Reflections from the UVic Meetup: Is the World an Illusion?
Eight of us gathered at UVic recently to consider the challenging question: Is the World an Illusion? We looked at this from three diverse perspectives including Rupert Spira, Krishnamurti and Robin Cinmatra.
Rupert Spira, in a short extract from “The Belief in a World Made of Matter” pointed out some important nuances in how we ‘see’ the world around us… and a flaw in the assumption that the world can exist outside of consciousness. It was tricky! We explored his proposal that the science of matter needs to be upgraded to reflect the field of consciousness in which all perceived matter arises, and the possibility that perhaps the observer and the observed are not dividable (K. proposes this as well). We were left questioning our senses and thoughts about the seemingly solid world around us.
We also looked at Krishnamuriti’s pointing about how we can know reality or truth… A few of his quotes were examined:
All the things that thought has put together – literature, poetry, painting, illusions, gods and symbols – that is reality for us. But nature is not created by thought.
Can the mind, the network of all the senses, apprehend, see and observe truth?
Psychological time is the invention of thought, which we use as a means of achieving enlightenment. Is such time an illusion? Is truth measurable by words? Truth is timeless, thought is of time, and the two cannot run together.
Without love, without compassion, truth cannot be. I cannot go to truth, I cannot see truth. Truth can only exist when the self is not. J. Krishnamurti
It was an interesting notion: if the self or the mind is trying to look at the world around us as it will always be interpreted through the biases or filters of self. Thinking of seeing not through the sense of self is something that the group had many perspectives on. We did some looking… and had some fun asking the question: is there a self that can be found when we turn awareness towards our inner world?
The final video clip was an excerpt from the short film: Nothingness = E(MC)2 A Film About Nothing and Everything (Non-Duality)
This snapshot explored the mystery of knowing what this world around us is, emphasizing that any perception of the physical world around us must be dualistic given that the seeing establishes a subject/object. Robin proposes a paradox that objects must also be ‘nothingness’. It was very interesting and picturesque – but challenging… We discussed oneness, whether the perception of a self is similar to the perception of objects in the world, and admitted that a mind based knowing might need to be surrendered in favour of curious wonder if we are to truly know anything at all!
Thanks for a great discussion this month, and thanks to KECC for their support for these meetups! The April meetup at UVic will be showing: Eckhart Tolle: Through the Eyes of Krishnamuriti, exploring evocative passages from Krishnamurti’s journal. Come out if you can! Details in the KECC Calendar.
