It is self-knowledge that brings clarity, not dependence on a book, a teacher, or a guide.
Please, as I am talking, look at your own life; observe your own daily activities, observe your thoughts. I am only describing what is actually taking place. If you merely listen to the words and do not relate what is being said to the activities of your own mind, it will have no meaning at all.
But if you can relate what is being said to your everyday life, to the actual state of your own mind, then the talk will have an immense significance, because then you will find that I am not telling you what to do; on the contrary, through the description, through the explanation, you are going to discover for yourself the process of your own thinking. And when you understand yourself, clarity comes. It is self-knowledge that brings clarity, not dependence on a book, a teacher, or a guide. To observe how you think, the manner of your response to challenge in your various relationships—to be aware of all that, not theoretically but actually, will reveal the process of yourself; and in that understanding there is clarity. So please, if I may most earnestly request it, listen and relate what you hear to the actual state of your own mind. Then these talks will be worthwhile; otherwise they will be mere words to be soon forgotten.
Bombay, 2nd Public Talk, February 10, 1957 Collected Works, Vol. X, p. 245
do want to change. »
Now, what is it that makes you move, act?
« Any strong feeling. Intense anger makes me act; I may afterwards regret it, but the feeling explodes into action. »
That is, your whole being is in it; you forget or disregard danger, you are lost to your own safety, security. The very feeling is action; there is no gap between the feeling and the act. The gap is created by the so-called reasoning process, a weighing of the pros and the cons according to one's convictions, prejudices, fears, and so on. Action is then political, it is stripped of spontaneity,
of all humanity. The men who are seeking power, whether for themselves, their group or their country, act in this manner, and such action only breeds further misery and confusion.
Action based on authority is no action at all; it is mere imitation, repetition.
It is only in the immediate that there can be order.
If I postpone action, if I say I will change tomorrow, between now and tomorrow every kind of pressure, influence, every kind of movement is taking place. Therefore time does not produce order. It is only in the immediate that there can be order, not through
The explanation is simple; but to see it, to break it down.that means instant action.
The very resistance to life is conflict. So we have to enquire what life is. All that I know is to resist life, life being this extraordinary movement. I don't know what that movement is; it's a movement, an endless current. And all that I've learned [as] a human being, for ten thousand years, is to build walls around myself. The very building of those walls is a resistance, and therefore conflict. The explanation is simple; but to see it, to break it down, to see the resistance, to be aware of the heavily guarded resistance, strengthened through centuries— that means instant action.
Learning is a movement of the mind in which there is no accumulation. You can learn only when knowledge is not being gathered from the movement of learning. The moment you gather knowledge, add to what you have learned, you have ceased to learn. A mind that gathers knowledge throughlearning is driven by the desire for safety, security, or is out for some profit. Whereas, in the
movement of learning there is no accumulation—and that is the beauty of learning. To learn is just to see what you are—the hate, the calumny, the vulgarity, the fears, the hopes, the anxieties, the ambitions—without judging, without evaluating, without condemning or accepting.
If you observe this whole process of yourself in the mirror of relationship, that is the one necessary action.
The questioner asks, « Is not a certain amount of disciplinary training necessary to understand what you are teaching? » If you love to do something, is it necessary to discipline yourself to do it? If you are really interested in what I am saying, do you need discipline? Must you train your mind to pay complete attention, to listen with deep feeling? That very listening is the act of
understanding—but you are not interested. That is the real problem: you are not interested. Not that you should be. But fundamentally you are superficial; you want an easy way of existence, you want to get on. It is too much of a bother to think very deeply, and besides, you might have to act deeply, you might find yourself in total revolt against this rotten society. So you play with it,
you keep one foot here and one foot there, tottering and asking, « Should I discipline myself in order to understand? » Whereas, if you really inquired into what I am teaching, you would find it very simple; and you can do it yourself, you need no assistance from anybody, including myself.
All that you have to do is to understand the operation of your own mind—and a marvellous thing it is, the mind; the most beautiful thing on earth.
But we are not interested in that. We are interested in what the mind can get for us in the way of security, passion, power, position, knowledge—which are the various centers of self-interest.
And I say, look at the operation of your own mind, go into it, understand it, all of which you can do by yourself; watch your everyday relationship with people, the way you talk, the way you gesticulate, your pursuit of power, how you behave in front of the important man and in front of the servant. If you observe this whole process of yourself in the mirror of relationship, that is the one necessary action. You don't have to do anything about it, but merely observe it. If you
observe, go into the whole process of yourself without condemnation, you will find that the mind becomes extraordinarily sharp, clear, and fearless; therefore, the mind is capable of understanding such human problems as death, meditation, dreams, and the many other things that confront it.
Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2nd Public Talk, January 16, 1957 Collected Works, Vol. X, pp. 204-5
Have you ever looked at a flower without calling it a rose.?
Now, is it possible to see, to observe, to be aware of the beautiful and the ugly things of life, and not say, « I must have » or « I must not have »? Have you ever just observed anything? Do you understand, sirs? Have you ever observed your wife, your children, your friends, just looked at them? Have you ever looked at a flower without calling it a rose, without wanting to put it in your buttonhole, or take it home and give it to somebody? If you are capable of so observing,
without all the values attributed by the mind, then you will find that desire is not such a monstrous thing. You can look at a car, see the beauty of it, and not be caught in the turmoil or contradiction of desire. But that requires an immense intensity of observation, not just a casual glance. It is not that you have no desire, but simply that the mind is capable of looking without describing. It can look at the moon and not immediately say, « That is the moon, how beautiful it
is, » so there is no chattering of the mind coming in between. If you can do this, you will find that in the intensity of observation, of feeling, of real affection, love has its own action, which is not the contradictory action of desire.
Is it possible to live in this world and go to the office, cook, wash dishes, drive a car, and do all the other daily things of life which at present have become repetitive and breed conflict—is it possible to do all these things, to live and to act, without any ideation, and thereby free action from all contradiction?
I wonder if you have ever walked along a crowded street, or a lonely road, and just looked atthings without thought? There is a state of observation without the interference of thought. Though you are aware of everything about you, and you may recognize the person, the mountain, the tree, or the oncoming car, yet the mind is not functioning in the usual pattern of thought. I don't know if this has ever happened to you. Do try it sometime when you are driving or walking.
Just look without thought; observe without the reaction which breeds thought. Though you recognize color and form, though you see the stream, the car, the goat, the bus, there is no reaction, but merely negative observation; and that very state of so-called negative observation is action. Such a mind can utilize knowledge in carrying out what it has to do, but it is free of thought in the sense that it is not functioning in terms of reaction. With such a mind—a mind that
is attentive without reaction—you can go to the office and all the rest of it.
Most of us are everlastingly thinking about ourselves from morning till night, and we function within the pattern of that self-centered activity. All such activity, which is a reaction, is bound to lead to various forms of conflict and deterioration. And is it possible not to function within that pattern, and yet to live in this world? I don't mean living off by yourself in some mountain cave, and all that kind of thing; but is it possible to live in this world and to function as a total human being from a state of emptiness—if you will not misunderstand my use of that word? Whether you paint, or write poems, or go to an office, or talk, can you always have inwardly an empty space, and through that empty space, work? For when there is this empty space, action does not breed contradiction.
Saanen, 3rd Public Talk, July 26, 1962 Collected Works, Vol. XIII, p. 229
...when you are capable of looking purely at a fact of any kind— the fact of memory, the fact of jealousy, the fact of nationalism, the fact of hatred, the desire for power, position, prestige—then the fact reveals an immense power. Then the fact flowers and in the flowering of the fact is not only the understanding of the fact, but the action which is produced by the fact.
...It is only out of the pure act of seeing the fact [that] there comes the action, the mutation in human consciousness.
Saanen, 7th Public Talk, July 26, 1964 Collected Works, Vol. XIV, pp. 205-6
When you meet the fact.then you are living completely in the present.
So a mind is free only when it is capable of meeting the fact, the what is, meeting poverty [for example], not some supreme challenge— there is no supreme challenge. Life is a challenge every minute: meeting poverty; meeting your boss in your office; meeting your wife, the children; meeting the bus conductor, the squalor, the beauty of a sunset; your own anger, jealousy, stupidity—which are all facts. What matters is how you meet the fact, not what you think about it, not
what you should do about it. When you meet the fact, without any opinion, judgement, evaluation, then you are living completely in the present. Then for such a mind there is no time, and therefore it can act. Because the fact alone has the urgency of action—not your opinions, desires, and ideals.
Madras, 4th Public Talk, December 27, 1964 Collected Works, Vol. XV, p. 25
To be sensitive implies a state of mind in which there is only the fact, and not all your memories about that fact. Such perception, such seeing, such listening at every moment has an extraordinary action in life. Please don't be carried away by the speaker's intensity or enthusiasm.
Don't get mesmerized, but watch, listen, and find out for yourself.
Bombay, 3rd Public Talk, February 20, 1966 Collected Works, Vol. XVI, p. 59
The problem, if you love it, is as beautiful as the sunset. If you are antagonistic to the problem, you will never understand.
Most of you put questions and expect an answer, « yes » or « no. » It is easy to ask questions like « What do you mean? » and then sit back and let me explain, but it is much more arduous to find out the answer for yourselves, go into the problem so profoundly, so clearly and without any corruption that the problem ceases to be. That can only happen when the mind is really silent in the face of the problem. The problem, if you love it, is as beautiful as the sunset. If you are
antagonistic to the problem, you will never understand. Most of us are antagonistic because we are frightened of the result, of what may happen if we proceed, so we lose the significance and the purview of the problem.
The First and Last Freedom, pp. 244-5
One sees very clearly that only when the image doesn't interfere—image as knowledge, thought, emotion, all the rest of it—only then can I look, can I hear, can I understand. It has happened to all of us. When suddenly, after you discuss, argue, point out, and so on, suddenly your mind becomes quiet and you see that, and you say, « By Jove, I've understood. » That understanding is an action, not an idea. Right?
So the conscious mind, by observing the necessity of quietness, is quiet. Then the unconscious projects all the things, all its contents; as you observe a tree, as you observe a woman, as you observe a man, as you observe a child, as all the responses, the motives, the hidden dark corners of the mind spill out; and they are understood immediately because the conscious mind is not
judging, is not evaluating, is not comparing. It is there, watching, completely still, because it is no longer seeking, no longer wanting experience. Then you will see, if you have gone as far as that, that the whole content of consciousness is empty.
I hope all this is not too abstract and too difficult; but even if it is, please listen. Although you may not fully understand what is being said, the very act of listening is like planting a seed in the dark soil. If the seed is vital, and if the soil is rich, it will produce a shoot; you don't have to do a thing about it. Similarly, if you can just listen and let the seed fall in the womb of the mind, it will germinate, it will flourish and bring about an action which is unconsciously true.
Please, as I am talking, look at your own life; observe your own daily activities, observe your thoughts. I am only describing what is actually taking place. If you merely listen to the words and do not relate what is being said to the activities of your own mind, it will have no meaning at all.
But if you can relate what is being said to your everyday life, to the actual state of your own mind, then the talk will have an immense significance, because then you will find that I am not telling you what to do; on the contrary, through the description, through the explanation, you are going to discover for yourself the process of your own thinking. And when you understand yourself, clarity comes. It is self-knowledge that brings clarity, not dependence on a book, a teacher, or a guide. To observe how you think, the manner of your response to challenge in your various relationships—to be aware of all that, not theoretically but actually, will reveal the process of yourself; and in that understanding there is clarity. So please, if I may most earnestly request it, listen and relate what you hear to the actual state of your own mind. Then these talks will be worthwhile; otherwise they will be mere words to be soon forgotten.
Bombay, 2nd Public Talk, February 10, 1957 Collected Works, Vol. X, p. 245
do want to change. »
Now, what is it that makes you move, act?
« Any strong feeling. Intense anger makes me act; I may afterwards regret it, but the feeling explodes into action. »
That is, your whole being is in it; you forget or disregard danger, you are lost to your own safety, security. The very feeling is action; there is no gap between the feeling and the act. The gap is created by the so-called reasoning process, a weighing of the pros and the cons according to one's convictions, prejudices, fears, and so on. Action is then political, it is stripped of spontaneity,
of all humanity. The men who are seeking power, whether for themselves, their group or their country, act in this manner, and such action only breeds further misery and confusion.
Action based on authority is no action at all; it is mere imitation, repetition.
It is only in the immediate that there can be order.
If I postpone action, if I say I will change tomorrow, between now and tomorrow every kind of pressure, influence, every kind of movement is taking place. Therefore time does not produce order. It is only in the immediate that there can be order, not through
The explanation is simple; but to see it, to break it down.that means instant action.
The very resistance to life is conflict. So we have to enquire what life is. All that I know is to resist life, life being this extraordinary movement. I don't know what that movement is; it's a movement, an endless current. And all that I've learned [as] a human being, for ten thousand years, is to build walls around myself. The very building of those walls is a resistance, and therefore conflict. The explanation is simple; but to see it, to break it down, to see the resistance, to be aware of the heavily guarded resistance, strengthened through centuries— that means instant action.
Learning is a movement of the mind in which there is no accumulation. You can learn only when knowledge is not being gathered from the movement of learning. The moment you gather knowledge, add to what you have learned, you have ceased to learn. A mind that gathers knowledge throughlearning is driven by the desire for safety, security, or is out for some profit. Whereas, in the
movement of learning there is no accumulation—and that is the beauty of learning. To learn is just to see what you are—the hate, the calumny, the vulgarity, the fears, the hopes, the anxieties, the ambitions—without judging, without evaluating, without condemning or accepting.
If you observe this whole process of yourself in the mirror of relationship, that is the one necessary action.
The questioner asks, « Is not a certain amount of disciplinary training necessary to understand what you are teaching? » If you love to do something, is it necessary to discipline yourself to do it? If you are really interested in what I am saying, do you need discipline? Must you train your mind to pay complete attention, to listen with deep feeling? That very listening is the act of
understanding—but you are not interested. That is the real problem: you are not interested. Not that you should be. But fundamentally you are superficial; you want an easy way of existence, you want to get on. It is too much of a bother to think very deeply, and besides, you might have to act deeply, you might find yourself in total revolt against this rotten society. So you play with it,
you keep one foot here and one foot there, tottering and asking, « Should I discipline myself in order to understand? » Whereas, if you really inquired into what I am teaching, you would find it very simple; and you can do it yourself, you need no assistance from anybody, including myself.
All that you have to do is to understand the operation of your own mind—and a marvellous thing it is, the mind; the most beautiful thing on earth.
But we are not interested in that. We are interested in what the mind can get for us in the way of security, passion, power, position, knowledge—which are the various centers of self-interest.
And I say, look at the operation of your own mind, go into it, understand it, all of which you can do by yourself; watch your everyday relationship with people, the way you talk, the way you gesticulate, your pursuit of power, how you behave in front of the important man and in front of the servant. If you observe this whole process of yourself in the mirror of relationship, that is the one necessary action. You don't have to do anything about it, but merely observe it. If you
observe, go into the whole process of yourself without condemnation, you will find that the mind becomes extraordinarily sharp, clear, and fearless; therefore, the mind is capable of understanding such human problems as death, meditation, dreams, and the many other things that confront it.
Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2nd Public Talk, January 16, 1957 Collected Works, Vol. X, pp. 204-5
Have you ever looked at a flower without calling it a rose.?
Now, is it possible to see, to observe, to be aware of the beautiful and the ugly things of life, and not say, « I must have » or « I must not have »? Have you ever just observed anything? Do you understand, sirs? Have you ever observed your wife, your children, your friends, just looked at them? Have you ever looked at a flower without calling it a rose, without wanting to put it in your buttonhole, or take it home and give it to somebody? If you are capable of so observing,
without all the values attributed by the mind, then you will find that desire is not such a monstrous thing. You can look at a car, see the beauty of it, and not be caught in the turmoil or contradiction of desire. But that requires an immense intensity of observation, not just a casual glance. It is not that you have no desire, but simply that the mind is capable of looking without describing. It can look at the moon and not immediately say, « That is the moon, how beautiful it
is, » so there is no chattering of the mind coming in between. If you can do this, you will find that in the intensity of observation, of feeling, of real affection, love has its own action, which is not the contradictory action of desire.
Is it possible to live in this world and go to the office, cook, wash dishes, drive a car, and do all the other daily things of life which at present have become repetitive and breed conflict—is it possible to do all these things, to live and to act, without any ideation, and thereby free action from all contradiction?
I wonder if you have ever walked along a crowded street, or a lonely road, and just looked atthings without thought? There is a state of observation without the interference of thought. Though you are aware of everything about you, and you may recognize the person, the mountain, the tree, or the oncoming car, yet the mind is not functioning in the usual pattern of thought. I don't know if this has ever happened to you. Do try it sometime when you are driving or walking.
Just look without thought; observe without the reaction which breeds thought. Though you recognize color and form, though you see the stream, the car, the goat, the bus, there is no reaction, but merely negative observation; and that very state of so-called negative observation is action. Such a mind can utilize knowledge in carrying out what it has to do, but it is free of thought in the sense that it is not functioning in terms of reaction. With such a mind—a mind that
is attentive without reaction—you can go to the office and all the rest of it.
Most of us are everlastingly thinking about ourselves from morning till night, and we function within the pattern of that self-centered activity. All such activity, which is a reaction, is bound to lead to various forms of conflict and deterioration. And is it possible not to function within that pattern, and yet to live in this world? I don't mean living off by yourself in some mountain cave, and all that kind of thing; but is it possible to live in this world and to function as a total human being from a state of emptiness—if you will not misunderstand my use of that word? Whether you paint, or write poems, or go to an office, or talk, can you always have inwardly an empty space, and through that empty space, work? For when there is this empty space, action does not breed contradiction.
Saanen, 3rd Public Talk, July 26, 1962 Collected Works, Vol. XIII, p. 229
...when you are capable of looking purely at a fact of any kind— the fact of memory, the fact of jealousy, the fact of nationalism, the fact of hatred, the desire for power, position, prestige—then the fact reveals an immense power. Then the fact flowers and in the flowering of the fact is not only the understanding of the fact, but the action which is produced by the fact.
...It is only out of the pure act of seeing the fact [that] there comes the action, the mutation in human consciousness.
Saanen, 7th Public Talk, July 26, 1964 Collected Works, Vol. XIV, pp. 205-6
When you meet the fact.then you are living completely in the present.
So a mind is free only when it is capable of meeting the fact, the what is, meeting poverty [for example], not some supreme challenge— there is no supreme challenge. Life is a challenge every minute: meeting poverty; meeting your boss in your office; meeting your wife, the children; meeting the bus conductor, the squalor, the beauty of a sunset; your own anger, jealousy, stupidity—which are all facts. What matters is how you meet the fact, not what you think about it, not
what you should do about it. When you meet the fact, without any opinion, judgement, evaluation, then you are living completely in the present. Then for such a mind there is no time, and therefore it can act. Because the fact alone has the urgency of action—not your opinions, desires, and ideals.
Madras, 4th Public Talk, December 27, 1964 Collected Works, Vol. XV, p. 25
To be sensitive implies a state of mind in which there is only the fact, and not all your memories about that fact. Such perception, such seeing, such listening at every moment has an extraordinary action in life. Please don't be carried away by the speaker's intensity or enthusiasm.
Don't get mesmerized, but watch, listen, and find out for yourself.
Bombay, 3rd Public Talk, February 20, 1966 Collected Works, Vol. XVI, p. 59
The problem, if you love it, is as beautiful as the sunset. If you are antagonistic to the problem, you will never understand.
Most of you put questions and expect an answer, « yes » or « no. » It is easy to ask questions like « What do you mean? » and then sit back and let me explain, but it is much more arduous to find out the answer for yourselves, go into the problem so profoundly, so clearly and without any corruption that the problem ceases to be. That can only happen when the mind is really silent in the face of the problem. The problem, if you love it, is as beautiful as the sunset. If you are
antagonistic to the problem, you will never understand. Most of us are antagonistic because we are frightened of the result, of what may happen if we proceed, so we lose the significance and the purview of the problem.
The First and Last Freedom, pp. 244-5
One sees very clearly that only when the image doesn't interfere—image as knowledge, thought, emotion, all the rest of it—only then can I look, can I hear, can I understand. It has happened to all of us. When suddenly, after you discuss, argue, point out, and so on, suddenly your mind becomes quiet and you see that, and you say, « By Jove, I've understood. » That understanding is an action, not an idea. Right?
So the conscious mind, by observing the necessity of quietness, is quiet. Then the unconscious projects all the things, all its contents; as you observe a tree, as you observe a woman, as you observe a man, as you observe a child, as all the responses, the motives, the hidden dark corners of the mind spill out; and they are understood immediately because the conscious mind is not
judging, is not evaluating, is not comparing. It is there, watching, completely still, because it is no longer seeking, no longer wanting experience. Then you will see, if you have gone as far as that, that the whole content of consciousness is empty.
I hope all this is not too abstract and too difficult; but even if it is, please listen. Although you may not fully understand what is being said, the very act of listening is like planting a seed in the dark soil. If the seed is vital, and if the soil is rich, it will produce a shoot; you don't have to do a thing about it. Similarly, if you can just listen and let the seed fall in the womb of the mind, it will germinate, it will flourish and bring about an action which is unconsciously true.
To find out what is right action in all this, not right according to somebody or some value, or according to one's experience, or according to some ideological concept - such concepts, conclusions, do not bring about right action. When we use the word 'right' we mean that it is precise, accurate, irrespective of circumstances, what is the right action in all this, in this mad, rather insane world in which we live? To find out what is right action, not right according to me, the speaker, or to some philosopher, or psychologist, but to find out for ourselves an irrevocable, right action which would be right under all circumstances. First, to discover that for ourselves one must be totally free from all attachment, for attachment breeds corruption. If one is attached to a person, you can see the consequences of that attachment: jealousy, antagonism, fear, the loss, the loneliness. So where there is this particular form of attachment to a person, corruption is inevitable. But to cultivate detachment is another form of corruption. Right? I wonder if we understand all this? If one is attached to an ideal, you can see very well the consequences of that ideal, one becomes violent and is always trying to conform to a pattern that thought has established, and are never facing the fact of what is actually going on but rather comparing what is going on with 'what should be', which is another form of corruption. If you are attached to an image, and that is one of the most difficult things because each one of us has some kind of image about ourselves or an image created by thought in a church, in a temple, in a mosque and so on, so on. Those images are very comforting, reassuring, giving us a tremendous sense of security, which is no security at all.
ReplyDeleteAnd again to be attached to an experience, to hold on to an experience, some experience that you have had, talking or walking by yourself in a wood, you suddenly come or feel this oneness with nature, that there is no division between you and the world about you, this sense of wholeness. It happens and that is an experience which is registered in the mind, in the brain, and then one clings to that. And one is then lost in past memory, something that is dead and gone, and when a mind clings to something that is finished, withered away, corruption begins.
DeleteOne hopes, if the speaker may point out, you are not merely listening to the words of the speaker but you are investigating into yourself, seeing actually what is going on within yourself. The speaker merely acts as a mirror. And the mirror has no value, you can break it, and one must break the mirror. That mirror is merely to see oneself actually what is going on inside, how we are attached to all these forms of persons, ideals, concepts, conclusions, prejudices, experience, which is the beginning of corruption and fragmentation. If you have one image and I have another, being born in India or you born in America or in Russia, or here, we have created that image in ourselves and that image separates us, and so destroys this feeling of wholeness, this sense of global reality of our life.
DeleteSo can one actually be free of all attachment? Not just keep one or two secretly to oneself but be totally completely free of all that. If one cannot, then you are maintaining fragmentation and therefore conflict, division, struggle, wars and all the ensuing miseries. And it is one's responsibility. This is real responsibility for each of us, not to have a single image. Therefore when there is no image there is a totally different kind of relationship which comes into being, not only with the person with whom you are intimate but also with the rest of mankind. Then your mind and your brain is free. It is only in that total sense of freedom there is love, not in ideals, not in dogmas, in churches, in the things that thought has created and put them in the churches and temples and so on.
https://jkrishnamurti.org/content/what-right-action-chaotic-world
DeleteSo after pointing out all this, what is one to do? Is it ever possible to end this movement of not only creating images about the whole as well as the particular, can this movement of thought end? You know meditation is essentially the ending of thought. Not the meditation that people practise twenty minutes every day, or twenty minutes in the morning and the evening, or meditation according to a system and so on, so on, that is not meditation at all. Meditation is the ending of image-making by thought and the ending of psychological knowledge totally so that the mind is free from the past. That is real meditation.
Deletehttps://jkrishnamurti.org/content/thinking-about-future-breeds-fear
ReplyDelete