Self- Inquiry, July 12, 2023

Self-inquiry

July 12, 2023

With Mukesh Gupta

Esquimalt Gorge Pavilion

 

A total of nine people showed up for a Wednesday afternoon dialogue facilitated by Mukesh Gupta and sponsored by the Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada. After brief introductions from the participants, Mukesh began as usual with an outline of the process of dialogue and “Meditative self-inquiry”, both of which aim to clarify the nature of the self we take as our identity in our daily lives as well as in unusual situations. An important aspect of self-inquiry is the entry into the depth of a serious question, letting it flower and reveal itself fully. This involves slowing the mind and opening the heart with an attentiveness which observes the movement of thought and the mind. There is also a deep listening, a suspending of your immediate reactions, and a giving of space for thought to unravel its ways of engaging with life.

One group member expressed that she felt she was a “nobody” more than a “somebody” and she was asked to elaborate further on this idea. It was suggested that trying to be a somebody and trying to be a nobody were equally incorrect and that one should not aspire to either one, as Krishnamurti did not in his own life. There was then some interesting talk about finding a balance within ourselves, the falseness of judging oneself and others, and the value of human life. We questioned whether we are living as an image or a story and what place habits have in such a life. Can we be aware of our habits and be free of them? And can we allow each other to be as we are?

Our meeting wound up with appreciation of the world’s beauty and the joy of exposure to nature. Krishnamurti was quoted: “When the self is, the “other” is not.” We looked at the difference between stopping an action and observing it without motive. Writing down our thoughts was deemed to be helpful