Daily Quote, Tuesday March 31, 2009
Good morning,
On what will hopefully be the last snow day of the winter! :-)
Why does one create an image about oneself?
One has an idea, a symbol of oneself, an image of oneself: what one should be, what one is, or what one should not be. Why does one create an image about oneself? Because one has never studied what one is, actually. We think we should be this or that: the ideal, the hero, the example. What awakens anger is that our ideal, the idea we have of ourselves, is attacked. And our idea about ourselves is our escape from the fact of what we are. But when you are observing the actual fact of what you are, no one can hurt you. Then, if one is a liar and is told that one is a liar, it does not mean that one is hurt: it is a fact. But when you are pretending you are not a liar and are told that you are, then you get angry, violent. So, we are always living in an ideational world, a world of myth, and never in the world of actuality. To observe what is, to see it, actually be familiar with it, there must be no judgment, no evaluation, no opinion, no fear.
Collected Works, Vol. XII - 246
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Daily Quote, Monday March 30, 2009.
Good morning,
On this this very rainy day in Halifax!
No coffe shop this morning! Laundry instead. :-)
Here is the quote:
When I can look at you and you can look at me without the image of memory then there is a relationship.
Questioner: What relation has the observer, my observer, to other observers, to other people?
Krishnamurti: What do we mean by that word 'relationship'? Are we ever related to anyone, or is the relationship between two images which we have created about each other? I have an image about you, and you have an image about me. I have an image about you as my wife or husband, or whatever it is, and you an image about me also. The relationship is between these two images and nothing else. To have relationship with another is only possible when there is no image. When I can look at you and you can look at me without the image of memory, of insults, and all the rest, then there is a relationship, but the very nature of the observer is the image, isn't it? My image observes your image, if it is possible to observe it, and this is called relationship, but it is between two images, a relationship which is nonexistent because both are images. To be related means to be in contact. Contact must be something direct, not between two images. It requires a great deal of attention, an awareness, to look at another without the image which I have about that person, the image being my memories of that person - how he has insulted me, pleased me, given me pleasure, this or that. Only when there are no images between the two is there a relationship.
Collected Works, Vol. XVII - 7
Good morning,
On this this very rainy day in Halifax!
No coffe shop this morning! Laundry instead. :-)
Here is the quote:
When I can look at you and you can look at me without the image of memory then there is a relationship.
Questioner: What relation has the observer, my observer, to other observers, to other people?
Krishnamurti: What do we mean by that word 'relationship'? Are we ever related to anyone, or is the relationship between two images which we have created about each other? I have an image about you, and you have an image about me. I have an image about you as my wife or husband, or whatever it is, and you an image about me also. The relationship is between these two images and nothing else. To have relationship with another is only possible when there is no image. When I can look at you and you can look at me without the image of memory, of insults, and all the rest, then there is a relationship, but the very nature of the observer is the image, isn't it? My image observes your image, if it is possible to observe it, and this is called relationship, but it is between two images, a relationship which is nonexistent because both are images. To be related means to be in contact. Contact must be something direct, not between two images. It requires a great deal of attention, an awareness, to look at another without the image which I have about that person, the image being my memories of that person - how he has insulted me, pleased me, given me pleasure, this or that. Only when there are no images between the two is there a relationship.
Collected Works, Vol. XVII - 7
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Daily Quote, Sunday March 29, 2009
Good morning everyone,
Looks nice this morning and quite warm again too!
Here is the quote for today.
Self-knowledge is not a result.
To understand the whole process of oneself requires constant alertness, awareness, in the action of relationship. There must be a constant watching of every incident, without choice, without condemnation or acceptance, with a certain sense of dispassion, so that the truth of every incident is revealed. But this self-knowledge is not a result, an end. There is no end to self-knowledge; it is a constant process of understanding, which comes about only when one begins objectively and goes deeper and deeper into the whole problem of daily living - which is the 'you' and the 'me' in relationship.
Collected Works, Vol. VI - 233
Good morning everyone,
Looks nice this morning and quite warm again too!
Here is the quote for today.
Self-knowledge is not a result.
To understand the whole process of oneself requires constant alertness, awareness, in the action of relationship. There must be a constant watching of every incident, without choice, without condemnation or acceptance, with a certain sense of dispassion, so that the truth of every incident is revealed. But this self-knowledge is not a result, an end. There is no end to self-knowledge; it is a constant process of understanding, which comes about only when one begins objectively and goes deeper and deeper into the whole problem of daily living - which is the 'you' and the 'me' in relationship.
Collected Works, Vol. VI - 233
Friday, March 27, 2009
Daily Quote, Saturday March 28, 2009
Hi everyone,
I'm putting the quote for tomorrow (Saturday) up this evening as I'm going out early tomorrow.
When we regard relationship from a fixed point there must be conflict.
To understand conflict, we must understand relationship, and the understanding of relationship does not depend on memory, on habit, on what has been or what should be. It depends on choiceless awareness from moment to moment, and if we go into it deeply, we shall see that in that awareness there is no accumulative process at all. The moment there is accumulation, there is a point from which to examine, and that point is conditioned; and hence, when we regard relationship from a fixed point, there must be pain, there must be conflict.
Collected Works, Vol. VI - 222
Hi everyone,
I'm putting the quote for tomorrow (Saturday) up this evening as I'm going out early tomorrow.
The prediction for tomorrow is very warm!
RobertWhen we regard relationship from a fixed point there must be conflict.
To understand conflict, we must understand relationship, and the understanding of relationship does not depend on memory, on habit, on what has been or what should be. It depends on choiceless awareness from moment to moment, and if we go into it deeply, we shall see that in that awareness there is no accumulative process at all. The moment there is accumulation, there is a point from which to examine, and that point is conditioned; and hence, when we regard relationship from a fixed point, there must be pain, there must be conflict.
Collected Works, Vol. VI - 222
Daily Quote, Friday March 20, 2009
Good morning on this foggy Friday!
Our conflict is in relationship and the understanding of this relationship is the only real problem that each one has.
Self-knowledge is not a thing to be bought in books, nor is it the outcome of a long painful practice and discipline, but it is awareness, from moment to moment, of every thought and feeling as it arises in relationship. Relationship is not on an abstract, ideological level but an actuality - the relationship with property, with people, and with ideas. Relationship implies existence and, as nothing can live in isolation, to be is to be related. Our conflict is in relationship, at all the levels of our existence, and the understanding of this relationship, completely and extensively, is the only real problem that each one has. This problem cannot be postponed nor be evaded. The avoidance of it only creates further conflict and misery; the escape from it only brings about thoughtlessness, which is exploited by the crafty and the ambitious.
Collected Works, Vol. VI - 50
Good morning on this foggy Friday!
Our conflict is in relationship and the understanding of this relationship is the only real problem that each one has.
Self-knowledge is not a thing to be bought in books, nor is it the outcome of a long painful practice and discipline, but it is awareness, from moment to moment, of every thought and feeling as it arises in relationship. Relationship is not on an abstract, ideological level but an actuality - the relationship with property, with people, and with ideas. Relationship implies existence and, as nothing can live in isolation, to be is to be related. Our conflict is in relationship, at all the levels of our existence, and the understanding of this relationship, completely and extensively, is the only real problem that each one has. This problem cannot be postponed nor be evaded. The avoidance of it only creates further conflict and misery; the escape from it only brings about thoughtlessness, which is exploited by the crafty and the ambitious.
Collected Works, Vol. VI - 50
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Daily Quote, Thursday March 26, 2009.
Hi everyone,
As the quote is arriving at erratic times now, and as I know most of you like to look at it in the morning, I decided to hold over yesterday's quote to this morning so that I can keep some consistency with the time I post it.
Robert
To awaken this energy, the mind must have no resistance.
Now, how do we awaken in ourselves an energy that has its own momentum, that is its own cause and effect, an energy that has no resistance and does not deteriorate? How does one come by it? The organized religions have advocated various methods, and by practicing a particular method one is supposed to get this energy. But methods do not give this energy. The practice of a method implies conformity, resistance, denial, acceptance, adjustment, so that whatever energy one has is merely wearing itself out. If you see the truth of this, you will never practice any method. That is one thing. Secondly, if energy has a motive, an end towards which it is going, that energy is self-destructive. And for most of us, energy does have a motive, does it not? We are moved by a desire to achieve, to become this or that, and therefore our energy defeats itself. Thirdly, energy is made feeble, petty, when it is conforming to the past - and this is perhaps our greatest difficulty. The past is no t only the many yesterdays but also every minute that is being accumulated, the memory of the thing that was over a second before. This accumulation in the mind is also destructive of energy.
So, to awaken this energy, the mind must have no resistance, no motive, no end in view, and it must not be caught in time as yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Then energy is constantly renewing itself and therefore not degenerating. Such a mind is not committed, it is completely free, and it is only such a mind that can find the unnameable, that extraordinary something which is beyond words. The mind must free itself from the known to enter into the unknown.
Collected Works, Vol. XIII - 337
Hi everyone,
As the quote is arriving at erratic times now, and as I know most of you like to look at it in the morning, I decided to hold over yesterday's quote to this morning so that I can keep some consistency with the time I post it.
Robert
To awaken this energy, the mind must have no resistance.
Now, how do we awaken in ourselves an energy that has its own momentum, that is its own cause and effect, an energy that has no resistance and does not deteriorate? How does one come by it? The organized religions have advocated various methods, and by practicing a particular method one is supposed to get this energy. But methods do not give this energy. The practice of a method implies conformity, resistance, denial, acceptance, adjustment, so that whatever energy one has is merely wearing itself out. If you see the truth of this, you will never practice any method. That is one thing. Secondly, if energy has a motive, an end towards which it is going, that energy is self-destructive. And for most of us, energy does have a motive, does it not? We are moved by a desire to achieve, to become this or that, and therefore our energy defeats itself. Thirdly, energy is made feeble, petty, when it is conforming to the past - and this is perhaps our greatest difficulty. The past is no t only the many yesterdays but also every minute that is being accumulated, the memory of the thing that was over a second before. This accumulation in the mind is also destructive of energy.
So, to awaken this energy, the mind must have no resistance, no motive, no end in view, and it must not be caught in time as yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Then energy is constantly renewing itself and therefore not degenerating. Such a mind is not committed, it is completely free, and it is only such a mind that can find the unnameable, that extraordinary something which is beyond words. The mind must free itself from the known to enter into the unknown.
Collected Works, Vol. XIII - 337
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Daily Quote, Tuesday March 24, 2009
Good morning everyone,
Hope you are ok after the snowfall here in Halifax!
In facing a fact there is a release of energy.
Why should not jealousy, ambition, etc. be immediately brushed aside? Why should there be this postponement, the gradual change, the acceptance of idealistic authority? I hope, sirs, you are thinking it out with me and not merely listening to me. We accept this gradual process of change because it is more easy, and postponement is more pleasurable. The immediate gives you a great deal of excitement, and to see its value is much more difficult and requires much greater attention and energy. I do not know if you have realized that in facing a fact there is a release of energy, and it is this facing the fact, from which energy is derived, which has the quality that brings about mutation. And we cannot face the fact if we are convinced that change through a gradual process, through influence, through fear, through compulsion, is the only way. In the very act of facing it, you will find there is release of energy, psychologically.
Most of our lives are wasted through conflict. We do not face facts but run away from them, seeking various forms of escape. This is dissipated energy, and the result of that dissipation is confusion. If one does not escape, if one does not translate the fact in terms of one's own pleasure and pain, but merely observes, then that act of pure seeing in which there is no resistance is the releasing of energy.
Collected Works, Vol. XII - 288
Good morning everyone,
Hope you are ok after the snowfall here in Halifax!
In facing a fact there is a release of energy.
Why should not jealousy, ambition, etc. be immediately brushed aside? Why should there be this postponement, the gradual change, the acceptance of idealistic authority? I hope, sirs, you are thinking it out with me and not merely listening to me. We accept this gradual process of change because it is more easy, and postponement is more pleasurable. The immediate gives you a great deal of excitement, and to see its value is much more difficult and requires much greater attention and energy. I do not know if you have realized that in facing a fact there is a release of energy, and it is this facing the fact, from which energy is derived, which has the quality that brings about mutation. And we cannot face the fact if we are convinced that change through a gradual process, through influence, through fear, through compulsion, is the only way. In the very act of facing it, you will find there is release of energy, psychologically.
Most of our lives are wasted through conflict. We do not face facts but run away from them, seeking various forms of escape. This is dissipated energy, and the result of that dissipation is confusion. If one does not escape, if one does not translate the fact in terms of one's own pleasure and pain, but merely observes, then that act of pure seeing in which there is no resistance is the releasing of energy.
Collected Works, Vol. XII - 288
Monday, March 23, 2009
Daily Quote, Monday March 23, 2009
Hi everyone,
The quote arrived at lunchtime but I was out most of the day. Nice time to contemplate it now that the snow is falling. :-)
We must be aware of how we dissipate energy.
To bring about a good society, human beings have to change. You and I must find the energy, the impetus, the vitality to bring about this radical transformation of the mind, and that is not possible if we do not have enough energy. We need a great deal of energy to bring about a change within ourselves, but we waste our energy through conflict, through resistance, through conformity, through acceptance, through obedience. It is a waste of energy when we are trying to conform to a pattern. To conserve energy we must be aware of ourselves, how we dissipate energy. This is an age-long problem because most human beings are indolent; they would rather accept, obey, and follow. If we become aware of this indolence, this deep-rooted laziness, and try to quicken the mind and the heart, the intensity of it again becomes a conflict, which is also a waste of energy.
Our problem, one of the many that we have, is how to conserve this energy, the energy that is necessary for an explosion to take place in consciousness: an explosion that is not contrived, that is not put together by thought, but an explosion that occurs naturally when this energy is not wasted. Conflict in any form, at any level, at any depth of our being, is a waste of energy.
Collected Works, Vol. XVI - 152
Hi everyone,
The quote arrived at lunchtime but I was out most of the day. Nice time to contemplate it now that the snow is falling. :-)
We must be aware of how we dissipate energy.
To bring about a good society, human beings have to change. You and I must find the energy, the impetus, the vitality to bring about this radical transformation of the mind, and that is not possible if we do not have enough energy. We need a great deal of energy to bring about a change within ourselves, but we waste our energy through conflict, through resistance, through conformity, through acceptance, through obedience. It is a waste of energy when we are trying to conform to a pattern. To conserve energy we must be aware of ourselves, how we dissipate energy. This is an age-long problem because most human beings are indolent; they would rather accept, obey, and follow. If we become aware of this indolence, this deep-rooted laziness, and try to quicken the mind and the heart, the intensity of it again becomes a conflict, which is also a waste of energy.
Our problem, one of the many that we have, is how to conserve this energy, the energy that is necessary for an explosion to take place in consciousness: an explosion that is not contrived, that is not put together by thought, but an explosion that occurs naturally when this energy is not wasted. Conflict in any form, at any level, at any depth of our being, is a waste of energy.
Collected Works, Vol. XVI - 152
Wonderful Video to Illustrate K's Teaching
Sometimes 3 minute video can say a lot!
Laureen discovered this clip on YouTube. As she said, pretty soon you start to see K's teachings everywhere. :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFz-FMj-9Ps&NR=1
Have a great day!
Robert
Laureen discovered this clip on YouTube. As she said, pretty soon you start to see K's teachings everywhere. :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFz-FMj-9Ps&NR=1
Have a great day!
Robert
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Daily Quote, Sunday March 22, 2009
Good morning on this bright and sunny Sunday!
Here is today's quote:
Transformation can come only when every problem is immediately understood.
What do we mean by transformation? Surely, the cessation of all problems, cessation from conflict, confusion, and misery. If you observe, you will see that the mind is cultivating, sowing, and harvesting as a farmer cultivates, sows, and reaps. But, unlike the farmer who allows the field to lie fallow during winter, the mind never allows itself to lie fallow. As the rains, the storms, and the sunshine recreate the earth, so during that passive yet alert fallowness of the mind, there is rejuvenation, a renewal, so the mind renews itself and the problems are resolved. The problems are resolved only when they are seen clearly and swiftly.
The mind is constantly distracted, escaping, because to see a problem clearly might lead to action which might create further disturbance; and so the mind is constantly avoiding facing the problem, which only gives strength to the problem. But, when it is seen clearly without distortion, then it ceases to be. So long as you think in terms of transformation, there cannot be transformation, now or hereafter. Transformation can come only when every problem is immediately understood. You can understand it when there is no choice and the seeking of a result, when there is no condemnation or justification. Where there is love, there is neither choice nor search for an end, nor condemnation, nor justification. It is this love that brings about transformation.
Collected Works, Vol. IV - 206
Good morning on this bright and sunny Sunday!
Here is today's quote:
Transformation can come only when every problem is immediately understood.
What do we mean by transformation? Surely, the cessation of all problems, cessation from conflict, confusion, and misery. If you observe, you will see that the mind is cultivating, sowing, and harvesting as a farmer cultivates, sows, and reaps. But, unlike the farmer who allows the field to lie fallow during winter, the mind never allows itself to lie fallow. As the rains, the storms, and the sunshine recreate the earth, so during that passive yet alert fallowness of the mind, there is rejuvenation, a renewal, so the mind renews itself and the problems are resolved. The problems are resolved only when they are seen clearly and swiftly.
The mind is constantly distracted, escaping, because to see a problem clearly might lead to action which might create further disturbance; and so the mind is constantly avoiding facing the problem, which only gives strength to the problem. But, when it is seen clearly without distortion, then it ceases to be. So long as you think in terms of transformation, there cannot be transformation, now or hereafter. Transformation can come only when every problem is immediately understood. You can understand it when there is no choice and the seeking of a result, when there is no condemnation or justification. Where there is love, there is neither choice nor search for an end, nor condemnation, nor justification. It is this love that brings about transformation.
Collected Works, Vol. IV - 206
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Daily Quote, Saturday March 21, 2009
Hi everyone,
Back to normal with the quote today, except that its a bit late as I had to rush out to get the bus to the market. :-)
Today the quote had no title.
The very awareness of what is is a liberative process. So long as we are unaware of what we are and are trying to become something else, so long will there be distortion and pain. The very awareness of what I am brings about transformation and the freedom of understanding.
Collected Works, Vol. IV - 75
Hi everyone,
Back to normal with the quote today, except that its a bit late as I had to rush out to get the bus to the market. :-)
Today the quote had no title.
The very awareness of what is is a liberative process. So long as we are unaware of what we are and are trying to become something else, so long will there be distortion and pain. The very awareness of what I am brings about transformation and the freedom of understanding.
Collected Works, Vol. IV - 75
Friday, March 20, 2009
Daily Quote, Friday March 20, 2009
Good afternoon/evening everyone,
Belatedly, the quote has arrived. :-)
If you missed last Sunday's study group and want to drop into Uncommon Grounds this Sunday at 5:30pm, please feel free.
Robert
If you can really understand this, then the seed of that radical revolution has already been planted.
Change comes into being when there is no fear, when there is neither the experiencer nor the experience; it is only then that there is the revolution which is beyond time. But that cannot be as long as I am trying to change the 'I', as long as I am trying to change what is into something else. I am the result of all the social and the spiritual compulsions, persuasions, and all the conditioning based on acquisitiveness - my thinking is based on that. To be free from that conditioning, from that acquisitiveness, I say to myself, 'I must not be acquisitive; I must practice nonacquisitiveness.' But such action is still within the field of time, it is still the activity of the mind. Just see that. Don't say, 'How am I to get to that state when I am nonacquisitive?' That is not important. It is not important to be nonacquisitive; what is important is to understand that the mind which is trying to get away from one state to another is still functioning within the field of time, and therefore there is no revolution, there is no change. If you can really understand this, then the seed of that radical revolution has already been planted and that will operate: you have not a thing to do.
Collected Works, Vol. VIII - 163
Good afternoon/evening everyone,
Belatedly, the quote has arrived. :-)
If you missed last Sunday's study group and want to drop into Uncommon Grounds this Sunday at 5:30pm, please feel free.
Robert
If you can really understand this, then the seed of that radical revolution has already been planted.
Change comes into being when there is no fear, when there is neither the experiencer nor the experience; it is only then that there is the revolution which is beyond time. But that cannot be as long as I am trying to change the 'I', as long as I am trying to change what is into something else. I am the result of all the social and the spiritual compulsions, persuasions, and all the conditioning based on acquisitiveness - my thinking is based on that. To be free from that conditioning, from that acquisitiveness, I say to myself, 'I must not be acquisitive; I must practice nonacquisitiveness.' But such action is still within the field of time, it is still the activity of the mind. Just see that. Don't say, 'How am I to get to that state when I am nonacquisitive?' That is not important. It is not important to be nonacquisitive; what is important is to understand that the mind which is trying to get away from one state to another is still functioning within the field of time, and therefore there is no revolution, there is no change. If you can really understand this, then the seed of that radical revolution has already been planted and that will operate: you have not a thing to do.
Collected Works, Vol. VIII - 163
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Daily Quote, Thursday March 19, 2009
Hi everyone,
Rain today by the looks of things but warm, warm, warm!! :-)
Can't I just look?
Can I look without the word at every problem: the problem of fear, the problem of pleasure? Because the word creates, breeds thought; and thought is memory, experience, pleasure, and therefore a distorting factor.
This is really quite astonishingly simple. Because it is simple, we mistrust it. We want everything to be very complicated, very cunning; and all cunning is covered with a perfume of words. If I can look at a flower nonverbally - and I can; anyone can do it, if one gives sufficient attention - can't I look with that same objective, nonverbal attention at the problems which I have? Can't I look out of silence, which is nonverbal, without the thinking machinery of pleasure and time being in operation? Can't I just look? I think that's the crux of the whole matter - not to approach from the periphery, which only complicates life tremendously, but to look at life, with all its complex problems of livelihood, sex, death, misery, sorrow, the agony of being tremendously alone - to look at all that without association, out of silence, which means without a center, without the word which creates the reaction of thought, which is memory and hence time. I think that is the real problem, the real issue: whether the mind can look at life where there is immediate action, not an idea and then action, and eliminate conflict altogether.
Collected Works, Vol. XV - 143
Hi everyone,
Rain today by the looks of things but warm, warm, warm!! :-)
Can't I just look?
Can I look without the word at every problem: the problem of fear, the problem of pleasure? Because the word creates, breeds thought; and thought is memory, experience, pleasure, and therefore a distorting factor.
This is really quite astonishingly simple. Because it is simple, we mistrust it. We want everything to be very complicated, very cunning; and all cunning is covered with a perfume of words. If I can look at a flower nonverbally - and I can; anyone can do it, if one gives sufficient attention - can't I look with that same objective, nonverbal attention at the problems which I have? Can't I look out of silence, which is nonverbal, without the thinking machinery of pleasure and time being in operation? Can't I just look? I think that's the crux of the whole matter - not to approach from the periphery, which only complicates life tremendously, but to look at life, with all its complex problems of livelihood, sex, death, misery, sorrow, the agony of being tremendously alone - to look at all that without association, out of silence, which means without a center, without the word which creates the reaction of thought, which is memory and hence time. I think that is the real problem, the real issue: whether the mind can look at life where there is immediate action, not an idea and then action, and eliminate conflict altogether.
Collected Works, Vol. XV - 143
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Daily Quote, Wednesday March 18, 2009
Good morning everyone,
Looks rather nice in the early light this morning! Have a wonderful day.
Here is the quote for today.
To discover what is beyond time, thought must come to an end . . .
It is the mind, it is thought, that creates time. Thought is time, and whatever thought projects must be of time; therefore, thought cannot possibly go beyond itself. To discover what is beyond time, thought must come to an end - and that is a most difficult thing because the ending of thought does not come about through discipline, through control, through denial or suppression. Thought ends only when we understand the whole process of thinking and, to understand thinking, there must be self-knowledge. Thought is the self, thought is the word which identifies itself as the 'me', and at whatever level, high or low, the self is placed, it is still within the field of thought ....And the self is very complex; it is not at any one level but is made up of many thoughts, many entities, each in contradiction with the other. There must be a constant awareness of them all, an awareness in which there is no choice, no condemnation or comparison, that is, there must be the capacity to see things as they are without distorting or translating them. The moment we judge or translate what is seen, we distort it according to our background. ...To be is to be related, and it is only in the midst of relationship that we can spontaneously discover ourselves as we are. It is this very discovery of ourselves as we are, without any sense of condemnation or justification, that brings about a fundamental transformation in what we are - and that is the beginning of wisdom.
Collected Works, Vol. VI - 220
Good morning everyone,
Looks rather nice in the early light this morning! Have a wonderful day.
Here is the quote for today.
To discover what is beyond time, thought must come to an end . . .
It is the mind, it is thought, that creates time. Thought is time, and whatever thought projects must be of time; therefore, thought cannot possibly go beyond itself. To discover what is beyond time, thought must come to an end - and that is a most difficult thing because the ending of thought does not come about through discipline, through control, through denial or suppression. Thought ends only when we understand the whole process of thinking and, to understand thinking, there must be self-knowledge. Thought is the self, thought is the word which identifies itself as the 'me', and at whatever level, high or low, the self is placed, it is still within the field of thought ....And the self is very complex; it is not at any one level but is made up of many thoughts, many entities, each in contradiction with the other. There must be a constant awareness of them all, an awareness in which there is no choice, no condemnation or comparison, that is, there must be the capacity to see things as they are without distorting or translating them. The moment we judge or translate what is seen, we distort it according to our background. ...To be is to be related, and it is only in the midst of relationship that we can spontaneously discover ourselves as we are. It is this very discovery of ourselves as we are, without any sense of condemnation or justification, that brings about a fundamental transformation in what we are - and that is the beginning of wisdom.
Collected Works, Vol. VI - 220
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Daily Quote, March 17, 2009
Hi everyone,
Here is the quote, finally here from there!
To understand the actual requires awareness, a very alert.
The what is is what you are, not what you would like to be; it is not the ideal because the ideal is fictitious, but it is actually what you are doing, thinking, and feeling from moment to moment. What is is the actual, and to understand the actual requires awareness, a very alert, swift mind. But if we begin to condemn what is, if we begin to blame or resist it, then we shall not understand its movement. If I want to understand somebody, I cannot condemn him - I must observe, study him. I must love the very thing I am studying. If you want to understand a child, you must love and not condemn him. You must play with him, watch his movements, his idiosyncrasies, his ways of behavior; but if you merely condemn, resist, or blame him, there is no comprehension of the child. Similarly, to understand what is, one must observe what one thinks, feels, and does from moment to moment. That is the actual. Any other action, any ideal or ideological action is not the actual - it is merely a wish, a fictitious desire to be something other than what is. So, to understand what is requires a state of mind in which there is no identification or condemnation, which means a mind that is alert and yet passive....
Collected Works, Vol. V - 50
Hi everyone,
Here is the quote, finally here from there!
To understand the actual requires awareness, a very alert.
The what is is what you are, not what you would like to be; it is not the ideal because the ideal is fictitious, but it is actually what you are doing, thinking, and feeling from moment to moment. What is is the actual, and to understand the actual requires awareness, a very alert, swift mind. But if we begin to condemn what is, if we begin to blame or resist it, then we shall not understand its movement. If I want to understand somebody, I cannot condemn him - I must observe, study him. I must love the very thing I am studying. If you want to understand a child, you must love and not condemn him. You must play with him, watch his movements, his idiosyncrasies, his ways of behavior; but if you merely condemn, resist, or blame him, there is no comprehension of the child. Similarly, to understand what is, one must observe what one thinks, feels, and does from moment to moment. That is the actual. Any other action, any ideal or ideological action is not the actual - it is merely a wish, a fictitious desire to be something other than what is. So, to understand what is requires a state of mind in which there is no identification or condemnation, which means a mind that is alert and yet passive....
Collected Works, Vol. V - 50
More on Education and the Educator
Hi everyone,
The daily quote is still on its way here, so I thought I'd post something about education. As a yoga teacher, it resonates for me with the way I approach this.
"The real problem in education is the educator. Even a small group of students becomes the instrument of his personal importance if he uses authority as a means of his own release, if teaching is for him a self-expansive fulfilment. But mere intellectual or verbal agreement concerning the crippling effects of authority is stupid and vain.
There must be deep insight into the hidden motivations of authority and domination. If we see that intelligence can never be awakened through compulsion, the very awareness of that fact will burn away our fears, and then we shall begin to cultivate a new environment which will be contrary to and far transcend the present social order."
Education and the Significance of Life, p36.
The daily quote is still on its way here, so I thought I'd post something about education. As a yoga teacher, it resonates for me with the way I approach this.
"The real problem in education is the educator. Even a small group of students becomes the instrument of his personal importance if he uses authority as a means of his own release, if teaching is for him a self-expansive fulfilment. But mere intellectual or verbal agreement concerning the crippling effects of authority is stupid and vain.
There must be deep insight into the hidden motivations of authority and domination. If we see that intelligence can never be awakened through compulsion, the very awareness of that fact will burn away our fears, and then we shall begin to cultivate a new environment which will be contrary to and far transcend the present social order."
Education and the Significance of Life, p36.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Quote from a Biography of Krishnamurti
This might be interesting in the context of K and education but also teaching yoga too.
It comes from 'Lives in the Shadow of Krishnamurti' which I'm reading just now. It's someone quoting K.
"Truth or life cannot be stepped down or translated into forms, creeds, beliefs or ceremonies, the minute that is attempted, it ceases to be truth, that we should come to fulfilment through ourselves and in the living of our lives become life itself and thus the bridge which others seeing the example may cross to that truth."
This seems quite important, whether it is correct or not, as it offers one possibility of answering the question of what awakens intelligence. The question is then perhaps, for me anyway, who was the first to awaken?
Robert
It comes from 'Lives in the Shadow of Krishnamurti' which I'm reading just now. It's someone quoting K.
"Truth or life cannot be stepped down or translated into forms, creeds, beliefs or ceremonies, the minute that is attempted, it ceases to be truth, that we should come to fulfilment through ourselves and in the living of our lives become life itself and thus the bridge which others seeing the example may cross to that truth."
This seems quite important, whether it is correct or not, as it offers one possibility of answering the question of what awakens intelligence. The question is then perhaps, for me anyway, who was the first to awaken?
Robert
Daily Quote, Monday March 16, 2009
Good morning everyone,
This morning is lovely as the sun comes up.
Here is today's quote:
An ideal is merely a distraction.
...to understand something, I must give it full attention, and an ideal is merely a distraction which prevents my giving that feeling or that quality full attention at a given time. If I am fully aware, if I give my full attention to the quality I call greed without the distraction of an ideal, then am I not in a position to understand greed and so dissolve it? You see, we are so accustomed to postponement, and ideals help us to postpone; but if we can put away all ideals - because we understand the escapes, the postponing quality of an ideal - and face the thing as it is, directly, immediately, give our full attention to it, then, surely, there is a possibility of transforming it.
Collected Works, Vol. V - 290
Good morning everyone,
This morning is lovely as the sun comes up.
Here is today's quote:
An ideal is merely a distraction.
...to understand something, I must give it full attention, and an ideal is merely a distraction which prevents my giving that feeling or that quality full attention at a given time. If I am fully aware, if I give my full attention to the quality I call greed without the distraction of an ideal, then am I not in a position to understand greed and so dissolve it? You see, we are so accustomed to postponement, and ideals help us to postpone; but if we can put away all ideals - because we understand the escapes, the postponing quality of an ideal - and face the thing as it is, directly, immediately, give our full attention to it, then, surely, there is a possibility of transforming it.
Collected Works, Vol. V - 290
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Quote on Education
At the study group tonight we ended with a quick chat about education. Robert lent me his book: Beginnings of Learning. The first thing I read was:
"The world is that way, deceptive, the deceiving politicians, the money-minded... If you are not properly education you'll just slip into it. So what do you think is education? Is it to help you fit into the mechanism of the present order, or disorder, of things? Or do you think it should be something else? Is you education at Brockwood helping you to be intelligent? I mean by that word to be very sensitive, not to your own desires, to your own demands, but to be sensitive to the world, to what is going on in the world. Surely education is not merely to give you knowledge, but also to give you the capacity to look at the world objectively. The function of education is to help you face the world in a totally different intelligent way. When you have that seed, and it is flowering here, then you will keep it going all of your life. But if this doesn't operate, then the world will destroy you. The world makes you what it wants you to be: a cunning animal." J. Krishnamurti
"The world is that way, deceptive, the deceiving politicians, the money-minded... If you are not properly education you'll just slip into it. So what do you think is education? Is it to help you fit into the mechanism of the present order, or disorder, of things? Or do you think it should be something else? Is you education at Brockwood helping you to be intelligent? I mean by that word to be very sensitive, not to your own desires, to your own demands, but to be sensitive to the world, to what is going on in the world. Surely education is not merely to give you knowledge, but also to give you the capacity to look at the world objectively. The function of education is to help you face the world in a totally different intelligent way. When you have that seed, and it is flowering here, then you will keep it going all of your life. But if this doesn't operate, then the world will destroy you. The world makes you what it wants you to be: a cunning animal." J. Krishnamurti
Daily Quote, Sunday March 15, 2009
Good morning everyone,
Here is today's quote:
Forget the ideal, and be aware of what you are.
Like most people, you have ideals, have you not? And the ideal is not real, not factual; it is what should be, it is something in the future. Now, what I say is this: forget the ideal, and be aware of what you are. Do not pursue what should be, but understand what is. The understanding of what you actually are is far more important than the pursuit of what you should be. Why? Because, in understanding what you are, there begins a spontaneous process of transformation; whereas, in becoming what you think you should be, there is no change at all, but only a continuation of the same old thing in a different form. If the mind, seeing that it is stupid, tries to change its stupidity into intelligence, which is what should be, that is silly, it has no meaning, no reality; it is only the pursuit of a self-projection, a postponement of the understanding of what is. As long as the mind tries to change its stupidity into something else, it remains stupid. But if the mind says, 'I realize that I am stupid and I want to understand what stupidity is, therefore I shall go into it, I shall observe how it comes into being,' then that very process of inquiry brings about a fundamental transformation.
Think on These Things - 182
Good morning everyone,
Here is today's quote:
Forget the ideal, and be aware of what you are.
Like most people, you have ideals, have you not? And the ideal is not real, not factual; it is what should be, it is something in the future. Now, what I say is this: forget the ideal, and be aware of what you are. Do not pursue what should be, but understand what is. The understanding of what you actually are is far more important than the pursuit of what you should be. Why? Because, in understanding what you are, there begins a spontaneous process of transformation; whereas, in becoming what you think you should be, there is no change at all, but only a continuation of the same old thing in a different form. If the mind, seeing that it is stupid, tries to change its stupidity into intelligence, which is what should be, that is silly, it has no meaning, no reality; it is only the pursuit of a self-projection, a postponement of the understanding of what is. As long as the mind tries to change its stupidity into something else, it remains stupid. But if the mind says, 'I realize that I am stupid and I want to understand what stupidity is, therefore I shall go into it, I shall observe how it comes into being,' then that very process of inquiry brings about a fundamental transformation.
Think on These Things - 182
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Daily Quote, Saturday 14 March, 2009.
Good morning everyone,
As you can see it's very sunny this morning. Have agreat day.
Robert
Thought does not lead to love.
The process of thought ever denies love. It is thought that has emotional complications, not love. Thought is the greatest hindrance to love. Thought creates a division between what is and 'what should be', and on this division morality is based; but neither the moral nor the immoral know love. This moral structure, created by the mind to hold social relationships together, is not love, but a hardening process like that of cement. Thought does not lead to love, thought does not cultivate love, for love cannot be cultivated as a plant in the garden. The very desire to cultivate love is the action of thought.
If you are at all aware, you will see what an important part thought plays in your life. Thought obviously has its place, but it is in no way related to love. What is related to thought can be understood by thought, but that which is not related to thought cannot be caught by the mind. You will ask, then what is love? Love is a state of being in which thought is not; but the very definition of love is a process of thought, and so it is not love.
We have to understand thought itself, and not try to capture love by thought. The denial of thought does not bring about love. There is freedom from thought only when its deep significance is fully understood; and, for this, profound self-knowledge is essential, not vain and superficial assertions. Meditation and not repetition, awareness and not definition, reveal the ways of thought. Without being aware and experiencing the ways of thought, love cannot be.
Commentaries on Living, Series I - 16
Good morning everyone,
As you can see it's very sunny this morning. Have agreat day.
Robert
Thought does not lead to love.
The process of thought ever denies love. It is thought that has emotional complications, not love. Thought is the greatest hindrance to love. Thought creates a division between what is and 'what should be', and on this division morality is based; but neither the moral nor the immoral know love. This moral structure, created by the mind to hold social relationships together, is not love, but a hardening process like that of cement. Thought does not lead to love, thought does not cultivate love, for love cannot be cultivated as a plant in the garden. The very desire to cultivate love is the action of thought.
If you are at all aware, you will see what an important part thought plays in your life. Thought obviously has its place, but it is in no way related to love. What is related to thought can be understood by thought, but that which is not related to thought cannot be caught by the mind. You will ask, then what is love? Love is a state of being in which thought is not; but the very definition of love is a process of thought, and so it is not love.
We have to understand thought itself, and not try to capture love by thought. The denial of thought does not bring about love. There is freedom from thought only when its deep significance is fully understood; and, for this, profound self-knowledge is essential, not vain and superficial assertions. Meditation and not repetition, awareness and not definition, reveal the ways of thought. Without being aware and experiencing the ways of thought, love cannot be.
Commentaries on Living, Series I - 16
Friday, March 13, 2009
Daily quote, Friday March 13, 2009.
Good morning everyone,
Besides a cautionary reminder about ladders and blacks cats, today is really fine and bright.
Here is the quote:
Is there thought without the word?
Questioner: Can there be thinking without memory?
Krishnamurti: In other words, is there thought without the word? You know, it is very interesting, if you go into it. Is the speaker using thought? Thought, as the word, is necessary for communication, is it not? The speaker has to use words, English words, to communicate with you who understand English. And the words come out of memory, obviously. But what is the source, what is behind the word? Let me put it differently.
There is a drum; it gives out a tone. When the skin is tightly stretched at the right tension, you strike it, and it gives out the right tone, which you may recognize. The drum, which is empty, in right tension, is as your own mind can be. When there is right attention and you ask the right question, then it gives the right answer. The answer may be in terms of the word, the recognizable, but that which comes out of that emptiness is, surely, creation. The thing that is created out of knowledge is mechanical, but the thing which comes out of emptiness, out of the unknown, that is the state of creation.
Collected Works, Vol. XII - 181
Good morning everyone,
Besides a cautionary reminder about ladders and blacks cats, today is really fine and bright.
Here is the quote:
Is there thought without the word?
Questioner: Can there be thinking without memory?
Krishnamurti: In other words, is there thought without the word? You know, it is very interesting, if you go into it. Is the speaker using thought? Thought, as the word, is necessary for communication, is it not? The speaker has to use words, English words, to communicate with you who understand English. And the words come out of memory, obviously. But what is the source, what is behind the word? Let me put it differently.
There is a drum; it gives out a tone. When the skin is tightly stretched at the right tension, you strike it, and it gives out the right tone, which you may recognize. The drum, which is empty, in right tension, is as your own mind can be. When there is right attention and you ask the right question, then it gives the right answer. The answer may be in terms of the word, the recognizable, but that which comes out of that emptiness is, surely, creation. The thing that is created out of knowledge is mechanical, but the thing which comes out of emptiness, out of the unknown, that is the state of creation.
Collected Works, Vol. XII - 181
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Daily Quote, Thursday March 12, 2009
Good morning,
It looks bright and sunny this morning and quite warm too!
Have a great day.
Robert
Today's quote is:
The self is a problem that thought cannot resolve.
Can thought resolve our problems? By thinking over the problem, have you resolved it? Any kind of problem - economic, social, religious - has it ever been really solved by thinking? In your daily life, the more you think about a problem, the more complex, the more irresolute, the more uncertain it becomes. Is that not so - in our actual, daily life? You may, in thinking out certain facets of the problem, see more clearly another person's point of view, but thought cannot see the completeness and fullness of the problem; it can only see partially, and a partial answer is not a complete answer, therefore it is not a solution.
The more we think over a problem, the more we investigate, analyze, and discuss it, the more complex it becomes. So, is it possible to look at the problem comprehensively, wholly? How is this possible? Because that, it seems to me, is our major difficulty. Our problems are being multiplied - there is imminent danger of war, there is every kind of disturbance in our relationships - and how can we understand all that comprehensively, as a whole? Obviously, it can be solved only when we can look at it as a whole - not in compartments, not divided. When is that possible? Surely, it is only possible when the process of thinking - which has its source in the 'me', the self, in the background of tradition, of conditioning, of prejudice, of hope, of despair - has come to an end. Can we understand this self, not by analyzing, but by seeing the thing as it is, being aware of it as a fact and not as a theory - not seeking to dissolve the self in order to achieve a result but seeing the activity of the self, the 'me', constantly in action? Can we look at it, without any movement to destroy or to encourage? That is the problem, is it not? If, in each one of us, the center of the 'me' is non-existent, with its desire for power, position, authority, continuance, self-preservation, surely our problems will come to an end.
The self is a problem that thought cannot resolve. There must be an awareness which is not of thought. To be aware, without condemnation or justification, of the activities of the self - just to be aware - is sufficient.
The First and Last Freedom - 112
Good morning,
It looks bright and sunny this morning and quite warm too!
Have a great day.
Robert
Today's quote is:
The self is a problem that thought cannot resolve.
Can thought resolve our problems? By thinking over the problem, have you resolved it? Any kind of problem - economic, social, religious - has it ever been really solved by thinking? In your daily life, the more you think about a problem, the more complex, the more irresolute, the more uncertain it becomes. Is that not so - in our actual, daily life? You may, in thinking out certain facets of the problem, see more clearly another person's point of view, but thought cannot see the completeness and fullness of the problem; it can only see partially, and a partial answer is not a complete answer, therefore it is not a solution.
The more we think over a problem, the more we investigate, analyze, and discuss it, the more complex it becomes. So, is it possible to look at the problem comprehensively, wholly? How is this possible? Because that, it seems to me, is our major difficulty. Our problems are being multiplied - there is imminent danger of war, there is every kind of disturbance in our relationships - and how can we understand all that comprehensively, as a whole? Obviously, it can be solved only when we can look at it as a whole - not in compartments, not divided. When is that possible? Surely, it is only possible when the process of thinking - which has its source in the 'me', the self, in the background of tradition, of conditioning, of prejudice, of hope, of despair - has come to an end. Can we understand this self, not by analyzing, but by seeing the thing as it is, being aware of it as a fact and not as a theory - not seeking to dissolve the self in order to achieve a result but seeing the activity of the self, the 'me', constantly in action? Can we look at it, without any movement to destroy or to encourage? That is the problem, is it not? If, in each one of us, the center of the 'me' is non-existent, with its desire for power, position, authority, continuance, self-preservation, surely our problems will come to an end.
The self is a problem that thought cannot resolve. There must be an awareness which is not of thought. To be aware, without condemnation or justification, of the activities of the self - just to be aware - is sufficient.
The First and Last Freedom - 112
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Daily Quote, Wednesday March 11, 2009
Good morning,
Terrific sunrise today if you're up. Did anyone see the glorious full moon as the sun was setting last night? Would these be Krishnamurti's ideas of beauty? How would that relate to what he is saying below about "that state of the new which is timeless." In that moment is there truth? Is that the immeasurable, which would be the measurable when the measures of the "me" are no longer operating? Has anyone been exploring this in their daily life, in their interactions with people, ideas and things?
Robert
Here is the quote for today:
That moment of creation when there is no recognition.
I do not know if any of you have had a moment of creativity, not action - I am not talking of putting something into action - I mean that moment of creation when there is no recognition. At that moment, there is that extraordinary state in which the 'me', as an activity through recognition, has ceased. I think some of us have had it, perhaps most of us have had it. If we are aware, we will see in that state that there is no experiencer who remembers, translates, recognizes, and then identifies; there is no thought process which is of time. In that state of creation, creativity, or in that state of the new which is timeless, there is no action of the 'me' at all.
We do not have to seek truth. Truth is not something far away. It is the truth of the mind, truth of its activities from moment to moment. If we are aware of this moment-to- moment truth, of this whole process of time, this awareness releases consciousness or that energy to be. As long as the mind uses consciousness as the self activity, time comes into being with all its miseries, with all its conflicts, with all its mischiefs, its purposive deceptions; and it is only when the mind, understanding this total process, ceases, that love will be. You may call it love or give it some other names; what name you give is of no consequence.
Collected Works, Vol. VI - 323
Good morning,
Terrific sunrise today if you're up. Did anyone see the glorious full moon as the sun was setting last night? Would these be Krishnamurti's ideas of beauty? How would that relate to what he is saying below about "that state of the new which is timeless." In that moment is there truth? Is that the immeasurable, which would be the measurable when the measures of the "me" are no longer operating? Has anyone been exploring this in their daily life, in their interactions with people, ideas and things?
Robert
Here is the quote for today:
That moment of creation when there is no recognition.
I do not know if any of you have had a moment of creativity, not action - I am not talking of putting something into action - I mean that moment of creation when there is no recognition. At that moment, there is that extraordinary state in which the 'me', as an activity through recognition, has ceased. I think some of us have had it, perhaps most of us have had it. If we are aware, we will see in that state that there is no experiencer who remembers, translates, recognizes, and then identifies; there is no thought process which is of time. In that state of creation, creativity, or in that state of the new which is timeless, there is no action of the 'me' at all.
We do not have to seek truth. Truth is not something far away. It is the truth of the mind, truth of its activities from moment to moment. If we are aware of this moment-to- moment truth, of this whole process of time, this awareness releases consciousness or that energy to be. As long as the mind uses consciousness as the self activity, time comes into being with all its miseries, with all its conflicts, with all its mischiefs, its purposive deceptions; and it is only when the mind, understanding this total process, ceases, that love will be. You may call it love or give it some other names; what name you give is of no consequence.
Collected Works, Vol. VI - 323
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Daily Quote, Tuesday March 10, 2009
Good morning everyone,
It looks like things are back to normal here with the quotes and my internet service!
Tough call on the weather as it's so early with the clock change but my guess would be bright and sunny but a bit chilly. :-) The sunrise looks like a cracker if you can take a look!
Here is the quote:
When are you conscious of being the 'me'?
What is it to be self-centered? When are you conscious of being the 'me'? As I have suggested often during these talks, don't merely listen to me verbally but use the words as a mirror in which you see your own mind in operation. If you merely listen to my words, then you are very superficial and your reactions will be very superficial. But if you can listen, not to understand me or what I am saying, but to see yourself in the mirror of my words, if you use me as a mirror in which you discover your own activity, then it will have a tremendous and profound effect. But, if you merely listen as in political or any other talks, then I am afraid you will miss the whole implication of the discovery for yourself of that truth which dissolves the center of the 'me'.
I am only conscious of this activity of the 'me' when I am opposing, when consciousness is thwarted, when the 'me' is desirous of achieving a result. The 'me' is active, or I am conscious of that center, when pleasure comes to an end and I want to have more of that pleasure; then there is resistance and there is a purposive shaping of the mind to a particular end which will give me a delight, a satisfaction. I am aware of myself and my activities when I am pursuing virtue consciously. That is all we know. A man who pursues virtue consciously is unvirtuous. Humility cannot be pursued, and that is the beauty of humility.
Collected Works, Vol. VI - 321
Good morning everyone,
It looks like things are back to normal here with the quotes and my internet service!
Tough call on the weather as it's so early with the clock change but my guess would be bright and sunny but a bit chilly. :-) The sunrise looks like a cracker if you can take a look!
Here is the quote:
When are you conscious of being the 'me'?
What is it to be self-centered? When are you conscious of being the 'me'? As I have suggested often during these talks, don't merely listen to me verbally but use the words as a mirror in which you see your own mind in operation. If you merely listen to my words, then you are very superficial and your reactions will be very superficial. But if you can listen, not to understand me or what I am saying, but to see yourself in the mirror of my words, if you use me as a mirror in which you discover your own activity, then it will have a tremendous and profound effect. But, if you merely listen as in political or any other talks, then I am afraid you will miss the whole implication of the discovery for yourself of that truth which dissolves the center of the 'me'.
I am only conscious of this activity of the 'me' when I am opposing, when consciousness is thwarted, when the 'me' is desirous of achieving a result. The 'me' is active, or I am conscious of that center, when pleasure comes to an end and I want to have more of that pleasure; then there is resistance and there is a purposive shaping of the mind to a particular end which will give me a delight, a satisfaction. I am aware of myself and my activities when I am pursuing virtue consciously. That is all we know. A man who pursues virtue consciously is unvirtuous. Humility cannot be pursued, and that is the beauty of humility.
Collected Works, Vol. VI - 321
Monday, March 9, 2009
Daily Quote, Monday March 9, 2009
Hi everyone,
Sorry about the delay again this morning. The quote arrived on time but my internet service was offline.
Here is the quote:
The self is always limited.
The self must cease through awareness of its own limitation, the falseness of its own existence. However deep, wide, and extensive it may become, the self is always limited, and until it is abandoned, the mind can never be free. The mere perception of that fact is the ending of the self, and only then is it possible for that which is the real to come into being.
Collected Works, Vol. VIII - 312
I would like to add this quote which follows from the one I posted yesterday:
"There is no need for the self at any time. There is nothing but the body and freedom of the mind can happen only when thought is not breeding the me."
Beginnings of Learning, p257.
Robert
Hi everyone,
Sorry about the delay again this morning. The quote arrived on time but my internet service was offline.
Here is the quote:
The self is always limited.
The self must cease through awareness of its own limitation, the falseness of its own existence. However deep, wide, and extensive it may become, the self is always limited, and until it is abandoned, the mind can never be free. The mere perception of that fact is the ending of the self, and only then is it possible for that which is the real to come into being.
Collected Works, Vol. VIII - 312
I would like to add this quote which follows from the one I posted yesterday:
"There is no need for the self at any time. There is nothing but the body and freedom of the mind can happen only when thought is not breeding the me."
Beginnings of Learning, p257.
Robert
Sunday, March 8, 2009
The daily quote for Sunday has arrived.
Hi everyone,
The daily quote did arrive this afternoon while I was out. It actually goes qiuite well with what it had put up earlier and with the comment to it from Laureen.
Creative release comes only when the thinker is the thought.
So long as the 'me' is the observer, the one who gathers experience, strengthens himself through experience, there can be no radical change, no creative release. That creative release comes only when the thinker is the thought, but the gap cannot be bridged by any effort. When the mind realizes that any speculation, any verbalization, any form of thought only gives strength to the 'me', when it sees that as long as the thinker exists apart from thought there must be limitation, the conflict of duality - when the mind realizes that - then it is watchful, everlastingly aware of how it is separating itself from experience, asserting itself, seeking power. In that awareness, if the mind pursues it ever more deeply and extensively without seeking an end, a goal, there comes a state in which the thinker and the thought are one. In that state there is no effort, there is no becoming, there is no desire to change; in that state the 'me' is not, for there is a transformation which is not of the mind.
The First and Last Freedom - 140
Hi everyone,
The daily quote did arrive this afternoon while I was out. It actually goes qiuite well with what it had put up earlier and with the comment to it from Laureen.
Creative release comes only when the thinker is the thought.
So long as the 'me' is the observer, the one who gathers experience, strengthens himself through experience, there can be no radical change, no creative release. That creative release comes only when the thinker is the thought, but the gap cannot be bridged by any effort. When the mind realizes that any speculation, any verbalization, any form of thought only gives strength to the 'me', when it sees that as long as the thinker exists apart from thought there must be limitation, the conflict of duality - when the mind realizes that - then it is watchful, everlastingly aware of how it is separating itself from experience, asserting itself, seeking power. In that awareness, if the mind pursues it ever more deeply and extensively without seeking an end, a goal, there comes a state in which the thinker and the thought are one. In that state there is no effort, there is no becoming, there is no desire to change; in that state the 'me' is not, for there is a transformation which is not of the mind.
The First and Last Freedom - 140
In lieu of the daily quote, Sunday March 8, 2009:
So no sign of anything from the KFA today, so I thought I'd put something up which relates to Saturday's quote and to Jackie's comment this morning.
It would be nice to see a few more contributions to the blog from people in the study groups. My suggestion would be to once every 2 weeks between meetings take a paragraph that interests you and write about it for a while.
Here is my thing:
Thought without the "me."
"Meditation is really the complete emptying of the mind. Then there is only the functioning of the body; there is only the functioning of the organism and nothing else; then thought functions without the identification of the me and the not-me." (p257)
I find this last part interesting. Is thought without the "me" intelligence and is inteliigence the true nature of the mind?
Maybe look at this in the context of finding the appropriate way to stretch into a yoga posture, or more generally how to find your way through some situation or address a problem. When there is just intelligence, where the me has been removed through self-observation, thought is used simply to find the appropriate way for the body to move. There is no reference to the status of that movement, for example good or bad, better or worse, and so no comparison to measure it by. The movement of the body then is what is, which is immeasurable.
Robert
So no sign of anything from the KFA today, so I thought I'd put something up which relates to Saturday's quote and to Jackie's comment this morning.
It would be nice to see a few more contributions to the blog from people in the study groups. My suggestion would be to once every 2 weeks between meetings take a paragraph that interests you and write about it for a while.
Here is my thing:
Thought without the "me."
"Meditation is really the complete emptying of the mind. Then there is only the functioning of the body; there is only the functioning of the organism and nothing else; then thought functions without the identification of the me and the not-me." (p257)
I find this last part interesting. Is thought without the "me" intelligence and is inteliigence the true nature of the mind?
Maybe look at this in the context of finding the appropriate way to stretch into a yoga posture, or more generally how to find your way through some situation or address a problem. When there is just intelligence, where the me has been removed through self-observation, thought is used simply to find the appropriate way for the body to move. There is no reference to the status of that movement, for example good or bad, better or worse, and so no comparison to measure it by. The movement of the body then is what is, which is immeasurable.
Robert
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Daily Quote, Saturday March 7, 2009
Good morning everyone,
Well, the bright and sunny run is broken but there is still sun on the way. Have a wonderful day. :-) I'm off to the farmers market.
Robert
Here's the quote:
When you are aware that you are transformed, you are not.
A man who says, 'I know' is the most destructive human being because he really does not know. What does he know? So, when you are conscious you are transformed, when you are aware that you are transformed, you are not.
Collected Works, Vol. VIII - 5
Good morning everyone,
Well, the bright and sunny run is broken but there is still sun on the way. Have a wonderful day. :-) I'm off to the farmers market.
Robert
Here's the quote:
When you are aware that you are transformed, you are not.
A man who says, 'I know' is the most destructive human being because he really does not know. What does he know? So, when you are conscious you are transformed, when you are aware that you are transformed, you are not.
Collected Works, Vol. VIII - 5
Friday, March 6, 2009
Daily Quote, Friday March 6, 2009
Good morning,
Yes, it's three in a row here in bright and sunny Halifax! Every morning a little lighter a little earlier.
Here is today's quote:
When the mind is intent on discovering
As one becomes aware at the conscious level, one also begins to discover the envy, the struggles, the desires, the motives, the anxieties that lie at the deeper levels of consciousness. When the mind is intent on discovering the whole process of itself, then every incident, every reaction becomes a means of discovery, of knowing oneself. That requires patient watchfulness - which is not the watchfulness of a mind that is constantly struggling, that is learning how to be watchful. Then you will see that the sleeping hours are as important as the waking hours, because life then is a total process. As long as you do not know yourself, fear will continue and all the illusions that the self creates will flourish.
Self-knowledge, then, is not a process to be read about or speculated upon: it must be discovered by each one from moment to moment, so that the mind becomes extraordinarily alert. In that alertness there is a certain quiescence, a passive awareness in which there is no desire to be or not to be, and in which there is an astonishing sense of freedom. It may be only for a minute, for a second - that is enough. That freedom is not of memory; it is a living thing, but the mind, having tasted it, reduces it to a memory and then wants more of it. To be aware of this total process is possible only through self-knowledge, and self-knowledge comes into being from moment to moment as we watch our speech, our gestures, the way we talk, and the hidden motives that are suddenly revealed. Then only is it possible to be free from fear. As long as there is fear, there is no love. Fear darkens our being and that fear cannot be washed away by any prayer, by any ideal or activity. The cause of fear is the 'me', the 'me' which is so complex in its desires, wants, pursuits. The mind has to understand that whole process, and the understanding of it comes only when there is watchfulness without choice.
Collected Works, Vol. VII - 327
Good morning,
Yes, it's three in a row here in bright and sunny Halifax! Every morning a little lighter a little earlier.
Here is today's quote:
When the mind is intent on discovering
As one becomes aware at the conscious level, one also begins to discover the envy, the struggles, the desires, the motives, the anxieties that lie at the deeper levels of consciousness. When the mind is intent on discovering the whole process of itself, then every incident, every reaction becomes a means of discovery, of knowing oneself. That requires patient watchfulness - which is not the watchfulness of a mind that is constantly struggling, that is learning how to be watchful. Then you will see that the sleeping hours are as important as the waking hours, because life then is a total process. As long as you do not know yourself, fear will continue and all the illusions that the self creates will flourish.
Self-knowledge, then, is not a process to be read about or speculated upon: it must be discovered by each one from moment to moment, so that the mind becomes extraordinarily alert. In that alertness there is a certain quiescence, a passive awareness in which there is no desire to be or not to be, and in which there is an astonishing sense of freedom. It may be only for a minute, for a second - that is enough. That freedom is not of memory; it is a living thing, but the mind, having tasted it, reduces it to a memory and then wants more of it. To be aware of this total process is possible only through self-knowledge, and self-knowledge comes into being from moment to moment as we watch our speech, our gestures, the way we talk, and the hidden motives that are suddenly revealed. Then only is it possible to be free from fear. As long as there is fear, there is no love. Fear darkens our being and that fear cannot be washed away by any prayer, by any ideal or activity. The cause of fear is the 'me', the 'me' which is so complex in its desires, wants, pursuits. The mind has to understand that whole process, and the understanding of it comes only when there is watchfulness without choice.
Collected Works, Vol. VII - 327
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Daily Quote, Thursday March 5, 2009
Good morning everyone,
It's bright and sunny here again in Halifax! The players are coming out onto the field and England will resume their first innings on 378 for 5. It still looks like a great batting strip and today Mrs. Jones of Dartmouth has sent in a lovely chocolate cake for the commentators!
Robert
Here is today's quote. Today I'll put my reflection underneath.
choicelessly observant
All human problems arise from this extraordinarily complex, living center which is the 'me', and a man who would uncover its subtle ways has to be negatively aware, choicelessly observant.
Collected Works, Vol. XIII - 202
My reflection:
So what is it to be negatively aware? It is clearly a state of being as well as an action. The perception is the action as Krishnamurti puts it. I think it's to be aware of oneself in such a way that one is aware of oneself as nothing. In observation of my reactions to what you say and do, I negate the awareness I have of "me" as something.
It's not the same as knowing myself. If I know myself then I am positively aware; I am something as there is content. Then there is the "me" again.
I'm just thinking about this now in the context of wha Derrida says about deconstruction. It's like there are three stages in becoming negatively aware. 1) I live completely unconsciously, unaware of my conditioning, all the images I relate to, and the idea of "me" that I have as I walk around. 2) I then observe myself and am aware of the contents of my conditioning and this "me." 3) Then I have the insight that this is of the past, the movement of thought as response to fear of being lonely. This negates the "me" as I see it as just an idea, an escape into an image, a response to fear.
Any thoughts on this?
This quote from the Krishnamurti Notebooks that I found might help to think it through.
"To see wholly, the brain has to be in a state of negation. Negation is not the opposite of the positive; all opposites are related within the fold of each other. Negation has no opposite. The brain has to be in a state of negation for total seeing; it must not interfere, with its evaluations and justifications, with its condemnations and defences. It has to be still, not made still by compulsion of any kind, for then it is a dead brain, merely imitating and conforming. When it is in a state of negation, it is choicelessly still. Only then is there total seeing. In this total seeing which is the quality of the mind, there is no seer, no observer, no experiencer; there’s only seeing. The mind then is completely awake. In this fully wakened state, there is no observer and the observed; there is only light, clarity. The contradiction and conflict between the thinker and thought ceases."
Krishnamurti’s Notebook, pp. 125–126© 1976 by Krishnamurti Foundation Trust Ltd.
PS. Do check out the reference to a letter by David Bohm's wife that Laureen gave in her comment to yesterday's daily quote.
Good morning everyone,
It's bright and sunny here again in Halifax! The players are coming out onto the field and England will resume their first innings on 378 for 5. It still looks like a great batting strip and today Mrs. Jones of Dartmouth has sent in a lovely chocolate cake for the commentators!
Robert
Here is today's quote. Today I'll put my reflection underneath.
choicelessly observant
All human problems arise from this extraordinarily complex, living center which is the 'me', and a man who would uncover its subtle ways has to be negatively aware, choicelessly observant.
Collected Works, Vol. XIII - 202
My reflection:
So what is it to be negatively aware? It is clearly a state of being as well as an action. The perception is the action as Krishnamurti puts it. I think it's to be aware of oneself in such a way that one is aware of oneself as nothing. In observation of my reactions to what you say and do, I negate the awareness I have of "me" as something.
It's not the same as knowing myself. If I know myself then I am positively aware; I am something as there is content. Then there is the "me" again.
I'm just thinking about this now in the context of wha Derrida says about deconstruction. It's like there are three stages in becoming negatively aware. 1) I live completely unconsciously, unaware of my conditioning, all the images I relate to, and the idea of "me" that I have as I walk around. 2) I then observe myself and am aware of the contents of my conditioning and this "me." 3) Then I have the insight that this is of the past, the movement of thought as response to fear of being lonely. This negates the "me" as I see it as just an idea, an escape into an image, a response to fear.
Any thoughts on this?
This quote from the Krishnamurti Notebooks that I found might help to think it through.
"To see wholly, the brain has to be in a state of negation. Negation is not the opposite of the positive; all opposites are related within the fold of each other. Negation has no opposite. The brain has to be in a state of negation for total seeing; it must not interfere, with its evaluations and justifications, with its condemnations and defences. It has to be still, not made still by compulsion of any kind, for then it is a dead brain, merely imitating and conforming. When it is in a state of negation, it is choicelessly still. Only then is there total seeing. In this total seeing which is the quality of the mind, there is no seer, no observer, no experiencer; there’s only seeing. The mind then is completely awake. In this fully wakened state, there is no observer and the observed; there is only light, clarity. The contradiction and conflict between the thinker and thought ceases."
Krishnamurti’s Notebook, pp. 125–126© 1976 by Krishnamurti Foundation Trust Ltd.
PS. Do check out the reference to a letter by David Bohm's wife that Laureen gave in her comment to yesterday's daily quote.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Daily Quote, Wednesday March 4, 2009
Good morning everyone,
Bright and sunny here in Halifax. Hope it's the same where you are!
Here is today's quote.
I really enjoyed the title today. It's very easy to overlook the fact that it's not the thinker needing to be understood by someone else. For me, today's quote sums up very well Krishnamurti's entire teaching. I particularly appreciated the point that wisdom cannot be bought or learned. In a sense, it can only come through practice, which is self-observation and awareness. All the yoga classes and all the yoga teacher training in the world are useless unless you observe yourself. Is anyone in my yoga classes reading this? (ha, ha!)
Robert
If the thinker is not understood, obviously his thinking is a process of escape.
What is important, surely, is to be aware without choice, because choice brings about conflict. The chooser is in confusion, therefore he chooses; if he is not in confusion, there is no choice. Only the person who is confused chooses what he shall do or shall not do. The man who is clear and simple does not choose: what is is. Action based on an idea is obviously the action of choice, and such action is not liberating; on the contrary, it only creates further resistance, further conflict, according to that conditioned thinking.
So, then, the important thing is to be aware from moment to moment without accumulating the experience which awareness brings; because, the moment you accumulate, you are aware only according to that accumulation, according to that pattern, according to that experience. That is, your awareness is conditioned by your accumulation, and therefore there is no longer observation, but merely translation. Where there is translation, there is choice, and choice creates conflict; and in conflict there can be no understanding.
...
Thought and the thinker are one, but it is thought that creates the thinker, and without thought there is no thinker. So, one has to be aware of the process of conditioning, which is thought; and, when there is awareness of that process without choice, when there is no sense of resistance, when there is neither condemnation nor justification of what is observed, then we see that the mind is the center of conflict. In understanding the mind and the ways of the mind, the conscious as well as the unconscious, through dreams, through every word, through every process of thought and action, the mind becomes extraordinarily quiet; and that tranquillity of the mind is the beginning of wisdom. Wisdom cannot be bought, it cannot be learned; it comes into being only when the mind is quiet, utterly still - not made still by compulsion, coercion, or discipline. Only when the mind is spontaneously silent is it possible to understand that which is beyond time.
Collected Works, Vol. VI - 206
Good morning everyone,
Bright and sunny here in Halifax. Hope it's the same where you are!
Here is today's quote.
I really enjoyed the title today. It's very easy to overlook the fact that it's not the thinker needing to be understood by someone else. For me, today's quote sums up very well Krishnamurti's entire teaching. I particularly appreciated the point that wisdom cannot be bought or learned. In a sense, it can only come through practice, which is self-observation and awareness. All the yoga classes and all the yoga teacher training in the world are useless unless you observe yourself. Is anyone in my yoga classes reading this? (ha, ha!)
Robert
If the thinker is not understood, obviously his thinking is a process of escape.
What is important, surely, is to be aware without choice, because choice brings about conflict. The chooser is in confusion, therefore he chooses; if he is not in confusion, there is no choice. Only the person who is confused chooses what he shall do or shall not do. The man who is clear and simple does not choose: what is is. Action based on an idea is obviously the action of choice, and such action is not liberating; on the contrary, it only creates further resistance, further conflict, according to that conditioned thinking.
So, then, the important thing is to be aware from moment to moment without accumulating the experience which awareness brings; because, the moment you accumulate, you are aware only according to that accumulation, according to that pattern, according to that experience. That is, your awareness is conditioned by your accumulation, and therefore there is no longer observation, but merely translation. Where there is translation, there is choice, and choice creates conflict; and in conflict there can be no understanding.
...
Thought and the thinker are one, but it is thought that creates the thinker, and without thought there is no thinker. So, one has to be aware of the process of conditioning, which is thought; and, when there is awareness of that process without choice, when there is no sense of resistance, when there is neither condemnation nor justification of what is observed, then we see that the mind is the center of conflict. In understanding the mind and the ways of the mind, the conscious as well as the unconscious, through dreams, through every word, through every process of thought and action, the mind becomes extraordinarily quiet; and that tranquillity of the mind is the beginning of wisdom. Wisdom cannot be bought, it cannot be learned; it comes into being only when the mind is quiet, utterly still - not made still by compulsion, coercion, or discipline. Only when the mind is spontaneously silent is it possible to understand that which is beyond time.
Collected Works, Vol. VI - 206
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Daily Quote, Tuesday March 3, 2009
Good morning everyone,
Well, I never thought I'd be writing that it's rather hot and humid here in Halifax this morning, yet it is!
Here are my reflections on today's quote and I'm also exploring Mara's comment on yesterdays quote. The question today is whether the observer is his reaction to the observed. There is the observed as an example of what is and there is all of the hundreds or more years or history, culture, and conditioning that this involves that is the observer. The observer can therefore only ever be the observation of the observed. In the normal run of this we never get to the observed at all. The observer can only see the observed by observing his reaction, which is the place from which he sees that he doesn't see. If you can observe this in yourself, this whole process of thought and knowing as the movement of the past, then only the present would be left and you would see what is.
There is no need to analyse if you want to see what is, if you want to see the other. Analysis will always happen from the past. So don't try to figure out someone's problems or try to help them. Look at all of the time interval that this analysis entails during which we are still the observed. Simply observe your reaction, how you see, and let that observation widen and deepen, so that you see with intelligence rather than knowledge, so that your response to the other is appropriate to what is as opposed to a reaction to what was. Then rather than helping them you'll want to work with them. There will be co-operation.
When you have intelligence (which doesn't mean that you were once stupid of course!) then you can see the facts of the other person's life. Then images of them will no longer prevent you from loving them (not in the traditional sense of sex) and you can have affection, which is to feel your awareness moving towards them. Krishnamurti says that compassion is passion for another. I take this to mean that you don't let sentiment get in the way, as sentiment is always the past. We like to analyse because expanding the field of the known is expanding the observer, something from which we generally take endless pleasure. This sort of brings us back to the beginning!
Robert
Here is todays' quote:
If you can look . . . without the observer, a totally different action takes place.
Questioner: If we are all that background, the past, who is the observer who is looking at the past? How do we separate the past and the entity who says, 'I am looking at it'?
Krishnamurti: Who is the entity, the observer that is looking at the past? Who is the entity, the thought, the being - whatever you call it - who says, 'I am looking at the unconscious'?
There is a separation between the observer and the observed. Is that so? Is not the observer the observed? Therefore, there is no separation at all! Go slowly into this. If you could understand this one thing it would be the most extraordinary phenomenon that could take place. Do you understand the question? There is the unconscious as well as the conscious, and I say that I must know all about it; I must know the content and also the state of consciousness when there is no content, which is a step further, which we will go into if we have time.
I am looking at it. I say, the observer says, that the unconscious is the past; the unconscious is the race into which I was born, the tradition - not only the tradition of society but of the family, the name, the residue of the whole Indian culture, the residue of all of humanity with all its problems, anxieties, guilt, and so on. I am all that, and that is the unconscious, which is the result of time, of many thousands of yesterdays, and there is the 'me' who is observing it. Now, who is the observer? Again, find out for yourself; discover who the observer is! Don't wait for me to tell you!
Collected Works, Vol. XVI - 199
Good morning everyone,
Well, I never thought I'd be writing that it's rather hot and humid here in Halifax this morning, yet it is!
Here are my reflections on today's quote and I'm also exploring Mara's comment on yesterdays quote. The question today is whether the observer is his reaction to the observed. There is the observed as an example of what is and there is all of the hundreds or more years or history, culture, and conditioning that this involves that is the observer. The observer can therefore only ever be the observation of the observed. In the normal run of this we never get to the observed at all. The observer can only see the observed by observing his reaction, which is the place from which he sees that he doesn't see. If you can observe this in yourself, this whole process of thought and knowing as the movement of the past, then only the present would be left and you would see what is.
There is no need to analyse if you want to see what is, if you want to see the other. Analysis will always happen from the past. So don't try to figure out someone's problems or try to help them. Look at all of the time interval that this analysis entails during which we are still the observed. Simply observe your reaction, how you see, and let that observation widen and deepen, so that you see with intelligence rather than knowledge, so that your response to the other is appropriate to what is as opposed to a reaction to what was. Then rather than helping them you'll want to work with them. There will be co-operation.
When you have intelligence (which doesn't mean that you were once stupid of course!) then you can see the facts of the other person's life. Then images of them will no longer prevent you from loving them (not in the traditional sense of sex) and you can have affection, which is to feel your awareness moving towards them. Krishnamurti says that compassion is passion for another. I take this to mean that you don't let sentiment get in the way, as sentiment is always the past. We like to analyse because expanding the field of the known is expanding the observer, something from which we generally take endless pleasure. This sort of brings us back to the beginning!
Robert
Here is todays' quote:
If you can look . . . without the observer, a totally different action takes place.
Questioner: If we are all that background, the past, who is the observer who is looking at the past? How do we separate the past and the entity who says, 'I am looking at it'?
Krishnamurti: Who is the entity, the observer that is looking at the past? Who is the entity, the thought, the being - whatever you call it - who says, 'I am looking at the unconscious'?
There is a separation between the observer and the observed. Is that so? Is not the observer the observed? Therefore, there is no separation at all! Go slowly into this. If you could understand this one thing it would be the most extraordinary phenomenon that could take place. Do you understand the question? There is the unconscious as well as the conscious, and I say that I must know all about it; I must know the content and also the state of consciousness when there is no content, which is a step further, which we will go into if we have time.
I am looking at it. I say, the observer says, that the unconscious is the past; the unconscious is the race into which I was born, the tradition - not only the tradition of society but of the family, the name, the residue of the whole Indian culture, the residue of all of humanity with all its problems, anxieties, guilt, and so on. I am all that, and that is the unconscious, which is the result of time, of many thousands of yesterdays, and there is the 'me' who is observing it. Now, who is the observer? Again, find out for yourself; discover who the observer is! Don't wait for me to tell you!
Collected Works, Vol. XVI - 199
Monday, March 2, 2009
Daily Quote, Monday March 2, 2009
Good morning,
Not too bad with the freezing last night it seems, though I haven't been outside yet!
I was caught by the last line of today's quote, the jist of which is that without understanding the whole problem of looking, with images making a screen that separates the observer from the observed, taking that screen away through inquiry and just seeing the other person could lead to cynicism as, and this is where I'm reading on from what is said, there is no longer togetherness, intimacy, and all of that in the traditional sense. The cynicism must surely come from a misunderstanding of love and affection. Love is to see another person without images and affection is to feel one's awareness move towards another. It is not isolating, not built upon the idea of possession. Once we feel affection our sense of the other person can widen and deepen; it becomes an inquiry. The question of love is about what is an adequate response to the other. It is to simply see without looking from a center. Is love the only ethical way of living?
Let me now what you make of the quote today. :-)
(PS. There is a really interesting set of comments to yesterday's quote that are all about yoga. It begins with a fascinating insight from Laureen from one of her yoga classes. Jackie and I added our reflections too.)
Robert
Here is today's quote:
My relationship undergoes a tremendous revolution.
I generally look at my wife, husband, at a person, with all my prejudices and memories. Through those memories I look; that is the center from which I look; therefore, the observer is different from the thing observed. In that process thought is constantly interfering, through association, and with the rapidity of the association. Now, when I realize the whole implication of that instantly, there is an observation without the observer. It is very simple to do this with trees, with nature; but with human beings, what takes place? If I can look at my wife or my husband non-verbally, not as an observer, it is rather frightening, isn't it? Because my relationship with her or with him is quite different. It is not in any sense personal; it is not a matter of pleasure, and I am afraid of it. I can look at a tree without fear, because it is fairly easy to commune with nature, but to commune with human beings is much more dangerous and frightening; my relationship undergoes a tremend ous revolution. Before, I possessed my wife, and she possessed me; we liked being possessed. We were living in our own isolated, self-identifying space. In observing, I removed that space; I am now directly in contact. I look without the observer, and therefore without a center. Unless one understands this whole problem, merely to develop a technique of looking becomes frightful. Then one becomes cynical, and all the rest of it.
Collected Works, Vol. XV - 145
Good morning,
Not too bad with the freezing last night it seems, though I haven't been outside yet!
I was caught by the last line of today's quote, the jist of which is that without understanding the whole problem of looking, with images making a screen that separates the observer from the observed, taking that screen away through inquiry and just seeing the other person could lead to cynicism as, and this is where I'm reading on from what is said, there is no longer togetherness, intimacy, and all of that in the traditional sense. The cynicism must surely come from a misunderstanding of love and affection. Love is to see another person without images and affection is to feel one's awareness move towards another. It is not isolating, not built upon the idea of possession. Once we feel affection our sense of the other person can widen and deepen; it becomes an inquiry. The question of love is about what is an adequate response to the other. It is to simply see without looking from a center. Is love the only ethical way of living?
Let me now what you make of the quote today. :-)
(PS. There is a really interesting set of comments to yesterday's quote that are all about yoga. It begins with a fascinating insight from Laureen from one of her yoga classes. Jackie and I added our reflections too.)
Robert
Here is today's quote:
My relationship undergoes a tremendous revolution.
I generally look at my wife, husband, at a person, with all my prejudices and memories. Through those memories I look; that is the center from which I look; therefore, the observer is different from the thing observed. In that process thought is constantly interfering, through association, and with the rapidity of the association. Now, when I realize the whole implication of that instantly, there is an observation without the observer. It is very simple to do this with trees, with nature; but with human beings, what takes place? If I can look at my wife or my husband non-verbally, not as an observer, it is rather frightening, isn't it? Because my relationship with her or with him is quite different. It is not in any sense personal; it is not a matter of pleasure, and I am afraid of it. I can look at a tree without fear, because it is fairly easy to commune with nature, but to commune with human beings is much more dangerous and frightening; my relationship undergoes a tremend ous revolution. Before, I possessed my wife, and she possessed me; we liked being possessed. We were living in our own isolated, self-identifying space. In observing, I removed that space; I am now directly in contact. I look without the observer, and therefore without a center. Unless one understands this whole problem, merely to develop a technique of looking becomes frightful. Then one becomes cynical, and all the rest of it.
Collected Works, Vol. XV - 145
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Derrida Reference and notes
Tonight we were talking a little bit about the philosopher Jacques Derrida and deconstruction and how this relates to Krishnamurti's teaching. One book that is useful to do this with is Derrida's 'Given Time Two: Counterfeit Money'. I managed to find the whole book online and have included to link here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6989441/Derrida-Given-Time-Counterfeit-Money
We decided at the study group tonight not to follow The Awakening of Intelligence any further. In our fluid and wide ranging conversation tonight we scarely referred to it at all. Everyone in the Group B seems very comfortable with their understanding of Krishnamurti's teachings, and so we all thought that our conversations would flow along better and be more interesting if we each followed our own interest in Krishnamurti and exchanged our ideas from the different Krishnamurti books we are reading.
We can chat about the same idea in Group A next Sunday and see how people feel.
Robert
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6989441/Derrida-Given-Time-Counterfeit-Money
We decided at the study group tonight not to follow The Awakening of Intelligence any further. In our fluid and wide ranging conversation tonight we scarely referred to it at all. Everyone in the Group B seems very comfortable with their understanding of Krishnamurti's teachings, and so we all thought that our conversations would flow along better and be more interesting if we each followed our own interest in Krishnamurti and exchanged our ideas from the different Krishnamurti books we are reading.
We can chat about the same idea in Group A next Sunday and see how people feel.
Robert
Daily Quote, Sunday March 1, 2009
Good morning everyone,
Hold onto your hats today for some freezing rain!
Today's quote takes a look at concentration.
Here are my reflections and the quote is right underneath.
The quote for Krishnamurti asks: Do you ever notice that when you concentrate you exclude? I want to try to relate this to some of the other things we've looked at, some of the other ways into the same question that we've explored in our study groups. Do you see that you create an image to maintain that concentration rather than observe what is? We could say that the effort of concentrating is remembering, holding an image or idea there in the mind, so it always excludes what is. The facts of the matter, actuality, what is left when we see without images, are what are excluded. So is order, space, energy, freedom, affection and love, and the possibility of relationship that is not based on an idea and therefore dependency.
To put this differently again, in concentration the part becomes the whole. Let's take an example. Have you ever heard a yoga teacher tell you to concentrate on this or that part of your body, do you do it yourself automatically as a student, or as a teacher do you see yourself telling your students to concentrate? Do you exclude the fact that your whole body is a total movement in every posture, do you lose a feeling of affection and move your attention away from how your muscles and joints feel? What does this identification, the whole identification process, do for you psychologically. Can you go into yourself and observe identification and concentration as a reaction and to what? Is it possible for you to be sensitive to all of this, both the outward and the inward? Can you observe and let your sense of your reaction widen and deepen? Can you observe what is and also the whole image creating, concentrating process together? Can you go through it all from the first observation of your reaction to the origin of your fear, and all identification? Can you do it then and there? This would be awareness and meditation.
Look forward to reading your reflections if you have a chance to make a post. :-)
I also mentioned some thoughts about yoga in my comments on yesterday's quote if any of you missed it and might like to take a look.
Robert
Awareness takes place when one observes.
You know, concentration is effort: focusing upon a particular page, an idea, image, symbol, and so on and so on. Concentration is a process of exclusion. You tell a student, 'Don't look out of the window; pay attention to the book.' He wants to look out, but he forces himself to look, look at the page; so there is a conflict. This constant effort to concentrate is a process of exclusion, which has nothing to do with awareness. Awareness takes place when one observes - you can do it; everybody can do it - observes not only what is the outer, the tree, what people say, what one thinks, and so on, outwardly, but also inwardly to be aware without choice, just to observe without choosing. For when you choose, when choice takes place, only then is there confusion, not when there is clarity.
Collected Works, Vol. XVII - 82
Good morning everyone,
Hold onto your hats today for some freezing rain!
Today's quote takes a look at concentration.
Here are my reflections and the quote is right underneath.
The quote for Krishnamurti asks: Do you ever notice that when you concentrate you exclude? I want to try to relate this to some of the other things we've looked at, some of the other ways into the same question that we've explored in our study groups. Do you see that you create an image to maintain that concentration rather than observe what is? We could say that the effort of concentrating is remembering, holding an image or idea there in the mind, so it always excludes what is. The facts of the matter, actuality, what is left when we see without images, are what are excluded. So is order, space, energy, freedom, affection and love, and the possibility of relationship that is not based on an idea and therefore dependency.
To put this differently again, in concentration the part becomes the whole. Let's take an example. Have you ever heard a yoga teacher tell you to concentrate on this or that part of your body, do you do it yourself automatically as a student, or as a teacher do you see yourself telling your students to concentrate? Do you exclude the fact that your whole body is a total movement in every posture, do you lose a feeling of affection and move your attention away from how your muscles and joints feel? What does this identification, the whole identification process, do for you psychologically. Can you go into yourself and observe identification and concentration as a reaction and to what? Is it possible for you to be sensitive to all of this, both the outward and the inward? Can you observe and let your sense of your reaction widen and deepen? Can you observe what is and also the whole image creating, concentrating process together? Can you go through it all from the first observation of your reaction to the origin of your fear, and all identification? Can you do it then and there? This would be awareness and meditation.
Look forward to reading your reflections if you have a chance to make a post. :-)
I also mentioned some thoughts about yoga in my comments on yesterday's quote if any of you missed it and might like to take a look.
Robert
Awareness takes place when one observes.
You know, concentration is effort: focusing upon a particular page, an idea, image, symbol, and so on and so on. Concentration is a process of exclusion. You tell a student, 'Don't look out of the window; pay attention to the book.' He wants to look out, but he forces himself to look, look at the page; so there is a conflict. This constant effort to concentrate is a process of exclusion, which has nothing to do with awareness. Awareness takes place when one observes - you can do it; everybody can do it - observes not only what is the outer, the tree, what people say, what one thinks, and so on, outwardly, but also inwardly to be aware without choice, just to observe without choosing. For when you choose, when choice takes place, only then is there confusion, not when there is clarity.
Collected Works, Vol. XVII - 82
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