Archive for category: Event Summaries

This Light in Oneself: True Meditation

February 9 – 11, 2024

With Cynthia Overweg

Zoom Online

Cynthia joined us online from the UK for a series of three sessions exploring the teachings of J. Krishnamurti on the subject of meditation. Each session was attended by 15 or 16 participants in total. Cynthia made use of striking photographic images in order to support her well-constructed words, in many cases taken from Krishnamurti’s talks or writings. Over many years he taught and discussed his perspectives in the public domain as well as privately. Cynthia also played brief passages of music to support our going inwards during moments of silent sitting while watching the breath and feeling our feet on the floor.

As an introduction, Cynthia shared some of the most essential aspects of K’s teaching, which often involved observing ourselves in our daily transactions with others and with the world around us. She made a strong point of the fact that Krishnamurti’s words were an attempt to express the “wordless”, the beauty beneath and within the words and ideas. She emphasised, as K did, the fact of light in the natural world and the “mystery” of it. On Friday the focus was on the question “What does it mean to be a light to oneself” and “What is true meditation?” Are the two separate?

Cynthia pointed out that, for Krishnamurti, meditation was not a technique. It was a seeing of “what is”, an understanding of oneself at the very depths of one’s being. It was the emptying of the mind of all activity of the self. Ordinarily the observer separates itself from the observed, creating the “me” and the “you”. Can we look without the interpreting process, without translating our observations into words? Nobody but ourselves can teach us about ourselves. We experimented with noticing all activity of the self, the arising of images, the slightest movements of thought, and the formation of a fragmentary existence in oneself. There was some discussion of these issues in the group.

Cynthia shared what K himself had also shared in his lifetime when he stated that light can only appear in us when we carefully examine ourselves. In fact, looking at ourselves affects the whole consciousness of humanity. This was a significant feature of K’s teaching wherein he challenged us to be aware of our conditioning, to be free of it, and asked if we can create a totally different society. Much of the material studied on Saturday took up this question about which K was extremely passionate. Cynthia shared many quotes guiding students’ explorations of the conditioned mind, awareness, meditation, and self-observation. Is the entity that desires to free itself different from the conditioning? Can an analytical process free the mind from its own creation of a “self”? The seeing of the limitation of such seeking may bring freedom without any seeking and the mind may become quiet. If we begin to understand ourself without trying to change, then what we are may undergo a transformation. Meditation is looking and listening without controlling. It is not a means to an end: it is both the means and the end.

We tried observing a number of evocative photographs and the effect they had on us. Krishnamurti was quoted. “When you are a light to yourself you are a light to the world because the world is you and you are the world”

On the second day we spent a good deal of time looking at issues of authority and fear. What are some of the obstacles preventing our full understanding of our true nature? If we can understand these things then we don’t have to identify with them and we may be able to break away from all authority, including the authority of our own experience. We must face our own insecurities and be aware that we are frightened of losing the “known”. In such awareness the problem of fear may be resolved.

On the third day we looked more deeply into the nature of love and its relation to beauty. We were encouraged to speak of our personal issues with love, compassion, and living “from the heart”.  Cynthia had many quotes on love and the difficulties of living without a centre or a “me”. Love is beyond thought and time. When there is no mind being dominant, then there is love.

The three-day workshop ended with some expressions of appreciation from the participants, many of whom praised Cynthia for her hard work and dedication in putting together such an extensive presentation. She had created a space of beauty and wisdom wherein there was a sense of relaxing into a space of looking and listening which was supportive, nurturing, and enjoyable, providing meaningful insights. DB

Exploring Ourselves

• With Jackie McInley
• Sunday, February 4, 2024
• Zoom Online

Jackie joined us from the UK for this online meeting in which we intended to learn about ourselves within the context of the teachings of J. Krishnamurti. In order to do so, K recommended a certain quality of attentiveness. As Jackie explained, the “old brain” may or may not be capable of such attention. Can we face the fact of our own selfishness? Can we give of ourselves and go beyond the usual focus on ourselves? And what happens when we give attention together, as a cooperative endeavour in which none of us knows any more than anyone else but we each bring our awareness of the moment.

As far as the actual procedure goes, we start with some quiet time then allow some space to see what arises and how we would like to share it. Jackie likes to encourage participants new to the group to share any questions they might have, so she probed a person who had not previously been in dialogue with our group. He did his best to present his question, which was to do with the nature of an individual and the process of “individuation”.

The “new” group member touched on the issue of going beyond the separateness that thought seems to create. If individuation is an illusion then what wakes us up from such an illusion and what keeps the illusion intact? Group members had various contributions to the inquiry, which led to a discussion of “knowing” and “not-knowing”. The experience of entering a state of not-knowing was talked about and the terrifying aspect of such exposure to the “Unknown” was acknowledged by most of the group. It was agreed that there is no ultimate safety in knowing or the known. Can it be seen that trying to find security in the known is a false search and is limited by our conditioning, which gives the known a certain safety value which it in fact does not have. Such orientation can easily cause conflict and must be completely negated, it was suggested.

Jackie suggested that there might be a “communication breakdown” in the group dialogue and some time was spent attempting to see the nature of the problem – with limited success. There was some disagreement about the approach that was being taken to “exploring ourselves” and further investigation appeared to be necessary.

DB

• Exploring Ourselves
• With Jackie McKinley
• Sunday, January 23, 2024
• Zoom Online

Twelve people in total were present for this Sunday morning dialogue session with Jackie, who joined us via Zoom from the UK. Jackie began with some pointers about how to make use of a dialogue meeting. She said that dialogue is mainly about speaking and listening, both at a depth which is “accessible to everybody”. It is not a search for something we can take away and use in our lives. Rather, it is an ongoing “waking up” or “seeing” which opens up as we go. It can be very helpful if we can express ourselves clearly and slowly enough that we can follow what is being shared.

As is usually the case, we began with some quiet time. This allows space for any questions or observations that may arise and for any significant unresolved problems to reveal themselves. The first issue that arose was a question about how we can approach Krishnamurti without depending on him for answers. Do we repeat K’s words and make them into theories, or is a direct seeing into the issue possible? Is thought looking at thought or is there something beyond thought looking at thought or “aware” of thought? One participant expressed frustration with the seemingly slow process of going around in circles with such questions. Was the frustration a fact to simply “be with” or could we immediately go beyond the frustration? There was a good deal of discussion of such points, which could have been experienced as hard work or creative discovery – or some of each.

Closing remarks emphasised the central importance of the action of “seeing” as we inquire into the structures of our consciousness, either in group inquiry or on our own. We will be meeting on the first and third Sundays of each month until further notice.

DB

Exploring Ourselves
January 7, 2024
With Jackie McInley
Zoom Online

Ten people in total were in attendance for this Sunday Morning online meeting. We began with some questioning of what kind of awareness Krishnamurti was talking about for so many years. Was it an awareness without a controller? Was it self-consciousness, or something different? Was it beyond self-consciousness, with a quality of freedom, mystery, or an inexplicability? Can it be “understood”? Is it separate from the body or one with it? Is it separate from thought? Are thought and conditioning the same? If there is no thought can there be conditioning? Is it possible to speak from the depth of consciousness or is thought always creating some element of conflict, usually without realising that it is doing so? And how do we see what thought is doing in us? There is so much projection in our thinking that conflicts are often not seen with any clarity, for example in family dynamics.

There were some questions about our approach to these issues. Are we having some insight or just thinking? Is there partial insight or full insight? Can we slow down the inquiry so we can see the insecurity of our thoughts? What about the uneasy feeling we have as we get closer to the sense of not knowing, of touching the unknown? In the experiential domain, can we stay in our vulnerability and feel the stresses that arise as we explore ourselves? Jackie asked the interesting question “What is the true sense of peace?”

Other participants wondered if we ever truly wake up or are we most often in a dream state. Are we caught habitually in various assumptions? Can we see that we are never really a victim and, if not, how is it missed? Is sadness “mine” or is it a universal phenomenon? If we sense that much of our experience is common and shared, does that bring us closer to other humans?

Sometimes the dialogue seemed to create that sense of shared meaning.

DB

Self-inquiry, November 29, 2023

With Jackie McInley

Esquimalt Gorge Park Pavilion

Victoria, BC

Ten people were present for the penultimate session of this visit to Canada by Jackie. She will be missed. Her skill in reflecting back to the group what its members have expressed and suggesting directions we could move to deepen our inquiry has made her facilitation extremely effective and valuable. To begin this session, Jackie brought forth the phenomena of the “lone wolf” and that of The Hundredth Monkey in the behaviour of certain animals in nature. She mentioned that human beings display similar patterns, which have been taken by scientists such as David Bohm to offer “hope” that we could find ways to cooperate and live in a greater state of harmony than we have up until now. One group member asked at this point if there was fear in the group and a self-protectiveness which might prevent a working together on the part of humanity.

Another participant asked if we have an understanding of how to deal with fear when it arises. How can we transcend fear when it appears? Can fear sometimes be an impetus for a healthy response to life situations? Can we “go through” our fear, and do we in fact actually have any choice in the matter? Is there a fear that actually is us, without separation, and without it being “my” fear?

We asked whether the source of fear is thinking, especially the generation of the “I” or “me” thoughts which form our identity. Is there a “me” which is creating the fear? And along with that, is there a motive for getting rid of fear, which keeps us caught in fear? Can there be a “seeing” of what is going on without a drive to find a resolution? Can there be a seeing with our whole being? These and other questions kept our attention for the full time of the meeting and then we had to draw it to a close.

It seems that our dialogue meetings have progressively taken on a sense of cooperative harmony and exploration that brings us together in a real search for truth and, perhaps, even love.

DB