Self-Inquiry with Hillary Rodrigues, May 31, 2026

This was our final dialogue with Hillary. We met at Swanwick Centre. The meeting began with an informal discussion of Hillary’s research and forthcoming book on Durga, the Hindu goddess. Participants explored how different religious traditions attempt to express humanity’s relationship with the sacred.

The dialogue then shifted to a question posed by Hillary: What does Krishnamurti mean when he invites us to “stay with what is”? Is he simply asking us to observe whatever is taking place within ourselves, or is there something more implied in that observation?

Participants reflected on the many divisions that exist within consciousness. It was suggested that the fragmentation we see in society may be a reflection of the fragmentation within each of us.

This raised an important question: Are healing and going beyond the self the same movement? Some felt that psychological healing is necessary before a deeper transformation can take place. Others questioned whether healing is a gradual process at all, or whether the direct perception of fragmentation itself is the transformative action. The dialogue explored whether there is a distinction between becoming whole and seeing through the very structure of the self that creates division.

The inquiry eventually turned toward enlightenment, freedom, and the state of mind to which Krishnamurti may have been pointing. Participants considered whether enlightenment is a particular event, a permanent state, or something that is discovered anew from moment to moment. There was a tendency to imagine that Krishnamurti and other enlightened teachers lived in a fundamentally different state of consciousness from ordinary people. Hillary questioned this assumption, suggesting that thought often creates an attractive image of enlightenment and then measures itself against that image.

The dialogue concluded with an exploration of whether this projection is itself an obstacle to freedom. The mind creates an idealized picture of what liberation should look like and then spends its energy pursuing it. In seeing this movement of projection, comparison, and becoming, there may be the beginning of freedom from it. Reflecting on the truth of this insight, one participant expressed genuine appreciation for Hillary’s pointings, and we ended this series on that note.

• Anastasia Shtamina