Self-inquiry with Jeff Brown

Self-inquiry with Jeff Brown
April 17, 2024
Esquimalt Gorge Pavilion
Victoria, BC

Six people were present for this Wednesday afternoon meeting at the
lovely Gorge Pavilion on Tillicum Road, all regular participants in
dialogues sponsored by the Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada.
Jeff Brown was facilitating the meeting and he began with a period of
silence, which is a very common way to start a meeting in the
Krishnamurti world. We then looked into a number of issues which are
also often probed at our meetings as a means of understanding the
workings of our own minds and hearts as recommended by J.
Krishnamurti and forming the essence of his teachings on
self-knowledge.
The discussion or exploration followed a number of directions over the
hour and a half of the gathering. Athe topics could be labelled, if we were
to give them names, as some of the following:
– the sense of isolation involving attachment to ideas and to an
identity as a separate individual
– the formation of a sense of “self” or “ego”. (This is a regular topic of
exploration in our inquiry sessions).
– facing the unknown and being present with unusual and challenging
sensations and experiences
– sorrow, guilt, and isolation
– death, attachment, and the possibility of “letting go”
– the attachment to activity and having things happen
– ignorance vs. stupidity
– the importance of “awareness” and insight into the nature of our
thinking
– the creation of meaning and the importance of agreement in giving
meaning to life.
– the cruelty of nature vs. that of human beings
– the place of compassion
– the value of dialogue
– knowledge vs. insight
– free will and determinism
The group members seemed to very much enjoy inquiring into the
subjects that were of interest to participants and expressed their
appreciation of the dialogue.

DB