Self-inquiry, August 16, 2023

Self-inquiry

With Mukesh Gupta

Wednesday, August 16, 2023

At Esquimalt Gorge Park Pavilion

 

Ten of us were present for this dialogue meeting in Victoria sponsored by the Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada and guided by our visitor from India, Mukesh Gupta. We began with a silent meditation which was followed by an introduction to the process of self-inquiry and the use of a “dialogue format which encourages learning about our physical and ‘spiritual” nature as we interact within a group. As Mukesh mentioned, this also includes learning about the source of our sorrows and sufferings.

Mukesh proposed a question which might be of value in focusing our attention in a beneficial way: “What is learning?” he asked. Learning usually means memorising facts, adding to our knowledge, and thereby reproducing ourselves, but is there another kind of learning like that which took place in us as children? We then were involved in alert and fresh observation and listening which was non-mechanical. It did not maintain its freshness as we grew older, however. Now we tend to see, hear, and feel through images, indirectly. Is it possible for us to return to a more direct seeing and listening which dissolves the conditioned ways of our thinking?

Are we still learning or have we become stuck in old patterns, blocks, and complacencies? It was suggested that there may be a question of being overly concerned about ourselves, which involves fear and the seeking of pleasure. We took some time to consider the anxiety about the loss of self, which many have to face. One participant shared a personal example of such an experience.

We then explored in some depth the process of labelling our experiences rather than staying with them to see what they reveal. There is a tendency to escape uncomfortable feelings by eating food or by other ways of hiding our feelings. Can this be seen as it takes place? Can there be an “unlearning” which brings us back to the fluidity of life and makes living from love more available?

DB