Inquiry with Lee Tuley, September 27, 2026
We met at the Centre on the lawn, sitting in the sun on one of the last warm days of the year. Our facilitator, Victoria resident Lee Tuley, took the place of James Tousignant, who was unable to attend. She began with a few moments of silence, inviting everyone to arrive fully in the space. The conversation soon opened into a wide-ranging exploration of heart coherence and the relationship between bodily awareness and the knowledge of the brain.
We explored bodily responses that seem to arise before thought – particularly goosebumps. Can these sensations arise not only from fear or cold, but also from beauty, joy, recognition, or something we cannot immediately explain? Several people shared personal experiences of powerful physical sensations that seemed to occur before thought stepped in.
This raised a deeper question: are we relying too heavily on the brain as the sole source of knowledge? Perhaps the body is constantly responding to the world in ways that never reach conscious thought. It was mentioned that “The heart sends more information to the brain than the brain sends to the heart.”
The discussion then turned toward suffering, fear, conditioning, and acceptance. One participant spoke openly about a period of intense personal suffering that led him to discover silence, solitude, and Krishnamurti’s teachings. He described how fear had affected his life and how simply staying with suffering, rather than immediately trying to escape or solve it, had changed his relationship to it. This led to a lively exploration of whether accepting something means approving of it. In particular, can we acknowledge suffering in the world without accepting or condoning it? Perhaps seeing clearly what is happening is different from agreeing with it.
Rather than trying to solve every problem, could we respond to what is directly in front of us with intelligence? One suggestion was that genuine action does not always come from planning or obligation. Sometimes something beneficial can happen through us without our intending it. Our presence itself may become useful to another, as when a dog finds shade in our shadow. There is no plan or deliberate action, yet something intelligent and life – supporting is taking place. There may be no sense of choice involved. Perhaps choiceless awareness is about being able to meet whatever arises without immediately resisting or trying to change it.
- Anastasia Shtamina
