Friday, June 25, 2010

Courage To Be

Even more essential and vital to life than expansion/evolution, beauty, magic and abundantly broad scope of experience(s) is the quality of consciousness, an immediate presence given to the act of experiencing. The first act, of living this moment, is one of glorious living presence, direct, embodied and aware on many levels at once.

A Yogi tea proverb says "It is not life that matters so much as the courage we bring to it"... if life is eternal (as well as ephemeral) than truly it is not to be worried about to the point where I forget my own role, that of a liberated soul taking bodily form and learning to rise above limitations (first by accepting them).

"Carpe Diem" or "Seize the Day!" means to live this day in the eternal now uninterruptedly... the intense focus of this present moment remains a constant in the light of ever greater Spiritual Awakening... or waking up to True Being.

To never waste time in regret over the past or worry over the future, neither of past failures nor fears for the future. Whether one is hopeful or doubtful about the fate of the personal self, this present moment and the will to live fully within it are the common essential factors to being in a higher conscious vibration.

JDZ

Friday, June 18, 2010

Still Waters Run Deep

Question: I have listened to you for many years and I have become quite good at watching my thoughts and being aware of every thing I do, but I have never touched the deep waters or experienced the transformation of which you speak. Why? Krishnamurti: I think it is fairly clear why none of us do experience something beyond the mere watching. There may be rare moments of an emotional state in which we see, as it were, the clarity of the sky between clouds, but I do not mean anything of that kind. All such experiences are temporary and have very little significance. The questioner wants to know why, after these many years of watching, he hasn't found the deep waters. Why should he find them? Do you understand? You think that by watching your own thoughts you are going to get a reward: if you do this, you will get that. You are really not watching at all, because your mind is concerned with gaining a reward. You think that by watching, by being aware, you will be more loving, you will suffer less, be less irritable, get something beyond; so your watching is a process of buying. With this coin you are buying that, which means that your watching is a process of choice; therefore it isn't watching, it isn't attention. To watch is to observe without choice, to see yourself as you are without any movement of desire to change, which is an extremely arduous thing to do; but that doesn't mean that you are going to remain in your present state. You do not know what will happen if you see yourself as you are without wishing to bring about a change in that which you see. Do you understand?

I am going to take an example and work it out, and you will see. Let us say I am violent, as most people are. Our whole culture is violent; but I won't enter into the anatomy of violence now, because that is not the problem we are considering. I am violent, and I realize that I am violent. What happens? My immediate response is that I must do something about it, is it not? I say I must become non-violent. That is what every religious teacher has told us for centuries: that if one is violent one must become non-violent. So I practice, I do all the ideological things. But now I see how absurd that is, because the entity who observes violence and wishes to change it into non-violence, is still violent. So I am concerned, not with the expression of that entity, but with the entity himself. You are following all this, I hope. Now, what is that entity who says, `I must not be violent'? Is that entity different from the violence he has observed? Are they two different states? Do you understand, sirs, or is this too abstract? It is near the end of the talk and probably you are a bit tired. Surely, the violence and the entity who says, `I must change violence into non-violence', are both the same. To recognize that fact is to put an end to all conflict, is it not? There is no longer the conflict of trying to change, because I see that the very movement of the mind not to be violent is itself the outcome of violence. So, the questioner wants to know why it is that he cannot go beyond all these superficial wrangles of the mind. For the simple reason that, consciously or unconsciously, the mind is always seeking something, and that very search brings violence, competition, the sense of utter dissatisfaction. It is only when the mind is completely still that there is a possibility of touching the deep waters.

- Ojai 6th Public Talk 21st July 1955

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

The Function of Education

Don't you notice how little energy most of the people around you have, including your parents and teachers? They are slowly dying, even when their bodies are not yet old. Why? Because they have been beaten into submission by society. You see, without understanding its fundamental purpose which is to find extraordinary thing called the mind, which has the capacity to create atomic submarines and jet planes, which can write the most amazing poetry and prose, which can make the world so beautiful and also destroy the world - without understanding its fundamental purpose, which is to find truth or God, this energy becomes destructive; and then society says, "We must shape and control the energy of the individual."

So, it seems to me that the function of education is to bring about a release of energy in the pursuit of goodness, truth, or God, which in turn makes the individual a true human being and therefore the right kind of citizen. But mere discipline, without full comprehension of all this, has no meaning, it is a most destructive thing. Unless each one of you is so educated that, when you leave school and go out into the world, you are full of vitality and intelligence, full of abounding energy to find out what is true, you will merely be absorbed by society; you will be smothered, destroyed, miserably unhappy for the rest of your life. As a river creates the banks which hold it, so the energy which seeks truth creates its own discipline without any form of imposition; and as the river finds the sea, so that energy finds its own freedom.

- Think On These Things, Chapter 24

Sunday, June 13, 2010

True Self

Be your Self without the mirror.. See your Self without the image.. Live in connection, without external comparison, let go of old memories and baggage and just FOCUS... Then say "I CAN BE WHATEVER I WILL TO BE"!!!

Discover for yourself what the true 'I' truly is and under no circumstances allow it to be overruled ever! Here is where I do not merely accept circumstances as they existentially are... I choose to steer and direct my path forward... I've come too far and endured too much to quit now!! Even if I do nothing else with this short time on Earth, I WILL alter the present circumstances in life to become as I choose them to be...

There is always more to do, more life to live, so idle temporary distractions and temptations are only the product of inattention, of losing the central focus. In remaining present, true to purpose, all things outside of centrality and momentum are seen as the illusory unnecessary diversions that they are, unless enjoyed only for that fleeting moment and not carried over.

Contentment is that very patient human faculty which makes the moment bearable (forbearance), so that we may have the strength to continue on with our goals and aspirations. This in reference to the external situation as it manifests in the present reality. There is this existential reality born of past actions, where acceptance and contentment is most necessary, and yet without projecting too far into the future I think it true to say that the present is full of possibility and personal power.

My very existence on this Earth is to support fully THE INDIVIDUAL... not society, not what you want me to support, but the power of the people to rise up as individuals and claim the birthright of Selfhood... the closest most real truth there is to Godhood, where group dominated partisan interests and consensus opinion are entirely irrelevant.

While understanding the role of group activity and consensus opinion, especially in a democratic system, I also understand that groups of every kind are made up of individuals. Without the individual there exists neither groups nor a collective. Some are here to fulfill that worldly authority and be part of the status quo... Without knocking this I come to the understanding that my passion and interest is to serve liberate and empower the individual... the only link to a universal connection and the possibility of co-creating and co-existing in a more enlightened humane society.

Ego annihilation is a big lie... and the most destructive. The ego (at worst) is only a dysfunctional and deluded expression of the True Self. Tending to this garden of personal identity, the ego is seen to be inseparable from the core individuality of The Self and Universe and need only not overextend its role in relation to the whole. So long as the ego is watched vigilantly in it's tendencies to become arrogant, vain and power mad, it remains as the capacity of the individual doer to be functional and centered in the outside world... The authentic individuality is way beyond this ego sense alone, yet the latter serves a most positive evolutionary function for the good of the former.

Life is one big wonderful workout, a movement from darkness to light, where what doesn't kill me makes me stronger and sometimes the only way out is through...

JDZ

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Solitude

In the life we generally lead there is very little solitude. Even when we are alone our lives are crowded by so many influences, so much knowledge, so many memories of so many experiences, so much anxiety, misery and conflict that our mind become duller and duller, more and more insensitive, functioning in a monotonous routine. Are we ever alone? Or are we carrying with us all the burdens of yesterday?

There is a rather nice story of two monks walking from one village to another and they come upon a young girl sitting on the bank of a river, crying. And one of the monks goes up to her and says, `Sister, what are you crying about?' She says, `You see that house over there across the river? I came over this morning early and had no trouble wading across but now the river has swollen and I can't get back. There is no boat.' `Oh,' says the monk, `that is no problem at all', and he picks her up and carries her across the river and leaves her on the other side. And the two monks go on together. After a couple of hours, the other monk says, `Brother, we have taken a vow never to touch a woman. What you have done is a terrible sin. Didn't you have pleasure, a great sensation, in touching a woman?' and the other monk replies, `I left her behind two hours ago. You are still carrying her, aren't you?' That is what we do.

We carry our burdens all the time; we never die to them, we never leave them behind. it is only when we give complete attention to a problem and solve it immediately - never carrying it over to the next day, the next minute that there is solitude. Then, even, if we live in a crowded house or are in a bus, we have solitude. And that solitude indicates a fresh mind, an innocent mind.

- Freedom from the Known Chapter 14

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Just Being

"In relationships, ranging from casual friendships to marriage, either we would like to control the excitement or we would like to become a part of it. To nurture another person or group/organization, or to be nurtured ourselves (this part loosely quoted)..... However, there is another kind of love and compassion, a third way. Just be what you are. You don't reduce yourself to the level of an infant nor do you demand that another person leap in tor your lap. You simply be what you are in the world, in life.

If you can be what you are, external situations will become as they are, automatically. Then you can communicate directly and accurately, not indulging in any kind of nonsense, any kind of emotional or philosophical or psychological interpretation. This third way is a balanced way of openness and communication which automatically allows tremendous space for creative development, space in which to dance and exchange.

Compassion means that we don not play the game of hypocracy or self-deception. For instance, if we want something from someone and we say, "I love you," often we are hoping the we will be able to lure them into our territory, over to our side. This kind of proselytyzing love is extremely limited....

The fundamental characteristic of true compassion is pure and fearless openness without territorial limitations. There is no need to be loving and kind to one's neighbors, no need to speak pleasantly to people and put on a pretty smile. This little game does not apply. In fact it is embarrassing. Real openness exists on a much larger scale, a revolutionarily large and open scale, a universal scale. Compassion means for you to be as adult as you are, while still maintaining a childlike quality.

In the Buddhist teachings the symbol for compassion is one moon shining in the sky while its image is reflected in one hundred bowls of water. The moon does not demand, "If you open to me, I will do you a favor and shine on you" The moon just shines. The point is not to want to benefit anyone or make them happy. There is no audience involved, no "me" and Them". It is a matter of an open gift, complete generosity without the relative notions of giving and receiving. That is the basic openness of compassion: opening without demand.

Simply be what you are, be the master of the situation. If you will just "be", then life flows around and through you. This will lead you into working and communicating with someone, which of course demands tremendous warmth and openness. If you can afford to be what you are, then you do not need the "insurance policy" of trying to be a good person, a pious person, a compassionate person."

Chogyam Trungpa - "Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism" (pp. 212-214, Prajna & Compassion)

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

The Whole Self

Questioner: I want to understand myself, I want to put an end to my stupid struggles and make a definite effort to live fully and truly. Krishnamurti: What do you mean when you use the term 'myself'? As you are many and ever changing is there an enduring moment when you can say that this is the ever me? It is the multiple entity, the bundle of memories that must be understood and not seemingly the one entity that calls itself the me.

We are everchanging contradictory thoughts-feelings: love and hate, peace and passion, intelligence and ignorance. Now which is the me in all of this? Shall I choose what is most pleasing and discard the rest? Who is it that must understand these contradictory and conflicting selves? Is there a permanent self, a spiritual entity apart from these? Is not that self also the continuing result of the conflict of many entities? Is there a self that is above and beyond all contradictory selves? The truth of it can be experienced only when the contradictory selves are understood and transcended. All the conflicting entities which make up the me have also brought into being the other me, the observer, the analyser. To understand myself I must understand the many parts of myself including the I who has become the watcher, the I who understands. The thinker must not only understand his many contradictory thoughts but he must understand himself as the creator of these many entities.

The I, the thinker, the observer watches his opposing and conflicting thoughts-feelings as though he were not part of them, as though he were above and beyond them, controlling, guiding, shaping. But is not the I, the thinker, also these conflicts? Has he not created them? Whatever the level, is the thinker separate from his thoughts? The thinker is the creator of opposing urges, assuming different roles at different times according to his pleasure and pain. To comprehend himself the thinker must come upon himself through his many aspects. A tree is not just the flower and the fruit but is the total process. Similarly to understand myself I must without identification and choice be aware of the total process that is the me. - The Collected Works Ojai California 3rd Public Talk 1945

On Awareness of Conditioning:
Now, can the mind be aware of its own conditioning and not try to battle against it? When the mind is aware that it is conditioned and does not battle against it, only then is the mind free to give its complete attention to this conditioning. The difficulty is to be aware of conditioning without the distraction of trying to do something about it. But if the mind is constantly aware of the known, that is, of the prejudices, the assumptions, the beliefs, the desires, the illusory thinking of our daily life, if it is aware of all this without trying to be free, then that very awareness brings its own freedom. Then perhaps it is possible for the mind to be really still, not just still at a certain level of consciousness and frightfully agitated below. There can be total stillness of the mind only when the mind understands the whole problem of conditioning, how it is conditioned, which means watching, off and on, every movement of thought, being aware of the assumptions, the beliefs, the fears. Then perhaps there is a total stillness of the mind in which something beyond the mind can come into being. - Sydney 5th Public Talk 23rd November, 1955 The Collected Works

Monday, June 7, 2010

The Third Way

First there is the way of justification and blind acceptance which goes along with everything without even acknowledging that anything ever goes wrong.. Then there is the approach of saying "this is bad, I will deny it and choose the good". To either justify or to condemn a thought, feeling, person or situation is to resist it, and what I say 'no' to I also say 'yes' to.

In life we are taught by perceived authorities, beginning with parents and teachers, to reject the evil and choose the good; this accompanied by a blind acceptance and allegiance to those whose moral superiority and judgment is falsely perceived to be truth. Or in the opposite situation, being the rebel who rejects all outside influences and opinions and forever justifies his/her own.

At the highest point of self-awareness and understanding it is discovered that even when knowing I am right in my own insight and doing well for myself there is still the condemnation of and resistance to all that I believe stands in opposition to this truth of self-discovery. In allowing this opposition to be without caving into or fighting it, is the only way to be.

The Third Way, as this writer is referring to in the interest of discovery, is a point of fusion where the undesirable factors of life are neither justified nor denied. If for example I wish to release a toxic behavior pattern, addiction or compulsion from my life the discontinuation of it cannot be a negative denial but rather a positive negation. Instead of saying negatively that I will no longer do this that and the other thing so that I may do the right thing from now on, as noble as such an intention may be it cannot work.

I neither give up nor renounce anything but instead acknowledge that this thing I don't like does exist, and from here I make a positive and conscious choice not to fuel this toxic fire with any further attention to it. Embracing the problem the solution is revealed, and the solution is simply the negation of the problem.

JDZ

Sunday, June 6, 2010

The Act of Listening

Q: Why is it so difficult to empty one's mind? Krishnamurti : Now just listen to that question. Why is it so difficult to empty the mind? Listen to this. The speaker stated: meditation is the emptying of the mind of the activity of the self. You heard it. You have drawn a conclusion from it, saying, "How am I to do it?" - and in the very doing of it, it has become very difficult. So you ask the question, "Why is it so difficult to empty the mind?" That is, you haven't listened to the statement at all. You have drawn a conclusion from that statement saying, "I'd like to do that, but by Jove, how difficult it is" - you have understood? If you listen to it and not draw an abstraction from it, that is, "I must empty the mind", then "How am I to do it and how difficult it is", then you have an immense problem, you can't empty the mind, do what you will you can't empty it, because the desire to empty it is part of the activity of the self. But if you listen to it, listen to the statement, knowing you can't do a thing about it, just listen to it - look sirs, I listen to that aeroplane, listen to it. Listen to it without any resistance; listen to it saying, "I am trying to understand what he is talking about, how can I listen to that aeroplane, I want to listen to him" - you follow? Whereas if you just listen to that aeroplane without any resistance, then what takes place? You are just listening. There is no difficulty. But whereas if you listen to the statement that meditation is that, then you go into all kinds of tantrums, see all the difficulties, say, how can you do this living in this beastly world and so on and so on. Whereas if you listened totally and completely then that very act of listening has produced in the mind a movement which is not the activity of the self. And that movement operates in daily life without any difficulty. - Saanen 7th Public Talk 29th July 1973 Collected Works

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Delusions of Grandeur

As we were saying, there is no psychological evolution. The psyche can never become or grow into something which it is not. Conceit and arrogance cannot grow into better and more conceit, nor can selfishness, which is the common lot of all human beings, become more and more selfish, more and more of its own nature. It is rather frightening to realize that the very word `hope' contains the whole world of the future. This movement from `what is' to `what should be' is an illusion, is really, if one can use the word, a lie.

We accept what man has repeated throughout the ages as a matter of fact, but when we begin to question, doubt, we can see very clearly, if we want to see it and not hide behind some image or some fanciful verbal structure, the nature and the structure of the psyche, the ego, the `me'. The `me' can never become a better me. It will attempt to, it thinks it can, but the `me' remains in subtle forms. The self hides in many garments, in many structures; it varies from time to time, but there is always this self, this separative, self-centered activity which imagines that one day it will make itself something which it is not.

- Krishnamurti to Himself Ojai California Thursday 17th March, 1983