Self-inquiry, October 22, 2023

Self-inquiry

Sunday, October 22, 2023

With James Waite

At 538 Swanwick Road in Metchosin, BC

 

Ten people all included were present for this Sunday afternoon meeting at the Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada in Metchosin. The meeting was facilitated by James Waite, who picked up in the area he’d left on the previous Sunday, which was Krishnamurti’s description of the “old brain” and the “new brain”. He gave a short summary of what we had previously covered. The old brain creates our sense of ourselves by projecting images that together make up the sense of a person. These images must be seen instantly as they arise and not through search and analysis, which are the ways of the old brain. K speaks of the “way of negation” and the “emptying of consciousness” or the “emptying of the known”. As we empty our consciousness of the known we begin to know what is true. The seeing of the false brings about a complete revolution in consciousness, James asserted, revealing our true nature as peace, love, joy, and beauty. We do not know these qualities objectively: we are them.

The question arose, “how does conflict and suffering arise in us? Do they originate in fear? We spent some time with the issue of fear. It was asked if fear disappears with the death of the body. It was mentioned that the Buddha had claimed that the cause of suffering is ignorance, the ignoring of what we truly are.

It was suggested that “passion” is required in the journey of self-inquiry and, James suggested, this passion is a gift rather than something we ourselves create. It is a yearning within us to know the truth. Once we take the first step into truth the rest will unfold by itself as we negate the contents of the conscious and unconscious mind.

It was proposed that an intensive attention is necessary and we wondered how such awareness arises. Is suffering necessary, and are suffering and sorrow the same? Do we really care deeply about the truth or are we merely lukewarm in our interest? What is our motive for such activity? James suggested we read the postings in the Facebook group called West Coast Self-inquiry where we might find some material of interest.

We finished up our meeting with a modest meal of Indian sweet desserts provided by the wife of one of our group members. The food and the friendly company was very much enjoyed as a supplement to our dialogue and inquiry session.

DB