So we are asking: why man, throughout the world, at whatever level of society, class he may be, this is one thing he is pursuing, in the name of god, in the name of religion, in the name of politics – pleasure, with which goes power, position, prestige and all the rest of it – why? You understand? Why are you, as a human being, representing the world, which you are, why are you pursuing pleasure? Observe it – not right or wrong. Why is there this demand? You understand? When you go to church, when you go to a temple, it is another form of pleasure. Sexual pleasure, the pleasure of possession, the pleasure of denial, the pleasure of austerity, the pleasure of abundance, the pleasure of possession, the pleasure of detachment, the pleasure of achievement, the pleasure of renunciation; the pleasure of completely controlling your body. This immense structure of pleasure is one of the factors of our consciousness, perhaps it may be one of the major factors. So why? You understand? You can’t answer, not a verbal answer. Observing this fact of pleasure, why – we are asking – man has pursued it upon millions of years – which is you.
Knowledge is a great factor of pleasure – the pleasure of having read a great many books, all the information, able to talk about it, inform people – you follow? – the whole pleasure of knowledge. Why? Observe it, please, in yourself. Why you, as a human being, pursue this pleasure? And what is pleasure? There are different kinds of pleasure: the pleasure of sensation, biological, organic sensation; there is the pleasure – psychological pleasures, and the pleasure of thinking very clearly. And what is this pleasure? Is joy, that thing which comes uninvited, is that joy pleasure? You are wandering by yourself, if you ever do – in a wood, or you walk along and suddenly without your any invitation, without seeking it, there is that peculiar sense of ecstasy, joy. That is wholly different from pleasure. But thought recognises that joy as an extraordinary state, then remembers that state – please follow this – remembers that state and wants more of it. So pleasure is the movement of thought. I wonder if you see it.
I have had a pleasure of a good meal and I remember it, and I say to myself, ‘I must have it tomorrow’. The pleasure of domination, pleasure of having power over others. All that is the movement of thought over an incident which has happened, and stored up as memory. And the movement of that is pleasure. So joy is entirely different from pleasure. The moment you remember that joy then it becomes pleasure.
And enjoyment: when you see a mountain, listen to the running waters, or see a green field and the lonely tree in a field, there is delight, there is a sense of fullness, appreciation of this vastness of this marvellous earth. Again that feeling of enjoyment is taken over by thought and pursued. Therefore that becomes pleasure. Is this clear?
So pleasure is the movement of thought in time, and we are conditioned to that. We seek enlightenment, a religious life, basically because it will give ultimate pleasure. Right? So pleasure is one of our basic principles in life, which is, the pursuit of it. Not seeing the immense importance of seeing something extraordinary and not storing it. You understand? I wonder. This is, please if I may point out to you again, this is very important because the brain is recording all the time, recording every incident, every happening, every experience, every – you follow? – it is like a computer, storing, storing, storing. Because in that storage there is great security. If there is no storing up you are lost. So the brain needs security to function safely, intelligently, actively, efficiently. And so the brain stores up, as it stores up to act skilfully in the mechanical world, so brain stores up memory, knowledge, as a means of its own security, which is obvious.
Now as long as that is operating, there is nothing new. Right? As long as the brain is operating, functioning, using its knowledge in skills, it is limited, it becomes mechanical. In that there is no basic freedom. So we are saying: is it possible to see something lovely, look at it, give your complete attention to it and not record it? The moment you record it, it becomes the pursuit of pleasure. You understand? So is that possible? You have a most pleasurable happening, extraordinarily pleasurable; to observe it and to be so completely attentive that the brain doesn’t record. Then that incident is over and not carried over. So that is important to find out because it is part of meditation, this is real meditation, if you want to go into it very deeply, this is real meditation, because to find out if there is in the area of the brain, or in the mind, in the universe, in the global existence, a state, a dimension in which thought has never entered, therefore culture, civilisation has never touched it. To find that out, and that is real meditation, that is the real religious life, to find that out. One must find out why this recording process goes on all the time. Do you understand? If the process goes on all the time then the brain becomes mechanical. Our brains are mechanical – part of it. Is there another part of the brain which is not mechanical? To find that out, registration must come to an end. You follow? See the sequence of it for yourself. Not because I am capable of a good argument or anything of that kind, but see it for yourself how important it is to find out if there is an area where thought, with its mechanistic activity has never entered. And you can only find that out if the registration process comes to an end. That is, can the brain observe, be fully completely attentive, with all the senses, to that particular happening, to that particular incident, be fully aware? And when it is so completely aware there is no recording. You can do it for yourself, you can see it. If you can look at something, doesn’t matter what it is, with all your senses – not intellectually, not visually, not merely hearing – but with every nerve, with every sense fully awakened, to observe that incident, however pleasurable, however painful, then you will see there is no record. Don’t agree with me. Don’t say, ‘Yes, that is marvellous’ – do it! That means you have to find out what it means to be aware. What is implied in that word. Is it something to be practised? ‘Oh, I shall become gradually aware, I am not now but I will be the day after tomorrow.’ Or go to classes to learn how to be aware. All that is so silly. Cut it out.
So: you are only aware now or never. You understand? Either you are – you can’t cultivate it, then what you cultivate is the desire to achieve something. And when there is a desire to achieve something then you have lost totally the beauty, the perfume of awareness. Do you understand?
Comments
Post a Comment