Self-inquiry with Cynthia Overweg, May 12, 2024

Self-inquiry with Cynthia Overweg
Sunday, May 12, 2024
At KECC Metchosin location
538 Swanwick Road

Fourteen people attended this Sunday gathering at the Krishnamurti
Educational Centre of Canada location in Metchosin. The session was
facilitated by Cynthia Overweg who is visiting the Centre and will be
available for an uncertain length of time. We are fortunate to have a
dedicated student of Krishnamurti’s teachings like Cynthia with us and
able to support interested students of K who can choose to stay with her
at the Centre.
We began the meeting with a period of silence. Then Cynthia spoke of
her conviction that love is the essence of all Krishnamurti’s teachings,
although expressed in different ways. She asked a number of questions
about love, wondering if it is always immediately available to us and
asking what gets in the way of love and what kind of conditioning blocks
the love in us. It was suggested that our habit of comparing people with
each other can certainly prevent the flow of love between humans as it
brings memories of being hurt to the fore. On the other hand, as
Krishnamurti said, being aware moment to moment of our conditioned
thoughts as they arise can keep us open to the presence of love and
compassion. One participant expressed that when “because” loses its
significance then love appears. And the desire for security with the fear
of being threatened work together to suppress the flow of love. These
are real issues for human beings.
We discussed Krishnamurti’s ideas about those who love radically being
“dangerous”. He seems to be saying that stepping outside of
conventional behaviour may be thought of as “dangerous” by those
attached to the status quo and hesitant to explore other possibilities. In
this sense memory, although necessary, can keep love away. There was
mention of the difference between being alone and being “lonely”.
It was inquired if we could come up with a question that we could carry
with us as a reminder of the importance of staying with the “practice” of
self-observation. Can there be a continuous compassionate curiosity in
our self-observation? One person recommended Cynthia’s book Silent
Awareness because of its depth and beauty of expression.
We ended with a short silence that completed the experience for this
event. The sunny afternoon had been somewhat disturbed by wind and
cold, but most seemed to have valued the opportunity to sit outside in
nature where, although we sometimes had difficulty hearing each other
speak, we could enjoy the pure, clear sounds of the bird songs and the
lovely view of the Juan de Fuca Straight with the Cascade Mountains in
the background.

DB