Krishnamurti on Fear – UVic Stillness Within December 5th meetup

Our December meetup followed closely on the heels of the November meetup and we had strong turnout.  There were nine of us at the meeting – four of whom were there for their first time.  We opted for a traditional book study format, with a focus on the chapter on Fear – from Krishnamurti’s work:  The First and Last Freedom. 

The group took turns reading, reflecting, seeing whether the proposed concepts resonated with our own experience in some way.  It was very exciting to see people who have never been exposed to this format or to the works of Krishnamurti really connect with the content.  The chapter itself explored the nature of fear – how the mind itself is engaged in the production of fear and how a wider sense of identity can observe the concepts, projections, yearning or clinging that is essentially working to protect our sense of self.  As we looked further at the concept of self, and the silent quiet place of non-filtered observation, there was a general sense of just how limited a perspective we (as a sense of self) can be.  And also, how challenging it is to describe what’s left when we aren’t relating from this self-identity.

The evening was a real gift and we enjoyed snacks in the adjacent restaurant afterward which kept the conversation going into the evening.