to Krishnamurti on this theme took place at the University of Victoria this week. The first in this setting, it was attended by 13 participants. A ‘Krishnamurti on Freedom’ video, narrated by Prof. Allan Anderson, and a talk by K on ‘Freedom from Fear’ from the 1966 Real Revolution series were followed by a lively Q&A session.
Krishnamurti Video and Dialogue October 12, 2014 This public showing of Krishnamurti took place at the Church of Truth in Victoria on Sunday afternoon. Six people were in attendance for the video from the series “Attention and Order”, talks given by K in Ojai, California, in 1984. We had already shown the first two talks in the series; this was the first of two Question and Answer sessions where K read out questions that had been submitted and then entered into a dialogue with the questioner on the topic raised. He pointed out fairly soon that there were too many people in the audience to allow for personal interaction so he would represent the questioners and have a dialogue with himself. A particularly interesting point he made right from the start was that the answer is in the question and not apart from it. The question has to be looked into for the assumptions and beliefs that are limiting the understanding of the questioner, and this is much more important than providing some sort of conceptual answer to any question. He also discussed in some detail the issue of thought and attention as well as other questions. The dialogue that followed picked up on the issue of whether there is a kind of attention or awareness that can see the limitation of thought and bring about a change or “mutation” in the brain. Some earnest exploration took place which included the sense that we must all find out for ourselves through our own inquiry, whether that takes place in the supportive atmosphere of a group setting or in one’s own daily life.
Now, I realize that the expression nicknamed ‘K’ spent most of his apparent life teaching that one must be diligent in watching thoughts and that it takes tremendous energy to do this etc. And that there can be a human brain that gets completely transformed etc. I am in no way pooh-poohing this. But what if? What if one turned the whole thing around and started from the pure Self that is all there is? The perfect all-present Awareness that is all that Truly IS. Can any im-perfection be found? As Awareness “precludes” all thought; is there anything or anywhere “beyond?” Does pure Being need to ‘glimpse’ Itself? It already is all the Being there is, so leaves no secondary would-be mind to glimpse anything! Looking from Here the ‘world’ truly doesn’t exist; so is there any need to continue talking about “You are the world and the world is you?” There is only You! It’s like the difference between riding a bike and struggling up a long hill as opposed to effortlessly, alertly coasting downhill. As Mooji says, “You have nothing to do.” Happy Thanksgiving. Any comments?
A Glimpse Into Total Freedom October 3 – 5, 2014 This weekend retreat was facilitated by Richard Waxberg and Deborah Kerner who live in Ojai and have led many retreats at the Krishnamurti Centre there. The main focus of the weekend was on pure seeing: “a direct impersonal seeing beyond the limitations of thought, its structures, and the illusion of a separate “me”. The format included brief periods of silent sitting, a videotape of Krishnamurti in conversation with Pupul Jayakar in India, and group dialogues which were designed to “create a radical space of exploration”, of “seeing and listening”. There was also a good balance of free time for walks and enjoying the property at the Swanwick Centre. Altogether fifteen people (including facilitators) participated in the program. The facilitators were very skillful in creating an atmosphere of mutual support and affection as well as challenging participants to question assumptions and beliefs and to delve into their experience. The participants in their turn seemed very eager for and capable of a deep looking into themselves. It seemed the dialogues were unusually profound and valuable for everyone, bringing many insights and often a sense of an energetic shift in consciousness from “becoming” to “being” and a greater appreciation of the mystery of beingness “beyond time, beyond meaning and purpose”. There was a good deal of talk about how wonderful the weekend had been and how another such meeting could be arranged in the future. Hopefully Richard and Deborah will be returning before very long.
Up at 5 am this morning and the urge came to walk to McDonalds for coffee and use the wi-fi to send a friend a B Day greeting. Ordering coffee and a muffin the clerk asked if I’d like to have the large size so that I can “play the game.” Of course, I smile and under my breath comes…but I am always playing the game. Apparently McDonalds have a Monopoly game going on and removing the sticker I find ‘Park Place’ and ‘Board Walk’. Anyway, firing up the Acer, I begin composing my B Day message. Of course it is not your ordinary flowery variety; as there is no longer belief in the whole birth, life and death story, it is one of Rumi’s poems, more a celebration of Being than birth, if you will. And as I compose my message I can’t help overhearing the conversation at a nearby table where four or five ‘regulars’ are discussing various topics as they read the newspaper. There is constant reference to “they” and “them” that had done something they shouldn’t have or the latest political scandal in China that “they” should do something about, and on and on it went… “they and “them”… “they and “them”. As I was leaving I just had to stop at the ‘regular’s’ table. Smiling I say… “Excuse me guys, but I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation. Did you ever stop and ask who “they” and “them” are? I mean besides the roles “they” seem to be playing? Pausing, but as there was no response, I say… “They and them are ourselves in a temporary disguise… Have a good day.” This is R’s version of K’s message… “You are the world and the world is you.” PS – After closing my laptop I too opened the newspaper and scanned the pages and funny as it sounds, the only thing that seemed to draw my attention was the Horoscope page (which of course I never seem to read)! Something about… Today, Robert would be in one of his silly moods but to go ahead and be silly despite what “others” might think. Go figure.
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