Inquiry Sunday at KECC, January 7, 2018
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.