Daily Quote, Tuesday June 9, 2009
Very nice here this morning. :-)
No border, no frontier, no limit.
What is important is the state of full attention in which there is no border, no frontier, no limit....When there is that attention which is not induced in any way, then you will see that it is the limitless. But it cannot be captured by the mind, nor can the path of time lead you to it. Seeing all this - and there is much more to it - seeing this whole extraordinary process of the mind, then all that the mind can do is...to be wholly attentive and verbally, intellectually, in thought, completely silent. It is in that state of attention that there is no question; therefore, that which has no time is.
That is why I feel so strongly that a revolution in the quality of the mind is necessary - not merely a change of ideas, thoughts, and beliefs, but a revolution in the quality of the mind itself. This quality of the mind cannot be learned, cannot be cultivated, can be seen only on the instant and forgotten on the instant, cannot be accumulated. But, once the mind sees this quality, this revolution in itself, then it will never lose it. That is why it is very important not to be merely respectable, not to be petty, but to cease all this activity, to break away from this terrific weight of respectability, which does not mean to become disreputable. To break through everything, on the instant, so that the mind lives all the time in a state of noncontinuity - that is full attention.
Collected Works Vol. XI - 83
I like his interpretation of revolution- not the typical meaning of a revolution based on ideas, philosophy, religion, politics, etc, which merely change one set of procedures for another, with no actual improvement.
ReplyDeleteYes, and the thing is that it is a total revolution, not a gradual becoming better of things which allows the fundamental rot to stay as it is.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing is that it is a constant revolution. What K is asying about revolution is the same as he is saying about attention. Total attention leaves nothing left, no remainder, no trace, no memory. It's like his idea of learning; intrinsic to learning is forgetting, so learning can never stop. If we constantly observe the processes of our mind, our mind is always in revolution, always changing totally and returning to nothing, to stillness, to emptiness.