Daily Quotes for the last three days!
Hi everyone,
Sorry for the delay. Some very early starts for me combined with a massive amount of work just now meant that the blog got put on hold. But here we go again, catching up.
Best wishes
Robert
Friday May 29, 2009
To be individual means complete freedom from all fear.
Surely, as long as the mind is caught in authority, it is not an individual at all. And, to find out what is real, what is God, what is truth, to discover that which is nameless, must one not be completely individual? To be individual means complete freedom from all fear, from all compulsion, from the desire to find a right way of living. That is what we all want, that is the cry in our hearts - to find a right way of action, a right way of conduct, a right method to live happily, to have peace. And, does not that very cry create authority, the authority of a book, of a person, of an idea? We want to be told what to do, how to live, in what manner to overcome the innumerable problems that we have. And, with that desire in our minds and in our hearts, we pursue those who can give us what we are seeking, those who we think will lead us to reality, to happiness, to God....
Now, can the mind be free of this whole process and live simply from day to day, understanding life as it arises from moment to moment? After all, that is the timeless, the nameless eternity - when the mind itself is the unknown. At present, the mind is the known; it is the result of time, of yesterday, of accumulated knowledge, experiences, and beliefs. And such a mind can never know the unknown. This is not some vague form of mysticism. Surely, if I want to know something that has never been experienced before, that is not of time, that cannot be put into the frame of authority, my mind must be totally free from the past, which means that it must be free from fear. . . .
The mind can never be free of fear as long as it is making an effort to get away from fear. All that it can do is to be aware that it is frightened and be completely passive, without any choice. Then you will see that the mind becomes extraordinarily quiet and, in that quietness, the problem of fear can be resolved. In that stillness of mind, authority has wholly vanished. What need have you of authority when, from moment to moment, you are seeing what is true?
Collected Works, Vol. VII - 300, 302
Saturday May 30, 2009.
To seek truth is to deny it; truth has no fixed abode.
Is God to be found by seeking him out? Can you search after the unknowable? To find, you must know what you are seeking. If you seek to find, what you find will be a self-projection; it will be what you desire, and the creation of desire is not truth. To seek truth is to deny it. Truth has no fixed abode; there is no path, no guide to it, and the word is not truth. Is truth to be found in a particular setting, in a special climate, among certain people? Is it here and not there? Is that one the guide to truth and not another? Is there a guide at all? When truth is sought, what is found can only come out of ignorance, for the search itself is born of ignorance. You cannot search out reality: you must cease for reality to be.
Commentaries on Living, Series I - 46
Sunday May 31, 2009.
It cannot be invited.
Let me put it differently: When the mind is free from the known, it is a new mind, an innocent mind; it is in a state of creation which is immeasurable, nameless, beyond time. And, we have been discussing...what it is that prevents us from coming naturally, easily, gracefully, to that state. It cannot be invited because a petty mind cannot invite the immense. All pettiness has to come to an end, and then the other is. The mind cannot imagine that state of immensity. From its pettiness, from its shallowness, it can project something which it thinks is beautiful, but that which it projects is still part of its own ugliness.
The psychological structure of society is what we are. When the structure is understood and there is freedom from it, then the nameless, that in which there is no time, no progress, comes into being.
Collected Works, Vol. XIII - 273
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Daily Quote, Thursday May 28, 2009.
Good foggy morning from Halifax!
K uses a great analogy here to get across the idea of a meditative mind. Through constant self-awareness there is a constant revolution in the mind. Every moment is a total movement. There is no moment of Becoming, just an almost permanent state of Being as everything that makes for non-Being is flushed through the mind in the flow of continual attention.
This sounds easy because it has a nice logic to it but the actual practice is a different matter. Most practices like Yoga advocate something a little different. Arguing that Being is within us as the Atman/Purusha, Yoga uses practice to become what we already are but can't see right now. There is a certain gradualness to Yoga that is not present in K, who says that a state of Being can come immediately through negative inquiry, which is another way of talking about attention to the activity of the mind. So K has a much narrower idea of practice that the yogis and so it's not really practice as practice has in some ways an idea of progess behind it.
Have to get on now. Myabe tomorrow's quote will bring us back to consider this again.
K once described his own mind as a mill pond, so that if a thought gets thrown in to create a temporary disturbance, the ripples quickly move out from that point but then settle again quickly. Most people's minds are constantly churning like the mill! This came from Ravi Ravindra's book on Krishnamurti, 'Two Birds in One Tree', which is definitely worth reading.
You actually have to die to everything you know.
You actually have to die to everything you know - to your memories, to your miseries, to your pleasures. And, when there is no jealousy, no envy, no greed, no torture of despair, then you will know what love is and you will come upon that which may be called sacred; therefore, sacredness is the essence of religion. You know, a great river may become polluted as it flows past a town, but if the pollution isn't too great, the river cleanses itself as it goes along and within a few miles it is again clean, fresh, pure. Similarly, when once the mind comes upon this sacredness, then every act is a cleansing act; through its very movement the mind is making itself innocent and, therefore, it is not accumulating.
A mind that has discovered this sacredness is in constant revolution - not economic or social revolution, but an inner revolution through which it is endlessly purifying itself. Its action is not based on some idea or formula. As the river, with a tremendous volume of water behind it, cleanses itself as it flows, so does the mind cleanse itself when once it has come upon this religious sacredness.
Collected Works, Vol. XV - 244
Good foggy morning from Halifax!
K uses a great analogy here to get across the idea of a meditative mind. Through constant self-awareness there is a constant revolution in the mind. Every moment is a total movement. There is no moment of Becoming, just an almost permanent state of Being as everything that makes for non-Being is flushed through the mind in the flow of continual attention.
This sounds easy because it has a nice logic to it but the actual practice is a different matter. Most practices like Yoga advocate something a little different. Arguing that Being is within us as the Atman/Purusha, Yoga uses practice to become what we already are but can't see right now. There is a certain gradualness to Yoga that is not present in K, who says that a state of Being can come immediately through negative inquiry, which is another way of talking about attention to the activity of the mind. So K has a much narrower idea of practice that the yogis and so it's not really practice as practice has in some ways an idea of progess behind it.
Have to get on now. Myabe tomorrow's quote will bring us back to consider this again.
K once described his own mind as a mill pond, so that if a thought gets thrown in to create a temporary disturbance, the ripples quickly move out from that point but then settle again quickly. Most people's minds are constantly churning like the mill! This came from Ravi Ravindra's book on Krishnamurti, 'Two Birds in One Tree', which is definitely worth reading.
You actually have to die to everything you know.
You actually have to die to everything you know - to your memories, to your miseries, to your pleasures. And, when there is no jealousy, no envy, no greed, no torture of despair, then you will know what love is and you will come upon that which may be called sacred; therefore, sacredness is the essence of religion. You know, a great river may become polluted as it flows past a town, but if the pollution isn't too great, the river cleanses itself as it goes along and within a few miles it is again clean, fresh, pure. Similarly, when once the mind comes upon this sacredness, then every act is a cleansing act; through its very movement the mind is making itself innocent and, therefore, it is not accumulating.
A mind that has discovered this sacredness is in constant revolution - not economic or social revolution, but an inner revolution through which it is endlessly purifying itself. Its action is not based on some idea or formula. As the river, with a tremendous volume of water behind it, cleanses itself as it flows, so does the mind cleanse itself when once it has come upon this religious sacredness.
Collected Works, Vol. XV - 244
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Daily Quote, Wednesday May 27, 2009.
Good morning,
It's been some time since anyone left a comment on the blog. If you read it today could you leave a comment, just a quick note to say you read it. It's only worth having if people are using it and it is stimulating comment and discussion.
Thanks
If you can move from freedom.
If you can move from freedom, then you will discover the most extraordinary things of the mind. And then you will find that the mind itself is the total reality: it is not that there is a reality to which the mind goes, but the mind itself, that extraordinary thing, when there is no contradiction within itself - when there is no anxiety, no fear, no desire to be successful - then that mind itself is that which is eternal, unnameable. But to speculate about the eternal without understanding the whole process of the mind is just childish play; it is an immature game which scholars, whom you worship, play. So, it would be good if you and I could really go into this...as two human beings interested in solving the problems we have, which are also the problems of the world. The personal problem is not different from the world problem....But you cannot tackle it if you have not understood the mind.
So, please...do watch your mind, go into it not merely when you have nothing to do, but from the moment you get up to the moment you go to bed, from the moment you wake up until you go back to sleep....Then you will begin to find out what an extraordinary richness there is - a richness not in knowledge, but in the nature of the mind itself. It is in the mind, also, that there is ignorance. The dispelling of ignorance is all-important, not the acquisition of knowledge, because the dispelling of ignorance is negative while knowledge is positive. And, a man who is capable of thinking negatively has the highest capacity for thinking. The mind which can dispel ignorance and not accumulate knowledge - such a mind is an innocent mind, and only the innocent mind can discover that which is beyond measure.
CW Vol. XI - 67
Good morning,
It's been some time since anyone left a comment on the blog. If you read it today could you leave a comment, just a quick note to say you read it. It's only worth having if people are using it and it is stimulating comment and discussion.
Thanks
If you can move from freedom.
If you can move from freedom, then you will discover the most extraordinary things of the mind. And then you will find that the mind itself is the total reality: it is not that there is a reality to which the mind goes, but the mind itself, that extraordinary thing, when there is no contradiction within itself - when there is no anxiety, no fear, no desire to be successful - then that mind itself is that which is eternal, unnameable. But to speculate about the eternal without understanding the whole process of the mind is just childish play; it is an immature game which scholars, whom you worship, play. So, it would be good if you and I could really go into this...as two human beings interested in solving the problems we have, which are also the problems of the world. The personal problem is not different from the world problem....But you cannot tackle it if you have not understood the mind.
So, please...do watch your mind, go into it not merely when you have nothing to do, but from the moment you get up to the moment you go to bed, from the moment you wake up until you go back to sleep....Then you will begin to find out what an extraordinary richness there is - a richness not in knowledge, but in the nature of the mind itself. It is in the mind, also, that there is ignorance. The dispelling of ignorance is all-important, not the acquisition of knowledge, because the dispelling of ignorance is negative while knowledge is positive. And, a man who is capable of thinking negatively has the highest capacity for thinking. The mind which can dispel ignorance and not accumulate knowledge - such a mind is an innocent mind, and only the innocent mind can discover that which is beyond measure.
CW Vol. XI - 67
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Daily Quote, Tuesday May 26, 2009.
Good morning once again from Halifax, where we have sun again. Hope it's great where you are. :-)
Some thoughts on today's quote:
The idea is that when we are inquiring into life everything, the entirity of existence, is created moment by moment. Remember that for K we are either Being or not Being, with the transition from not Being to Being being instantaneous. In Being we experience truth or, better put, the mind of God, the infinite mind. Only this mind can be alone, non-attached, able to totally deny everything that offers security, and so truly create. There is obviously an analogy to biblical creation but K takes it further insofar as creation doesn't happen only once but instead is constant, so that the person who is alone is also beyond time, the mind of such a person is eternal.
A pilgrimage of inquiry from which there is no return.
The mind that has really gone into all this, that has entered upon a pilgrimage of inquiry from which there is no return, that is inquiring not only now, during this hour, but from day to day - such a mind will have discovered a state of creation which is all existence. It is what you call truth or God. For that creation to take place, there must be complete aloneness - an aloneness in which there is no attachment, no companionship, either of words or thoughts or memories. It is a total denial of everything which the mind has invented for its own security.
The complete aloneness, in which there is no fear, has its own extraordinary beauty. It is a state of love because it is not the aloneness of reaction; it is a total negation, which is not the opposite of the positive. And, I think it is only in that state of creation that the mind is truly religious. Such a mind needs no meditation: it is itself the eternal. Such a mind is no longer seeking - not that it is satisfied, but it is no longer seeking because there is nothing to seek. It is a total thing, limitless, immeasurable, unnameable.
CW Vol. XI - 294
Good morning once again from Halifax, where we have sun again. Hope it's great where you are. :-)
Some thoughts on today's quote:
The idea is that when we are inquiring into life everything, the entirity of existence, is created moment by moment. Remember that for K we are either Being or not Being, with the transition from not Being to Being being instantaneous. In Being we experience truth or, better put, the mind of God, the infinite mind. Only this mind can be alone, non-attached, able to totally deny everything that offers security, and so truly create. There is obviously an analogy to biblical creation but K takes it further insofar as creation doesn't happen only once but instead is constant, so that the person who is alone is also beyond time, the mind of such a person is eternal.
A pilgrimage of inquiry from which there is no return.
The mind that has really gone into all this, that has entered upon a pilgrimage of inquiry from which there is no return, that is inquiring not only now, during this hour, but from day to day - such a mind will have discovered a state of creation which is all existence. It is what you call truth or God. For that creation to take place, there must be complete aloneness - an aloneness in which there is no attachment, no companionship, either of words or thoughts or memories. It is a total denial of everything which the mind has invented for its own security.
The complete aloneness, in which there is no fear, has its own extraordinary beauty. It is a state of love because it is not the aloneness of reaction; it is a total negation, which is not the opposite of the positive. And, I think it is only in that state of creation that the mind is truly religious. Such a mind needs no meditation: it is itself the eternal. Such a mind is no longer seeking - not that it is satisfied, but it is no longer seeking because there is nothing to seek. It is a total thing, limitless, immeasurable, unnameable.
CW Vol. XI - 294
Monday, May 25, 2009
Daily Quote, Monday May 25, 2009.
Good sunny morning!
Here are my reflections on today's quote:
What are the conditions of creativity? We come back agin to this question but perhaps from another angle. If we are not going through simply rearranging the past in our mind or the furntiure in our house to relieve temporary boredom, then what is creativity? I think creativity is the same as education, insofar as forgetting is intrinsic to learning. When we stop trying to measure something, to immortalise it, then it is not created 'as such'; it does not enter the known. Instead, without meaurement great attention arises and in this great attention to what is, which is all there is when measurment is removed, learning and fogetting walk together, faciltating the innocence of which K is speaking today. So to be educated is to be innocent.
You need an innocent mind.
You need an innocent mind, a fresh mind, a mind which is not cluttered up with the known. An innocent mind is a mind which functions in the unknown, and dying to the known is the door to the unknown. The unknown is not measurable by the known. Time cannot measure the timeless, the eternal, that immensity which has no beginning and no end. But our minds are bound to the yardstick of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and with that yardstick we try to inquire into the unknown, to measure that which is not measurable. And, when we try to measure something which is not measurable, we only get caught in words.
So, it is only a mind that has listened to and understood the challenge of death - it is only such a mind that can die to its own miseries and therefore be in a state of innocency. And, from that state of innocency, there is a totally different action altogether. Such action is always in the present; it is the active present....Only the mind that lives completely in the silence of the active present is open to receive the unknowable, and it is only such a mind that can bring about a new world because only such a mind is in a state of creation.
Collected Works, Vol. XI - 368
Good sunny morning!
Here are my reflections on today's quote:
What are the conditions of creativity? We come back agin to this question but perhaps from another angle. If we are not going through simply rearranging the past in our mind or the furntiure in our house to relieve temporary boredom, then what is creativity? I think creativity is the same as education, insofar as forgetting is intrinsic to learning. When we stop trying to measure something, to immortalise it, then it is not created 'as such'; it does not enter the known. Instead, without meaurement great attention arises and in this great attention to what is, which is all there is when measurment is removed, learning and fogetting walk together, faciltating the innocence of which K is speaking today. So to be educated is to be innocent.
You need an innocent mind.
You need an innocent mind, a fresh mind, a mind which is not cluttered up with the known. An innocent mind is a mind which functions in the unknown, and dying to the known is the door to the unknown. The unknown is not measurable by the known. Time cannot measure the timeless, the eternal, that immensity which has no beginning and no end. But our minds are bound to the yardstick of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and with that yardstick we try to inquire into the unknown, to measure that which is not measurable. And, when we try to measure something which is not measurable, we only get caught in words.
So, it is only a mind that has listened to and understood the challenge of death - it is only such a mind that can die to its own miseries and therefore be in a state of innocency. And, from that state of innocency, there is a totally different action altogether. Such action is always in the present; it is the active present....Only the mind that lives completely in the silence of the active present is open to receive the unknowable, and it is only such a mind that can bring about a new world because only such a mind is in a state of creation.
Collected Works, Vol. XI - 368
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Daily Quote, Sunday May 24, 2009.
Good morning,
Not sure about the weather today. Definitely cooler right now!
Here are my reflections on today's quote.
So what is sensivity? Is it a still mind that follows no path but simply looks? Where does sensitivity come from? Is it from deep attention to oneslf in relationship? Is it therefore from observing our conditioning, or path, the saint's repetitions and rituals, which are just our daily habits and compulsions under a different heading, so that the mind is then still? Is this what K is suggestioning when he refers to the outer and the inner as the same movement? If we simply attention to know or true self (see yestetday's quote) this can only lead to insensitivity by separating the inner from the outer. What do we react to when we turn to search for a our true self?
The so-called saints and sannyasis.
The so-called saints and sannyasis have contributed to the dullness of mind and to the destruction of sensitivity. Every habit, repetition, rituals strengthened by belief and dogma, sensory responses,can be and are refined, but the alert awareness, sensitivity, is quite another matter. Sensitivity is absolutely essential to look deeply within; this movement of going within is not a reaction to the outer; the outer and the inner are the same movement, they are not separate. The division of this movement as the outer and as the inner breeds insensitivity. Going within is the natural flow of the outer; the movement of the inner has its own action, expressed outwardly but it is not a reaction of the outer. Awareness of this whole movement is sensitivity.
Krishnamurti's Notebook - 28th October
Good morning,
Not sure about the weather today. Definitely cooler right now!
Here are my reflections on today's quote.
So what is sensivity? Is it a still mind that follows no path but simply looks? Where does sensitivity come from? Is it from deep attention to oneslf in relationship? Is it therefore from observing our conditioning, or path, the saint's repetitions and rituals, which are just our daily habits and compulsions under a different heading, so that the mind is then still? Is this what K is suggestioning when he refers to the outer and the inner as the same movement? If we simply attention to know or true self (see yestetday's quote) this can only lead to insensitivity by separating the inner from the outer. What do we react to when we turn to search for a our true self?
The so-called saints and sannyasis.
The so-called saints and sannyasis have contributed to the dullness of mind and to the destruction of sensitivity. Every habit, repetition, rituals strengthened by belief and dogma, sensory responses,can be and are refined, but the alert awareness, sensitivity, is quite another matter. Sensitivity is absolutely essential to look deeply within; this movement of going within is not a reaction to the outer; the outer and the inner are the same movement, they are not separate. The division of this movement as the outer and as the inner breeds insensitivity. Going within is the natural flow of the outer; the movement of the inner has its own action, expressed outwardly but it is not a reaction of the outer. Awareness of this whole movement is sensitivity.
Krishnamurti's Notebook - 28th October
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Daily Quote, Saturday May 23, 2009.
Good morning!
There are profound implications for yoga of what K is saying below about the Atman. Most, if not all, of eastern thought is based on the Atman or higher self as being eternal, when in fact it is the creation of thought.
This would be a terrific question to discuss with Ravi on Sunday.
Can the mind be free of time?
Seeing that thought is transient, the mind creates the 'I'-process, the 'me', which it then calls the permanent, the everlasting, but which is still within the field of the mind because the mind has created and can think about it. What the mind can think about is obviously within the field of the mind, which is the field of time; therefore, it is not the timeless, the eternal, though you may call it the Atman, the higher self, or God. Your God is then a product of your thought, and your thought is the response of your conditioning, of your memories, of your experiences, which are all within the field of time.
Now, can the mind be free of time? That is the real problem. Because, all creation takes place outside the field of time; all profound thinking, all deep feeling, is always timeless. When you love somebody, when there is love, that love is not bound by time.
Collected Works, Vol. XI - 169
Good morning!
There are profound implications for yoga of what K is saying below about the Atman. Most, if not all, of eastern thought is based on the Atman or higher self as being eternal, when in fact it is the creation of thought.
This would be a terrific question to discuss with Ravi on Sunday.
Can the mind be free of time?
Seeing that thought is transient, the mind creates the 'I'-process, the 'me', which it then calls the permanent, the everlasting, but which is still within the field of the mind because the mind has created and can think about it. What the mind can think about is obviously within the field of the mind, which is the field of time; therefore, it is not the timeless, the eternal, though you may call it the Atman, the higher self, or God. Your God is then a product of your thought, and your thought is the response of your conditioning, of your memories, of your experiences, which are all within the field of time.
Now, can the mind be free of time? That is the real problem. Because, all creation takes place outside the field of time; all profound thinking, all deep feeling, is always timeless. When you love somebody, when there is love, that love is not bound by time.
Collected Works, Vol. XI - 169
Friday, May 22, 2009
Daily Quote, Friday May 22, 2009.
Good morning in what is glorious sun here in Halifax!
The very fact of being aware of 'what is' is truth .
It is extremely difficult to b aware of dullness, to be aware of greed, to be aware of ill-will, ambition, and so on. The very fact of being aware of 'what is' is truth. It is truth that liberates, not your striving to be free. Thus, reality is not far, but we place it far away because we try to use it as a means of self-continuity. It is here, now, in the immediate. The eternal or the timeless is now and the now cannot be understood by a man who is caught in the net of time. To free thought from time demands action, but the mind is lazy, it is slothful, and therefore ever creates other hindrances.
It is only possible by right meditation, which means complete action not a continuous action, and complete action can only be understood when the mind comprehends the process of continuity, which is memory - not the factual but the psychological memory. As long as memory functions, the mind cannot understand 'what is'. But one's mind, one's whole being, becomes extraordinarily creative, passively alert, when one understands the significance of ending, because in ending there is renewal, while in continuity there is death, there is decay.
The First and Last Freedom - 265
Good morning in what is glorious sun here in Halifax!
The very fact of being aware of 'what is' is truth .
It is extremely difficult to b aware of dullness, to be aware of greed, to be aware of ill-will, ambition, and so on. The very fact of being aware of 'what is' is truth. It is truth that liberates, not your striving to be free. Thus, reality is not far, but we place it far away because we try to use it as a means of self-continuity. It is here, now, in the immediate. The eternal or the timeless is now and the now cannot be understood by a man who is caught in the net of time. To free thought from time demands action, but the mind is lazy, it is slothful, and therefore ever creates other hindrances.
It is only possible by right meditation, which means complete action not a continuous action, and complete action can only be understood when the mind comprehends the process of continuity, which is memory - not the factual but the psychological memory. As long as memory functions, the mind cannot understand 'what is'. But one's mind, one's whole being, becomes extraordinarily creative, passively alert, when one understands the significance of ending, because in ending there is renewal, while in continuity there is death, there is decay.
The First and Last Freedom - 265
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Daily Quote, Thursday May 21, 2009.
Good sunny morning here in Halifax! :-)
Here are my reflections taking the quote as a starting point.
Under our traditional interpretive framework, we might look at the title of today's quote and see this as a some kind of comment that you or I have lost our creativity, so that it is also a temporary problem that will come back. But K is actually suggesting the being empty is the beginning and the sustaining of all creative action because all action must be originally creative all the time if it is not to be from the past. Ceativity is usually approached in terms of taking what is there and rearranging it so that it appears more interesting, dusted up to be appealing once more. Hence, the current idea of makeovers or remakes. However well they might be done to our critically comparative eyes, like the new Star Trek movie is for some people, they are not creative in the sense that K is referring to.
Can you think of any times when you've tried to be creative but in fact just re-wrapped the known in a different way? How often do you re-arrange the furniture in your house? We all get attached to the known, to the status quo, and we can tolerate some shift from that but we'll still try to cling to the basic elements of the know again and again. Meditation is to see that attachment. As we get older this gets harder and harder. We become a little more exhausted and a little more comfortable in the known. So a key question is how do we live intelligently as we get older, and what is the connection between intelligence and creativity as K uses these terms?
Creatively empty.
What is important, surely, is for you to find out. And, to find out, your mind must be in a state of creative experience, must it not? Your mind must be capable of discovering, which means it must be completely free from all knowledge as to whether there is an ultimate reality or only a series of ever more extensive and significant experiences. But, your mind is crammed with knowledge and information, with experience, with memories; and with that mind you try to find out. Surely, it is only when the mind is creatively empty that it is capable of finding out whether there is an ultimate reality or not. But, the mind is never creatively empty; it is always acquiring, always gathering, living on the past or in the future, or trying to be focused in the immediate present: it is never in that state of creativeness in which a new thing can take place. As the mind is a result of time, it cannot possibly understand that which is timeless, eternal.
So, our job is to inquire not if there is an ultimate reality, but whether the mind can ever be free from time, which is memory - from this process of accumulation, the gathering of experiences, living on the past or in the future - that is, can the mind be still? Stillness is not the outcome of discipline, of control. There is stillness only when the mind is silently aware of this whole complex problem, and it is such a mind that can understand if there is an ultimate reality or not.
Collected Works, Vol. VII - 31
Good sunny morning here in Halifax! :-)
Here are my reflections taking the quote as a starting point.
Under our traditional interpretive framework, we might look at the title of today's quote and see this as a some kind of comment that you or I have lost our creativity, so that it is also a temporary problem that will come back. But K is actually suggesting the being empty is the beginning and the sustaining of all creative action because all action must be originally creative all the time if it is not to be from the past. Ceativity is usually approached in terms of taking what is there and rearranging it so that it appears more interesting, dusted up to be appealing once more. Hence, the current idea of makeovers or remakes. However well they might be done to our critically comparative eyes, like the new Star Trek movie is for some people, they are not creative in the sense that K is referring to.
Can you think of any times when you've tried to be creative but in fact just re-wrapped the known in a different way? How often do you re-arrange the furniture in your house? We all get attached to the known, to the status quo, and we can tolerate some shift from that but we'll still try to cling to the basic elements of the know again and again. Meditation is to see that attachment. As we get older this gets harder and harder. We become a little more exhausted and a little more comfortable in the known. So a key question is how do we live intelligently as we get older, and what is the connection between intelligence and creativity as K uses these terms?
Creatively empty.
What is important, surely, is for you to find out. And, to find out, your mind must be in a state of creative experience, must it not? Your mind must be capable of discovering, which means it must be completely free from all knowledge as to whether there is an ultimate reality or only a series of ever more extensive and significant experiences. But, your mind is crammed with knowledge and information, with experience, with memories; and with that mind you try to find out. Surely, it is only when the mind is creatively empty that it is capable of finding out whether there is an ultimate reality or not. But, the mind is never creatively empty; it is always acquiring, always gathering, living on the past or in the future, or trying to be focused in the immediate present: it is never in that state of creativeness in which a new thing can take place. As the mind is a result of time, it cannot possibly understand that which is timeless, eternal.
So, our job is to inquire not if there is an ultimate reality, but whether the mind can ever be free from time, which is memory - from this process of accumulation, the gathering of experiences, living on the past or in the future - that is, can the mind be still? Stillness is not the outcome of discipline, of control. There is stillness only when the mind is silently aware of this whole complex problem, and it is such a mind that can understand if there is an ultimate reality or not.
Collected Works, Vol. VII - 31
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Daily Quote, Wednesday May 20, 2009.
Good morning everyone,
My money would be on sun today but you never know! :-)
In my reflections on today's quote:
Isn't it interesting how time is both a means of postponing action and also looked upon as the means through which action can take place. Indeed, the latter is the handmaiden of the former. If we are becoming still now we will always be becoming become still, never actually still. Is it not that the ego only desires to become, to actualise, never to be? To be would mean the end of the ego, for in just being there is no becoming.
If you do not understand the present now, will you understand it in the future?
The present is the eternal. Through time, the timeless is not experienced. 'The now' is ever existent; even if you escape into future, 'the now' is ever present. The present is the doorway to the past. If you do not understand the present now, will you understand it in the future? What you are now you will be, if the present is not understood. Understanding comes only through the present: postponement does not yield comprehension. Time is transcended only in the stillness of the present. This tranquility is not to be gained through time, through 'becoming' tranquil; there must be stillness, not the becoming still. We look to time as a means to become. This becoming is endless: it is not the eternal, the timeless. The becoming is endless conflict, leading to illusion. In the stillness of the present is the eternal.
Colllected Works, Vol. IV - 12
Good morning everyone,
My money would be on sun today but you never know! :-)
In my reflections on today's quote:
Isn't it interesting how time is both a means of postponing action and also looked upon as the means through which action can take place. Indeed, the latter is the handmaiden of the former. If we are becoming still now we will always be becoming become still, never actually still. Is it not that the ego only desires to become, to actualise, never to be? To be would mean the end of the ego, for in just being there is no becoming.
If you do not understand the present now, will you understand it in the future?
The present is the eternal. Through time, the timeless is not experienced. 'The now' is ever existent; even if you escape into future, 'the now' is ever present. The present is the doorway to the past. If you do not understand the present now, will you understand it in the future? What you are now you will be, if the present is not understood. Understanding comes only through the present: postponement does not yield comprehension. Time is transcended only in the stillness of the present. This tranquility is not to be gained through time, through 'becoming' tranquil; there must be stillness, not the becoming still. We look to time as a means to become. This becoming is endless: it is not the eternal, the timeless. The becoming is endless conflict, leading to illusion. In the stillness of the present is the eternal.
Colllected Works, Vol. IV - 12
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Daily Quote, Tuesday May 19, 2009.
Good morning everyone,
I would keep your umbrellas handy today if you are in Halifax! :-)
Here are my reflections/interpretation of the quote which is underneath it:
Today's quote takes us into K's idea of negative inquiry. If we want to experience the eternal, it is necessary to prepare the mind to receive it, which means observing everything in us thta is within time, that is yesterday as he puts it here. As he put it in Monday's quote, I might be the shop assistant but i aspire to own the shop tomorrow. We can't know the unknown but we can know the known. They have no relationship to each other, there is no logical step from one to the other, no progression or evolution, so one must be disolved one (the known) to make room for the other (the unknown).
The known and time disolve in self-knowledge, which is not knowledge of who we are, our "true self." That is a misconception. It is knowledge of we have become, how we have been constructed in time by thought. The true self and the eternal can easily be confused as the true self appears to indicate a self which is outside time. However, the true self is itself a creation of thought. It is, in fact, an aspect of what we could call our personality, one of the subject positions that we identify with, most commonly if we are engaged in spiritual practice. It is, as I think K shows, within the known.
The mind itself must become the unknown.
To receive the unknown, the mind itself must become the unknown. The mind is the result of the thought process, the result of time, and this thought process must come to an end. The mind cannot think of that which is eternal, timeless; therefore, the mind must be free of time, the time process of the mind must be dissolved. Only when the mind is completely free from yesterday, and is therefore not using the present as a means to the future, is it capable of receiving the eternal. That which is known has no relationship with the unknown; therefore, you cannot pray to the unknown, you cannot concentrate on the unknown, you cannot be devoted to the unknown. All that has no meaning. What has meaning is to find out how the mind operates, it is to see yourself in action.
Therefore, our concern in meditation is to know oneself not only superficially, but the whole content of the inner, hidden consciousness. Without knowing all that and being free of its conditioning, you cannot possibly go beyond the mind's limits. That is why the thought process must cease and, for this cessation, there must be knowledge of oneself. Therefore, meditation is the beginning of wisdom, which is the understanding of one's own mind and heart.
Collected Works, Vol. V - 165
Good morning everyone,
I would keep your umbrellas handy today if you are in Halifax! :-)
Here are my reflections/interpretation of the quote which is underneath it:
Today's quote takes us into K's idea of negative inquiry. If we want to experience the eternal, it is necessary to prepare the mind to receive it, which means observing everything in us thta is within time, that is yesterday as he puts it here. As he put it in Monday's quote, I might be the shop assistant but i aspire to own the shop tomorrow. We can't know the unknown but we can know the known. They have no relationship to each other, there is no logical step from one to the other, no progression or evolution, so one must be disolved one (the known) to make room for the other (the unknown).
The known and time disolve in self-knowledge, which is not knowledge of who we are, our "true self." That is a misconception. It is knowledge of we have become, how we have been constructed in time by thought. The true self and the eternal can easily be confused as the true self appears to indicate a self which is outside time. However, the true self is itself a creation of thought. It is, in fact, an aspect of what we could call our personality, one of the subject positions that we identify with, most commonly if we are engaged in spiritual practice. It is, as I think K shows, within the known.
The mind itself must become the unknown.
To receive the unknown, the mind itself must become the unknown. The mind is the result of the thought process, the result of time, and this thought process must come to an end. The mind cannot think of that which is eternal, timeless; therefore, the mind must be free of time, the time process of the mind must be dissolved. Only when the mind is completely free from yesterday, and is therefore not using the present as a means to the future, is it capable of receiving the eternal. That which is known has no relationship with the unknown; therefore, you cannot pray to the unknown, you cannot concentrate on the unknown, you cannot be devoted to the unknown. All that has no meaning. What has meaning is to find out how the mind operates, it is to see yourself in action.
Therefore, our concern in meditation is to know oneself not only superficially, but the whole content of the inner, hidden consciousness. Without knowing all that and being free of its conditioning, you cannot possibly go beyond the mind's limits. That is why the thought process must cease and, for this cessation, there must be knowledge of oneself. Therefore, meditation is the beginning of wisdom, which is the understanding of one's own mind and heart.
Collected Works, Vol. V - 165
Monday, May 18, 2009
Daily Quote, Monday May 18.
Hi everyone,
Hope you all had a great day.
Can you catch the eternal in the net of time?
Surely, memory is time, is it not?...and through time we hope to achieve a result: I am a clerk today and, given time and opportunity, I will become the manager or the owner....and, with the same mentality, we say, 'I shall achieve reality, I shall approach God....' So, through time we hope to achieve the timeless, through time we hope to gain the eternal. Can you do that? Can you catch the eternal in the net of time - through memory which is of time?
The timeless can be only when memory, which is the 'me' and the 'mine', ceases. If you see the truth of that - that through time the timeless cannot be understood or received - then we go into the problem of memory. The memory of technical things is essential, but the psychological memory that maintains the self, the 'me' and the 'mine', that gives identification and self-continuance, is wholly detrimental to life and to reality. When one sees the truth of that, the false drops away; therefore, there is no psychological retention of yesterday's experience.
Collected Works, Vol. V - 119
Hi everyone,
Hope you all had a great day.
Can you catch the eternal in the net of time?
Surely, memory is time, is it not?...and through time we hope to achieve a result: I am a clerk today and, given time and opportunity, I will become the manager or the owner....and, with the same mentality, we say, 'I shall achieve reality, I shall approach God....' So, through time we hope to achieve the timeless, through time we hope to gain the eternal. Can you do that? Can you catch the eternal in the net of time - through memory which is of time?
The timeless can be only when memory, which is the 'me' and the 'mine', ceases. If you see the truth of that - that through time the timeless cannot be understood or received - then we go into the problem of memory. The memory of technical things is essential, but the psychological memory that maintains the self, the 'me' and the 'mine', that gives identification and self-continuance, is wholly detrimental to life and to reality. When one sees the truth of that, the false drops away; therefore, there is no psychological retention of yesterday's experience.
Collected Works, Vol. V - 119
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Daily Quote, Sunday May 17, 2009.
Good foggy morning again.
It's marathon day in Halifax, as in running, if everyone can find the route. I wonder if anyone will consider that there can be no route to the end. :-)
I was thinking about the quote today in the context of sacrifice. We have to sacrifice happiness to find what is timeless. This is because we are always the happiness. Not we are and then happy, but are the happiness.
Happiness is not the product of time.
The thought process brings about psychological progress in time, but is it real, as real as chronological time? And, can we use that time which is of the mind as a means of understanding the eternal, the timeless? Because, as I said, happiness is not of yesterday, happiness is not the product of time, happiness is always in the present, a timeless state. I do not know if you have noticed that, when you have ecstasy, a creative joy, a series of bright clouds surrounded by dark clouds, in that moment there is no time: there is only the immediate present. But the mind, coming in after the experiencing in the present, remembers and wishes to continue it, gathering more and more of itself, thereby creating time. So, time is created by 'the more', time is acquisition. And, time is also detachment, which is still an acquisition of the mind; therefore, merely disciplining the mind in time, conditioning thought within the framework of time, which is memory, surely does not reveal that which is timeless.
Collected Works, Vol. V - 139
Good foggy morning again.
It's marathon day in Halifax, as in running, if everyone can find the route. I wonder if anyone will consider that there can be no route to the end. :-)
I was thinking about the quote today in the context of sacrifice. We have to sacrifice happiness to find what is timeless. This is because we are always the happiness. Not we are and then happy, but are the happiness.
Happiness is not the product of time.
The thought process brings about psychological progress in time, but is it real, as real as chronological time? And, can we use that time which is of the mind as a means of understanding the eternal, the timeless? Because, as I said, happiness is not of yesterday, happiness is not the product of time, happiness is always in the present, a timeless state. I do not know if you have noticed that, when you have ecstasy, a creative joy, a series of bright clouds surrounded by dark clouds, in that moment there is no time: there is only the immediate present. But the mind, coming in after the experiencing in the present, remembers and wishes to continue it, gathering more and more of itself, thereby creating time. So, time is created by 'the more', time is acquisition. And, time is also detachment, which is still an acquisition of the mind; therefore, merely disciplining the mind in time, conditioning thought within the framework of time, which is memory, surely does not reveal that which is timeless.
Collected Works, Vol. V - 139
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Daily Quote, Saturday May 16, 2009.
Good morning,
When thought seeks to change itself it merely perpetuates itself.
Thought is the response of what has been, the response of memory, is it not? Memory is tradition, experience, and its reaction to any experience is the outcome of the past. So, experience is always strengthening the past. The mind is the result of the past, of time; thought is the product of many yesterdays. When thought seeks to change itself, trying to be or not to be this or that, it merely perpetuates itself under a different name. Being the product of the known, thought can never experience the unknown; being the result of time, it can never understand the timeless, the eternal. Thought must cease for the real to be.
Commentaries on Living, Series II - 188
Good morning,
When thought seeks to change itself it merely perpetuates itself.
Thought is the response of what has been, the response of memory, is it not? Memory is tradition, experience, and its reaction to any experience is the outcome of the past. So, experience is always strengthening the past. The mind is the result of the past, of time; thought is the product of many yesterdays. When thought seeks to change itself, trying to be or not to be this or that, it merely perpetuates itself under a different name. Being the product of the known, thought can never experience the unknown; being the result of time, it can never understand the timeless, the eternal. Thought must cease for the real to be.
Commentaries on Living, Series II - 188
Friday, May 15, 2009
Daily Quote, Friday May 15, 2009.
Good morning,
Back to regular service on the blog and regular weather!
All self-centered activity is based on pleasure.
All self-centered activity is based on pleasure, and pleasure...does breed sorrow, pain. Enjoyment is one thing and pleasure is another. Yesterday was a lovely day. There were clear, intensely blue skies, and every tree, every blade of grass, every buttercup in the field was full of light and delight. One sees all that with a pulsating feeling of enjoyment. But, when that enjoyment is translated as pleasure and I say, 'I wish today were another day like yesterday so that I could have more enjoyment, greater pleasure,' then the pain begins.
So, there is enjoyment which is natural, spontaneous, healthy, immediate; but when that enjoyment is translated by memory into pleasure and there is the demand for its continuity, which breeds the avoidance of pain, then there is sorrow. Now, I see this whole process and I also see that it must end - but not because I want something more, not because I want greater pleasure - it must end because it is natural to have a very good mind, a mind that is young, healthy, reasonable, sane, strong. When I see the truth of this, then what takes place?
Collected Works, Vol. XV - 236
Good morning,
Back to regular service on the blog and regular weather!
All self-centered activity is based on pleasure.
All self-centered activity is based on pleasure, and pleasure...does breed sorrow, pain. Enjoyment is one thing and pleasure is another. Yesterday was a lovely day. There were clear, intensely blue skies, and every tree, every blade of grass, every buttercup in the field was full of light and delight. One sees all that with a pulsating feeling of enjoyment. But, when that enjoyment is translated as pleasure and I say, 'I wish today were another day like yesterday so that I could have more enjoyment, greater pleasure,' then the pain begins.
So, there is enjoyment which is natural, spontaneous, healthy, immediate; but when that enjoyment is translated by memory into pleasure and there is the demand for its continuity, which breeds the avoidance of pain, then there is sorrow. Now, I see this whole process and I also see that it must end - but not because I want something more, not because I want greater pleasure - it must end because it is natural to have a very good mind, a mind that is young, healthy, reasonable, sane, strong. When I see the truth of this, then what takes place?
Collected Works, Vol. XV - 236
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Daily Quote, Thursday May 14, 2009.
Sorry about not having the quote up yesterday. The Blogger was down in the morning and I was busy all day. I had a friend in town from Syracuse and we spend a fun afternoon together catching up on news.
I also heard back from the Krishnamurti Foundation and thankfully the Ojai Valley was not affected by the wildfires near Santa Barbara. Also, the orange and avocado groves need regular watering and so they are not as dry and vulnerable to fire as other areas.
Also, Prof. Ravindra's talk on the Yoga Sutras is tomorrow night (Friday) at the Yoga Loft at 7:30pm. He was a friend and student of Krishnamurti for 20 years and his insights into yoga are incredibly eye-opening.
Here is Wednesday's quote and then today's:
Thought cannot do anything about it.
We must be aware of the nature of pleasure and what gives it strength and vitality, which again is thought. It's really very, very simple if one understands it: we see a woman, a car, a child, a house, a picture, or we listen to music; seeing, feeling, censoring that picture, that building, that woman, thought thinks about it and gives to that pleasure strength and continuity. When we understand this we see at the same time that, where there is pursuit of pleasure, there is always the shadow of pain, the avoidance, the resistance.
Thought creates resistance around itself so that it will have no pain at all. Thought lives in this artificial pleasure because of something that it has had or wants to have. If thought says, 'I understand this very well and I must act to get beyond it,' the beyond becomes another form of pleasure created by thought. Thought has built a psychological structure of pleasure. Seeing the nature of it, seeing that there is pain in it, thought says, 'I must do something else: I must act differently, I must behave differently. I mustn't think about pleasure; I must resist pleasure, I must do this and that.' The very action which thought creates about pleasure is still pleasure. Thought cannot do anything about it.
Collected Works, Vol. XVI - 146
A passion with a motive invariably ends in despair.
If passion is aroused sexually or for some purpose, if passion has a cause, if it has an end in view, then in that so-called passion there is frustration, there is pain, there is the demand for the continuity of pleasure and, therefore, the fear of not having it and the avoidance of pain. So, a passion with a motive, or a passion which is aroused, invariably ends in despair, pain, frustration, anxiety.
We are talking about passion without a motive, which is quite a different thing. Whether it exists or not is for you to find out, but we know that passion aroused ends in despair, in anxiety, in pain, or in the demand for a particular form of pleasure. And, in that there is conflict, there is contradiction, there is a constant demand. We are talking of a passion that is without motive. There is such a passion. It has nothing to do with personal gain or loss, or all the petty little demands of a particular pleasure and the avoidance of pain. Without that passion you cannot possibly cooperate, and cooperation is life, which is relationship.
Collected Works, Vol. XIV - 95
Sorry about not having the quote up yesterday. The Blogger was down in the morning and I was busy all day. I had a friend in town from Syracuse and we spend a fun afternoon together catching up on news.
I also heard back from the Krishnamurti Foundation and thankfully the Ojai Valley was not affected by the wildfires near Santa Barbara. Also, the orange and avocado groves need regular watering and so they are not as dry and vulnerable to fire as other areas.
Also, Prof. Ravindra's talk on the Yoga Sutras is tomorrow night (Friday) at the Yoga Loft at 7:30pm. He was a friend and student of Krishnamurti for 20 years and his insights into yoga are incredibly eye-opening.
Here is Wednesday's quote and then today's:
Thought cannot do anything about it.
We must be aware of the nature of pleasure and what gives it strength and vitality, which again is thought. It's really very, very simple if one understands it: we see a woman, a car, a child, a house, a picture, or we listen to music; seeing, feeling, censoring that picture, that building, that woman, thought thinks about it and gives to that pleasure strength and continuity. When we understand this we see at the same time that, where there is pursuit of pleasure, there is always the shadow of pain, the avoidance, the resistance.
Thought creates resistance around itself so that it will have no pain at all. Thought lives in this artificial pleasure because of something that it has had or wants to have. If thought says, 'I understand this very well and I must act to get beyond it,' the beyond becomes another form of pleasure created by thought. Thought has built a psychological structure of pleasure. Seeing the nature of it, seeing that there is pain in it, thought says, 'I must do something else: I must act differently, I must behave differently. I mustn't think about pleasure; I must resist pleasure, I must do this and that.' The very action which thought creates about pleasure is still pleasure. Thought cannot do anything about it.
Collected Works, Vol. XVI - 146
A passion with a motive invariably ends in despair.
If passion is aroused sexually or for some purpose, if passion has a cause, if it has an end in view, then in that so-called passion there is frustration, there is pain, there is the demand for the continuity of pleasure and, therefore, the fear of not having it and the avoidance of pain. So, a passion with a motive, or a passion which is aroused, invariably ends in despair, pain, frustration, anxiety.
We are talking about passion without a motive, which is quite a different thing. Whether it exists or not is for you to find out, but we know that passion aroused ends in despair, in anxiety, in pain, or in the demand for a particular form of pleasure. And, in that there is conflict, there is contradiction, there is a constant demand. We are talking of a passion that is without motive. There is such a passion. It has nothing to do with personal gain or loss, or all the petty little demands of a particular pleasure and the avoidance of pain. Without that passion you cannot possibly cooperate, and cooperation is life, which is relationship.
Collected Works, Vol. XIV - 95
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Daily Quote, Tuesday May 12, 2009.
Good morning on K's birthday!
Thought gives duration to pleasure.
Thought, thinking about that from which it has gained pleasure, gives duration to pleasure. I had pleasure yesterday looking at that sunset, or that tree, or that extraordinary light of the evening on the water. Thinking about it has brought pleasure - not when I observed it, when I observed it there was no pleasure, there was a great sense of beauty, quietness of the evening; but the more I think about that quietness, that beauty, the more I derive pleasure from it - and I want the repetition of that pleasure. It's the same with sex, with any form of pleasure. So, sex has its own place - we are not discussing its right place - but one will discover what is its right place when one understands love, which is not desire and pleasure.
Love is not the opposite of pleasure and desire. Because, if one only knows desire and pleasure and wants to come upon this thing called love, to understand what love is, one must understand the structure of thought.
Talks in Europe 1967 -
Good morning on K's birthday!
Thought gives duration to pleasure.
Thought, thinking about that from which it has gained pleasure, gives duration to pleasure. I had pleasure yesterday looking at that sunset, or that tree, or that extraordinary light of the evening on the water. Thinking about it has brought pleasure - not when I observed it, when I observed it there was no pleasure, there was a great sense of beauty, quietness of the evening; but the more I think about that quietness, that beauty, the more I derive pleasure from it - and I want the repetition of that pleasure. It's the same with sex, with any form of pleasure. So, sex has its own place - we are not discussing its right place - but one will discover what is its right place when one understands love, which is not desire and pleasure.
Love is not the opposite of pleasure and desire. Because, if one only knows desire and pleasure and wants to come upon this thing called love, to understand what love is, one must understand the structure of thought.
Talks in Europe 1967 -
Monday, May 11, 2009
Daily Quote, Monday May 11, 2009.
Good morning everyone,
Beautiful day today!!
Many thanks to Pauline for hosting DVD night last night and many thanks from Pauline to us for leaving some great energy in her house. :-) We'll be doing more DVD evenings on an irregular basis as interesting things to watch come along or as we need more homemade cookies!
Tomorrow is the anniversary of K's birthday. Do you have a favourite quote, something that you had to struggle with for a while or are still wrestling with that got you to notice yourself, that you'd like to post in celebration?
Last night we talked for some time about the way pleasure and fear are related. Today's quote looks at the mechanism of pleasure and you can see how fear is right there too.
Pleasure is related to desire.
Pleasure is related to desire: I have tasted a certain food and I want more of it, it gives me delight; there is sex, the pleasure of a lovely evening, of a sunset, the light on the water as the river flows by, the beauty of a bird on the wing, the beauty of a face, a sentence that awakens a deep delight, a smile. Then there is the desire that says that I must have more of this, and the desire - whether sexual, psychological, or otherwise - which has tasted a certain pleasure and wants it repeated. The repetition comes the moment thought comes into being....
Yesterday evening, among the clouds and in the wind, suddenly there was a spot of sunlight shining on a green field. That light was an extraordinary light, full, rich, and the green had such aliveness. The eyes saw it; the mind recorded it and took great delight in that beauty, in that light, and in that incomparable green color. I want a repetition of that delight, so today I look for that same light, that same beauty, that same feeling - which is thought. The act of seeing was one thing, and then thought came in and said, 'I would like more of that, I must repeat that again tomorrow.' The repetition of that is the beginning of pleasure. When I saw the light on the field there was no desire, no pleasure; there was a tremendous observation and delight. But thought came in and said, 'By Jove, how nice it would be if I could have more of that tomorrow.'
That is what we are doing all the time - it may be sexually, it may be when someone flatters you and says that he is your friend - thought steps in and wants it repeated. The beginning of pleasure is the beginning of thought in conflict. It is thought that demands, that creates conflict.
Collected Works, Vol. XVI - 216
Good morning everyone,
Beautiful day today!!
Many thanks to Pauline for hosting DVD night last night and many thanks from Pauline to us for leaving some great energy in her house. :-) We'll be doing more DVD evenings on an irregular basis as interesting things to watch come along or as we need more homemade cookies!
Tomorrow is the anniversary of K's birthday. Do you have a favourite quote, something that you had to struggle with for a while or are still wrestling with that got you to notice yourself, that you'd like to post in celebration?
Last night we talked for some time about the way pleasure and fear are related. Today's quote looks at the mechanism of pleasure and you can see how fear is right there too.
Pleasure is related to desire.
Pleasure is related to desire: I have tasted a certain food and I want more of it, it gives me delight; there is sex, the pleasure of a lovely evening, of a sunset, the light on the water as the river flows by, the beauty of a bird on the wing, the beauty of a face, a sentence that awakens a deep delight, a smile. Then there is the desire that says that I must have more of this, and the desire - whether sexual, psychological, or otherwise - which has tasted a certain pleasure and wants it repeated. The repetition comes the moment thought comes into being....
Yesterday evening, among the clouds and in the wind, suddenly there was a spot of sunlight shining on a green field. That light was an extraordinary light, full, rich, and the green had such aliveness. The eyes saw it; the mind recorded it and took great delight in that beauty, in that light, and in that incomparable green color. I want a repetition of that delight, so today I look for that same light, that same beauty, that same feeling - which is thought. The act of seeing was one thing, and then thought came in and said, 'I would like more of that, I must repeat that again tomorrow.' The repetition of that is the beginning of pleasure. When I saw the light on the field there was no desire, no pleasure; there was a tremendous observation and delight. But thought came in and said, 'By Jove, how nice it would be if I could have more of that tomorrow.'
That is what we are doing all the time - it may be sexually, it may be when someone flatters you and says that he is your friend - thought steps in and wants it repeated. The beginning of pleasure is the beginning of thought in conflict. It is thought that demands, that creates conflict.
Collected Works, Vol. XVI - 216
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Daily Quote, Sunday May 10, 2009.
Hi everyone,
Apparently, lots of rain and sun make for a great strawberry season!
Pleasure is the structure of society.
Pleasure is the structure of society. From childhood until death we are secretly, cunningly, or obviously pursuing pleasure. So, whatever our form of pleasure is, I think we should be very clear about it because it is going to guide and shape our lives. It is, therefore, important for each one of us to investigate closely, hesitantly, and delicately this question of pleasure, for to find pleasure and then nourish and sustain it is a basic demand of life and, without it, existence becomes dull, stupid, lonely, and meaningless.
You must ask, why then should life not be guided by pleasure? For the very simple reason that pleasure must bring pain, frustration, sorrow, and fear and, out of fear, violence. If you want to live that way, live that way - most of the world does anyway - but if you want to be free from sorrow you must understand the whole structure of pleasure.
To understand pleasure is not to deny it. We are not condemning it or saying it is right or wrong; but, if we pursue it, let us do so with our eyes open, knowing that a mind that is all the time seeking pleasure must inevitably find its shadow, pain.
Now, why is the mind always demanding pleasure? Why is it that we do noble and ignoble things with the undercurrent of pleasure? Why is it we sacrifice and suffer on the thin thread of pleasure? What is pleasure, and how does it come into being?
Freedom from the Known - 34
Hi everyone,
Apparently, lots of rain and sun make for a great strawberry season!
Pleasure is the structure of society.
Pleasure is the structure of society. From childhood until death we are secretly, cunningly, or obviously pursuing pleasure. So, whatever our form of pleasure is, I think we should be very clear about it because it is going to guide and shape our lives. It is, therefore, important for each one of us to investigate closely, hesitantly, and delicately this question of pleasure, for to find pleasure and then nourish and sustain it is a basic demand of life and, without it, existence becomes dull, stupid, lonely, and meaningless.
You must ask, why then should life not be guided by pleasure? For the very simple reason that pleasure must bring pain, frustration, sorrow, and fear and, out of fear, violence. If you want to live that way, live that way - most of the world does anyway - but if you want to be free from sorrow you must understand the whole structure of pleasure.
To understand pleasure is not to deny it. We are not condemning it or saying it is right or wrong; but, if we pursue it, let us do so with our eyes open, knowing that a mind that is all the time seeking pleasure must inevitably find its shadow, pain.
Now, why is the mind always demanding pleasure? Why is it that we do noble and ignoble things with the undercurrent of pleasure? Why is it we sacrifice and suffer on the thin thread of pleasure? What is pleasure, and how does it come into being?
Freedom from the Known - 34
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Daily Quote, Saturday May 9, 2009.
Good morning in foggless Halifax!!!
Referring to The Ending of Time for a moment, can anyone see where time fits into what K is saying about pleasure, thought, and desire? Can you explain this inter-relationship and where time fits in into this in a comment below. Have a go!!
Pleasure always brings pain; it is a fact.
There is a vast difference between pleasure and love. Consider it for a minute. All our relationships between man and woman, between ourselves and each other, is based on pleasure. And, pleasure always brings pain; it is a fact. And, where there is pleasure, there is no love. Love is not a process of thinking; love is not the result of a thought, whereas pleasure is. If you understand that - not intellectually, verbally reasoned out - if you see the fact that pleasure destroys love, and where there is pleasure there is no joy; if you see very clearly that you function on pleasure, that all your activity, all your thinking, all your being - including your gods - everything is based on pleasure which is the result of thought; if you see that it is thought which gives continuity to pleasure, which is desire; and, if you see this whole structure, then where does fear come in at all?
Collected Works, Vol. XVI - 62
Good morning in foggless Halifax!!!
Referring to The Ending of Time for a moment, can anyone see where time fits into what K is saying about pleasure, thought, and desire? Can you explain this inter-relationship and where time fits in into this in a comment below. Have a go!!
Pleasure always brings pain; it is a fact.
There is a vast difference between pleasure and love. Consider it for a minute. All our relationships between man and woman, between ourselves and each other, is based on pleasure. And, pleasure always brings pain; it is a fact. And, where there is pleasure, there is no love. Love is not a process of thinking; love is not the result of a thought, whereas pleasure is. If you understand that - not intellectually, verbally reasoned out - if you see the fact that pleasure destroys love, and where there is pleasure there is no joy; if you see very clearly that you function on pleasure, that all your activity, all your thinking, all your being - including your gods - everything is based on pleasure which is the result of thought; if you see that it is thought which gives continuity to pleasure, which is desire; and, if you see this whole structure, then where does fear come in at all?
Collected Works, Vol. XVI - 62
Friday, May 8, 2009
Daily Quote, Friday May 8, 2009.
Good morning,
It's amazing how May manages to be the foggy month!
Thought has been built through time.
One has to understand the nature of thought, that is, first desire, then pleasure, and then why thought interferes at all. If I find out the relationship among these three, then desire becomes a very small affair. I can see a beautiful house, and leave it; I see a beautiful woman, and not produce all the reactions. Thought has been built through time. Thought is time. If you do not think, there will be no tomorrow. And, we have to think; but if that thinking is based on pleasure, on desire, then thought becomes a problem, then thinking becomes a danger.
So, is it possible to see a house, a woman, and not let thought interfere with it? Not deliberately - not say that thought must not interfere because it brings pain, sorrow, and all the rest of it, but actually see the fact not the explanation; see the actual fact that, when thought interferes with desire or when thought gives importance to desire, then it becomes pleasure, and where there is pleasure there is always pain. The two, pleasure and pain, are not separate: pleasure is pain. You can see that very obviously. Most of our values, concepts, ideals, relationships between man, woman, neighbor and yourself - all that is based on pleasure, and hence all our problems. We function with the principle of pleasure.
Collected Works, Vol. XVI - 62
Good morning,
It's amazing how May manages to be the foggy month!
Thought has been built through time.
One has to understand the nature of thought, that is, first desire, then pleasure, and then why thought interferes at all. If I find out the relationship among these three, then desire becomes a very small affair. I can see a beautiful house, and leave it; I see a beautiful woman, and not produce all the reactions. Thought has been built through time. Thought is time. If you do not think, there will be no tomorrow. And, we have to think; but if that thinking is based on pleasure, on desire, then thought becomes a problem, then thinking becomes a danger.
So, is it possible to see a house, a woman, and not let thought interfere with it? Not deliberately - not say that thought must not interfere because it brings pain, sorrow, and all the rest of it, but actually see the fact not the explanation; see the actual fact that, when thought interferes with desire or when thought gives importance to desire, then it becomes pleasure, and where there is pleasure there is always pain. The two, pleasure and pain, are not separate: pleasure is pain. You can see that very obviously. Most of our values, concepts, ideals, relationships between man, woman, neighbor and yourself - all that is based on pleasure, and hence all our problems. We function with the principle of pleasure.
Collected Works, Vol. XVI - 62
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Daily Quote, Thursday May 7, 2009.
Good morning,Today's quote arrived but was the same one as yesterday. Maybe we need to reflect upon it more closely!
I thought I'd add something from Professor Ravi Ravindra's new book on the Yoga Sutras this morning. The book is called 'The Wisdom of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras'.
He is giving a talk on the Yoga Sutras at the Yoga Loft on Friday May 15 at 7:30pm. It's free and I'd definitely recommend coming along.
"Great texts can inspire us, and call us. Since they come froma higher level of understanding, they cannot be understood by us as we are. What we understand is within our ken. We need to be disturbed by the great texts and scriptures which can provide a practical aid for the transformation of our consciousness, of our being, of our lives. By wrestling with these texts, and not be argumentation, we gain understanding."
Introduction, p13
Good morning,Today's quote arrived but was the same one as yesterday. Maybe we need to reflect upon it more closely!
I thought I'd add something from Professor Ravi Ravindra's new book on the Yoga Sutras this morning. The book is called 'The Wisdom of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras'.
He is giving a talk on the Yoga Sutras at the Yoga Loft on Friday May 15 at 7:30pm. It's free and I'd definitely recommend coming along.
"Great texts can inspire us, and call us. Since they come froma higher level of understanding, they cannot be understood by us as we are. What we understand is within our ken. We need to be disturbed by the great texts and scriptures which can provide a practical aid for the transformation of our consciousness, of our being, of our lives. By wrestling with these texts, and not be argumentation, we gain understanding."
Introduction, p13
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Daily Quote, Wednesday May 6, 2009.
Good foggy morning as someone once said!!
Thought is mechanical and meditation is not.
When there is only the organism without the self, perception, both visual and non-visual, can never be distorted. There is only seeing 'what is' and that very perception goes beyond 'what is.' The emptying of the mind is not an activity of thought or an intellectual process. The continuous seeing of 'what is' without any kind of distortion naturally empties the mind of all thought and yet that very mind can use thought when it is necessary. Thought is mechanical and meditation is not.
The Beginnings of Learning - 250
Good foggy morning as someone once said!!
Thought is mechanical and meditation is not.
When there is only the organism without the self, perception, both visual and non-visual, can never be distorted. There is only seeing 'what is' and that very perception goes beyond 'what is.' The emptying of the mind is not an activity of thought or an intellectual process. The continuous seeing of 'what is' without any kind of distortion naturally empties the mind of all thought and yet that very mind can use thought when it is necessary. Thought is mechanical and meditation is not.
The Beginnings of Learning - 250
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Daily Quote, Tuesday May 5, 2009.
Good morning. A bit late today as I had an early morning meeting.
A different kind of culture must come into being.
As one travels over the world and observes the appalling conditions of poverty and the ugliness of man's relationship to man, it becomes obvious that there must be a total revolution. A different kind of culture must come into being. The old culture is almost dead and yet we are clinging to it. Those who are young revolt against it, but unfortunately have not found a way, or a means, of transforming the essential quality of the human being, which is the mind. Unless there is a deep psychological revolution, mere reformation on the periphery will have little effect. This psychological revolution - which I think is the only revolution - is possible through meditation.
The Awakening of Intelligence - 2
Good morning. A bit late today as I had an early morning meeting.
A different kind of culture must come into being.
As one travels over the world and observes the appalling conditions of poverty and the ugliness of man's relationship to man, it becomes obvious that there must be a total revolution. A different kind of culture must come into being. The old culture is almost dead and yet we are clinging to it. Those who are young revolt against it, but unfortunately have not found a way, or a means, of transforming the essential quality of the human being, which is the mind. Unless there is a deep psychological revolution, mere reformation on the periphery will have little effect. This psychological revolution - which I think is the only revolution - is possible through meditation.
The Awakening of Intelligence - 2
Monday, May 4, 2009
Daily Quote, Monday May 4, 2009.
Good morning on what seems to be a less foggy start to the day here.
Can this radical inward revolution happen instantly?
Can this radical inward revolution happen instantly? It can happen instantly when you see the danger of all this. It is like seeing the danger of a precipice, of a wild animal, of a snake; then there is instant action. But we do not see the danger of all this fragmentation which takes place when the 'self,' the 'me,' becomes important - and the fragmentation of the 'me' and the 'not me.' The moment there is that fragmentation in yourself there must be conflict; and conflict is the very root of corruption. So, it behooves one to find out for oneself the beauty of meditation, for then the mind, being free and unconditioned, perceives what is true.
Beyond Violence - 166
Good morning on what seems to be a less foggy start to the day here.
Can this radical inward revolution happen instantly?
Can this radical inward revolution happen instantly? It can happen instantly when you see the danger of all this. It is like seeing the danger of a precipice, of a wild animal, of a snake; then there is instant action. But we do not see the danger of all this fragmentation which takes place when the 'self,' the 'me,' becomes important - and the fragmentation of the 'me' and the 'not me.' The moment there is that fragmentation in yourself there must be conflict; and conflict is the very root of corruption. So, it behooves one to find out for oneself the beauty of meditation, for then the mind, being free and unconditioned, perceives what is true.
Beyond Violence - 166
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Daily Quotes, Saturday May 2 and Sunday May 3, 2009.
I got a bit behind yesterday, so the weekend quotes are here together.
Study group is this evening at 5:30pm.
Saturday's Quote:
If you are 'practicing' awareness, then you are being inattentive.
Can you practice awareness? If you are 'practicing' awareness, then you are being inattentive. So, be aware of inattention, you do not have to practice. You do not have to go to Burma, China, India, places which are romantic but not factual. I remember once travelling in a car in India with a group of people. I was sitting in the front with the driver. There were three behind who were talking about awareness, wanting to discuss with me what awareness is. The car was going very fast. A goat was in the road, and the driver did not pay much attention and ran over the poor animal. The gentlemen behind were discussing what is awareness, but they never knew what had happened! You laugh, but that is what we are all doing.
The Flight of the Eagle - 41
Sunday's Quote:
One must inquire.
The whole of Asia talks about meditation; it is one of their habits, as it is a habit to believe in God or something else. They sit for ten minutes a day in a quiet room and 'meditate,' concentrate, fix their mind on an image, an image created by themselves, or by somebody who has offered that image through propaganda. During those ten minutes they try to control the mind; the mind wants to go back and forth and they battle with it. They play that game everlastingly, and that is what they call meditation.
If one does not know anything about meditation, then one has to find out what it is - actually, not according to anybody, and that may lead one to nothing or it may lead one to everything. One must inquire, ask that question, without any expectation.
Beyond Violence - 103
I got a bit behind yesterday, so the weekend quotes are here together.
Study group is this evening at 5:30pm.
Saturday's Quote:
If you are 'practicing' awareness, then you are being inattentive.
Can you practice awareness? If you are 'practicing' awareness, then you are being inattentive. So, be aware of inattention, you do not have to practice. You do not have to go to Burma, China, India, places which are romantic but not factual. I remember once travelling in a car in India with a group of people. I was sitting in the front with the driver. There were three behind who were talking about awareness, wanting to discuss with me what awareness is. The car was going very fast. A goat was in the road, and the driver did not pay much attention and ran over the poor animal. The gentlemen behind were discussing what is awareness, but they never knew what had happened! You laugh, but that is what we are all doing.
The Flight of the Eagle - 41
Sunday's Quote:
One must inquire.
The whole of Asia talks about meditation; it is one of their habits, as it is a habit to believe in God or something else. They sit for ten minutes a day in a quiet room and 'meditate,' concentrate, fix their mind on an image, an image created by themselves, or by somebody who has offered that image through propaganda. During those ten minutes they try to control the mind; the mind wants to go back and forth and they battle with it. They play that game everlastingly, and that is what they call meditation.
If one does not know anything about meditation, then one has to find out what it is - actually, not according to anybody, and that may lead one to nothing or it may lead one to everything. One must inquire, ask that question, without any expectation.
Beyond Violence - 103
Friday, May 1, 2009
Daily Quote, Friday May 1, 2009.
Good morning everyone,
All our life is based on thought which is measurable.
All our life is based on thought which is measurable. It measures God, it measures its relationship with another through the image. It tries to improve itself according to what it thinks it should be. So unnecessarily we live in a world of measurement, and with that world we want to enter into a world in which there is no measurement at all. Meditation is the seeing of 'what is' and going beyond it - seeing the measure and going beyond the measure.
The Awakening of Intelligence - 482
Good morning everyone,
All our life is based on thought which is measurable.
All our life is based on thought which is measurable. It measures God, it measures its relationship with another through the image. It tries to improve itself according to what it thinks it should be. So unnecessarily we live in a world of measurement, and with that world we want to enter into a world in which there is no measurement at all. Meditation is the seeing of 'what is' and going beyond it - seeing the measure and going beyond the measure.
The Awakening of Intelligence - 482
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