Krishnamurti’s Notebook: A Retreat with Javier Gomez Rodriguez

Krishnamurti’s Notebook

With Javier Gomez Rodriguez

September 24 – 26, 2021

Zoom online

 

Javier joined us online from the Netherlands for a three-part retreat exploring J. Krishnamurti’s writings as published in the form of Krishnamurti’s Notebook. The meetings were attended by twenty-two or twenty-three people in each case. Each of the three sessions was 1 ½ hours in length and consisted of a talk by Javier followed by some time for questions, comments, and inquiry. The book reveals details of K’s experience that he didn’t often discuss in his public talks and dialogues and is thus more personal and intimate than usual. Javier began with an introduction to the work that was first published in 1976 and describes some of the painful “process” K endured for many years along with more ecstatic experiences of ”benediction” and joy seemingly arising on a regular basis in K’s consciousness.

The issue of K’s engagement with “meditation” and the forms it took, along with some of the unusual phenomena experienced, were discussed in the context of his teachings which normally gave less detail about such matters. The question of awakening kundalini energy was touched on as an explanation of his “process” but then the focus shifted to K’s insistence that we need to face the facts of our lives, the suffering and the desires, without escaping from them. This releases a huge amount of energy which he felt was necessary in order to enter the realms of “truth” beyond the thinking mind and its projections and to contact the dimension he called “the other.” Consciousness must be emptied of its content. We must ask ourselves if we are addressing the fact of division and conflict in our lives. According to K, his meeting the reality of “death” freed him from the reality of thought. He spoke thereafter of the flowering and dying of thought and its expressions such as fear and loneliness.

Javier discussed some of the similarities between K’s experience and the traditional path of Christian mysticism, the importance of humility as a virtue in both approaches, and the central element of “seeing” for Krishnamurti. Seeing requires sensitivity, which is the essence of affection and compassion. Javier broke down the conditions that K seemed to feel were essential for “regeneration” to take place in human consciousness and for “creative energy” to be a reality in our lives.

– Simplicity of being

– Passion or total energy

– A sensitivity to beauty beyond thought and feeling

– Love and its immensity

– Awareness of the dimension where time is not predominant

– A capacity to wander freely beyond time and space – or openness to the “other”

The three sessions were a combination of talks by Javier along with opportunities to ask questions and to explore issues arising in the consideration of K’s spontaneous sharing of his insights and sensitive perceptions. Javier ended with a few readings of lovely passages from the text, which was followed by some appreciative feedback from participants about the quality of the retreat. It was hoped that Javier would offer further explorations and dialogues in the near future.