Wednesday, September 30, 2009

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How does the observer come into being?

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So how does the observer come into being? When you look at this flower, at the moment you observe it closely, there is no observer, there is only a looking. Then you  begin to name that flower. Then you say, “I wish I had it in my garden or in my house.” Then you have already begun to build an image about that flower. So the image-maker is the observer. Right? Are you following all this? Watch it in yourself, please. So the image and the image-maker are the observer, and the observer is the past. The “me” as the observer is the past, the “me” is the knowledge which I have accumulated: knowledge of pain, sorrow, suffering, agony, despair, loneliness, jealousy, and the tremendous anxiety that one goes through. That’s all the “me”, which is the accumulated knowledge of the observer, which is the past. Right? So when you observe, the observer looks at that flower with the eyes of the past. And you don’t know how to look without the observer and, therefore, you bring about conflict.Mind in Meditation, pp 8-9

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

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The thinker must come upon himself through his many aspects

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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.                              The Collected Works vol IV, p 45

Monday, September 28, 2009

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The “me” and the other “me”

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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 ever-changing 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 Collected Works vol IV, p 45

Sunday, September 27, 2009

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The dualistic process

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Apart from obvious duality as man and woman, black and white, there is an inward psychological duality as the observer and the observed, the one who experiences and the thing experienced. In this division, in which time and space are involved, is the whole process of conflict; you can observe it in yourself. You are violent, that is a fact and you also have the ideological concept of non-violence, so there is duality. Now the observer says “I must become non-violent” and the attempt to become non-violent is conflict, which is a waste of energy; whereas if the observer is totally aware of that violence—without the ideological concept of non-violence—then he is able to deal with it immediately.    One must observe this dualistic process at work within oneself—this division of the “I” and the “not-I”, the observer and the observed. Talks with American Students, p 111

Saturday, September 26, 2009

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The thinker and the thought

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When you observe yourself very clearly, when you are aware choicelessly of every thought, of every feeling, then you will come upon something—which is that there is a thinker and there is the thought; that there is an experiencer, an observer, and there is the experience, the observed. This is a fact, is it not?—there is a censor, an entity which judges, evaluates, which thinks, which observes; and there is the thing which is observed...So there is a thinker, there is the thought. There is a division between the thinker and the thought—the thinker trying to dominate the thought, trying to change the thought, trying to modify the thought, trying to control it, trying to force it, trying to imitate and so on. This division between the thinker and the thought creates conflict because the thinker is always the censor, the entity that judges, that evaluates. That entity is a conditioned entity because it has arisen as a reaction to thought, which is itself merely the reaction of conditioning, of memory. You understand, sirs? This is a very simple thing to find out for yourself. The Collected Works vol XIII, p 90

Friday, September 25, 2009

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What is thinking?

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All our activities, all the products of  our imagination, all the things written down in the Upanishads—or  whatever the religious book—are put together by thought. Architecture, the technology in the world, all the places of worship, whether they be the temple, the mosque or the church, and the things that are contained therein, are the result of thought. All the rituals are invented by thought: the puja, the worship—everything is based on thought. All our relationships, all our political and economic structures are based on thought. Our national divisions are the result of thought. You see, we have always inquired about external things, but have never asked ourselves: What is thinking? What is the root and consequence of thinking? A Timeless Spring, p 161

Thursday, September 24, 2009

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The state of attention

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One begins to discover that in the state of attention, complete attention, there is not the observer, with its old conditioning as the conscious as well as the unconscious. In that state of attention, the mind becomes extraordinarily quiet. The brain cells, though they may react, no longer function psychologically, within a pattern; they become extraordinarily quiet psychologically.Talks in Europe, 1967

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

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Exposing the contents of the unconscious

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Why do we give such deep significance and meaning to the unconscious?—for after all, it is as trivial as the conscious. If the conscious mind is extraordinarily active, watching, listening, seeing, then the conscious mind becomes far more important than the unconscious; in that state all the contents of the unconscious are exposed; the division between the various layers comes to an end. Watching your reactions when you sit in a bus, when you are talking to your wife, your husband, when in your office, writing, being alone—if you are ever alone—then this whole process of observation, this act of seeing (in which there is no division as the observer and the observed) ends the contradiction.The Flight of the Eagle, p 28

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

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This faculty will gather momentum

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The more you are aware during the waking hours, the less dreams there are. Dreams are indications of thoughts-feelings, actions not completed, not understood, that need fresh interpretation, or frustrated thought-hope that needs to be fully comprehended. Some dreams are of no importance. Those that have significance have to be interpreted, and that interpretation depends on your capacity of non-identification, of keen  intelligence. If you are deeply aware, interpretation is not necessary, but you are too lazy and so, if you can afford it, you go to a dream specialist; he interprets your dreams according to his understanding. You gradually become dependent upon him; he becomes the new priest, and so you have another problem added to you. But if you are aware even for a brief period, you will see that short, sharp awareness, however fleeting it be, begins to awaken a new feeling, which is not the result of craving but a faculty which is free from all personal limitations and tendencies. This faculty, this feeling, will gather momentum as you become more deeply and widely aware so that you are aware even in spite of your attention being given to other matters. Though you are occupied with necessary duties and give your attention to daily existence, inward awareness continues; it is as a sensitive photographic plate on which every impression, every thought-feeling is being imprinted to be studied, assimilated, and understood. This faculty, this new feeling, is of the utmost importance for it will reveal that which is eternal.The Collected Work vol III, pp 219- 220

Monday, September 21, 2009

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The sleeping hours an intensification of the waking hours

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The more you are conscious of your thoughts-emotions, the more you are aware of your whole being. Then the sleeping hours become an intensification of the waking hours. Consciousness functions even in so-called sleep, of which we are well aware. You think over a problem pretty thoroughly and yet you cannot solve it; you sleep over it, which phrase we often use. In the morning we find its issues are clearer, and we seem to know what to do; or we perceive a new aspect of it which helps to clear up the problem. How does this happen? We can attribute a lot of mystery and nonsense to it, but what does take place? In that so-called sleep the conscious mind, that thin layer is quiet, perhaps receptive; it has worried over the problem and now, being weary, is still, the tension removed. Then the promptings of the deeper layers of consciousness are discernible and when you wake up, the problem seems to have become clearer and easier to solve. So the more you are aware of your thoughts-feelings during the day, not for a few seconds or during a set period, the mind becomes quieter, alertly passive, and so capable of responding and comprehending the deeper  intimations. But it is difficult to be so aware; the conscious mind is not used to such intensity. Themore aware the conscious mind is, the more the inner mind co-operates with it, and so there is deeper and wider understanding.The Collected Work vol III, p 219

Sunday, September 20, 2009

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The unconscious mind is as trivial as the conscious

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A great deal has been written about the unconscious mind, especially in the West. Extraordinary significance has been given to it. But it is as trivial, as shallow as the conscious mind. You can observe it yourself. If you observe you will see that what is called the unconscious is the residue of the race, of the culture, of the family, of your own motives and appetites. It is there, hidden. And the conscious mind is occupied with the daily routine of life, going to the office, sex, and so on. To give importance to the one or to the other seems utterly sterile. Both have very little meaning, except that the conscious mind has to have technological knowledge in order to earn a livelihood.     This constant battle, both within, at the deeper level, as well as at the superficial level, is the way of our life. It is a way of disorder, a way of disarray, contradiction, misery, and for a mind caught in that to try to meditate is meaningless, infantile. This Light in Oneself, p 20

Saturday, September 19, 2009

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Is there such a thing as the unconscious at all?

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We have divided this consciousness as the conscious and the unconscious. We are occupied with a little corner of it, which is most of our life; and of the rest we are unconscious, we don’t even know how to go into it. We know it only when there is a crisis, when there is a certain urgent demand, a certain immediate challenge, which has to be responded to immediately; only then do we act as total entities. Having divided consciousness into the conscious and the unconscious, we look from the conscious—which is only a small part of it—at the whole of consciousness.             Now the speaker is asking: Is there such a thing as the unconscious at all? Is there something that is hidden, which has to be interpreted through dreams, through examination, analysis and so on, which we have called the unconscious? Or is it only that, because you have paid so much attention to the little corner of this field which you call the conscious and have not paid total attention to the whole field, you are not aware of the whole content of the field. To go into this very carefully, you have to look at your own consciousness. The Collected Works vol XVII, p 146

Friday, September 18, 2009

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Is there any other part of the mind…?

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You see, we have only operated so far within the area of thought as knowledge. Right? Is there any other part, any other area of the mind, which includes the brain, which is not touched by human struggle, pain, anxiety, fear, and all the violence, all the things that man has made through thought? The discovery of that area is meditation. That implies the discovery as to whether thought can come to an end, but yet for thought to operate when necessary, in the field of knowledge? We need knowledge, otherwise we cannot function, we would not be able to speak nor be able to write, and so on. Knowledge is necessary to function, and its functioning becomes neurotic when status becomes all important, which is the entering of thought as the “me”, as status. So knowledge is necessary and yet meditation is to discover, or come upon, or to observe, an area in which there is no movement of thought. Can the two live together, harmoniously, daily?                                               Talks in Saanen 1974, p 69

Thursday, September 17, 2009

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When the machine takes over the brain…

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The brain has infinite capacity; it is really infinite. That capacity is now used technologically. That capacity has been used for the gathering of information. That capacity has been used to store knowledge—scientific, political, social and religious. The brain has been occupied with this. And it is precisely this function (this technological capacity) that the machine is going to take over. When this take-over by the machine happens, the brain—its capacity—is going to wither, just as my arms will if I do not use them all the time. The question is: If the brain is not active, if it is not working, if it is not thinking, what is going to happen to it? Either it will plunge into entertainment—and the religions, the rituals and the pujas are entertainment—or it will turn to the inquiry within. This inquiry is an infinite movement. This inquiry is religion.  A Timeless Spring, pp 164-165

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

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Computer and the future of man

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Scientists are now inventing the “ultimate intelligent machine”, a computer which will beat man in every way. If the machine can outstrip man, then what is man? What are you? What is the future of man? If the machine can take over all the operations that thought does now, and do it far swifter, if it can learn much more quickly, if it can compete and, in fact, do everything that man can—except of course look at the beautiful evening star alone in the sky, and see and feel the extraordinary quietness, steadiness, immensity and beauty of it—then what is going to happen to the mind, to the brain of man? Our brains have lived so far by struggling to survive through knowledge, and when the machine takes all that over, what is going to happen? There are only two possibilities: either man will commit himself totally to entertainment—football, sports, every form of demonstration, going to the temple, and playing with all that stuff—or he will turn inward.A Timeless Spring, p 164

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

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The brain is limited, primitive

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The brain has extraordinary capacity, but it has been conditioned and therefore it is limited. It is not limited in the technological world, computers and so on, but it is very, very limited with regard to the psyche. People have said, “Know yourself”—from the Greeks, from the ancient Hindus, and so on. They study the psyche in another but they never study their own psyche. The psychologists, the philosophers, the experts, never study themselves. They study rats, rabbits, pigeons, monkeys, and so on, but they never say, “I am going to look at myself. I am ambitious, greedy, envious. I compete with my neighbour, with my fellow scientists.” It is the same psyche that has existed for thousands of years, though technologically we are marvellous outwardly. But inwardly we are very primitive, right?    So the brain is limited, primitive, in the world of the psyche.On Mind and Thought, p132

Monday, September 14, 2009

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Memory is responding all the time

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Observe for yourself how the brain operates. It is the storehouse of memory, of the past. This memory is responding all the time, as like and dislike, justifying, condemning and so on; it is responding according to its conditioning, according to the culture, religion, education, which it has stored. That storehouse of memory, from which thought arises, guides most of our life. It is directing and shaping our lives every minute of every day, consciously or unconsciously; it is generating thought, the “me”, which is the very essence of thought and words.The Impossible Question, p 71

Sunday, September 13, 2009

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The intelligence in operation in the universe

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The skill of intelligence is to put knowledge in its right place. Without knowledge it’s not possible to live in this technological and almost mechanical civilization but it will not transform the human being and his society. Knowledge is not the excellence of intelligence; intelligence can and does use knowledge and thus transforms man and his society. Intelligence is not the mere cultivation of the intellect and its integrity. It comes out of the understanding of the whole consciousness of man, yourself and not a part, a separate segment, of yourself. The study and the understanding of the movement of your own mind and heart give birth to this intelligence. You are the content of your consciousness; in knowing yourself you will know the universe. This knowing is beyond the word for the word is not the thing. The freedom from the known, every minute, is the essence of intelligence. It’s this intelligence that is in operation in the universe if you leave it alone. You are destroying this sacredness of order through the ignorance of yourself. This ignorance is not banished by the studies others have made about you or themselves. You yourself have to study the content of your own consciousness.Krishnamurti's Journal, pp 81-82

Saturday, September 12, 2009

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Intellect is not the way

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Most of us are so unconcerned with this extraordinary universe about us; we never even see the waving of the leaf in the wind; we never watch a blade of grass, touch it with our hand and know the quality of its being. This is not just being poetic, so please do not go off into a speculative emotional state. I say it is essential to have that deep feeling for life and not be caught in intellectual ramifications, discussions, passing examinations, quoting, and brushing something new aside by saying it has already been said. Intellect is not the way. Intellect will not solve our problems; the intellect will not give us that nourishment which is imperishable. The intellect can reason, discuss, analyse, come to a conclusion from inferences and so on, but intellect is limited, for intellect is the result of our conditioning. But sensitivity is not. Sensitivity has no conditioning; it takes you right out of the field of fears and anxieties. The mind that is not sensitive to everything about it—to the mountain, the telegraph pole, the lamp, the voice, the smile, everything—is incapable of finding what is true.The Collected Works vol XI, p 42

Friday, September 11, 2009

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Wisdom cannot be replaced by knowledge

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In our search for knowledge, in our acquisitive desires, we are losing love, we are blunting the feeling for beauty, the sensitivity to cruelty; we are becoming more and more specialized and less and less integrated. Wisdom cannot be replaced by knowledge, and no amount of explanation, no accumulation of facts will free man from suffering. Knowledge is necessary, science has its place; but if the mind and heart are suffocated by knowledge, and if the cause of suffering is explained away, life becomes vain and meaningless. And is this not what is happening to most of us? Our education is making us more and more shallow; it is not helping us to uncover the deeper layers of our being, and our lives are increasingly disharmonious and empty.Information, the knowledge of  facts, though ever increasing, is by its very nature limited. Wisdom is infinite, it includes knowledge and the way of action; but we take hold of a branch and think it is the whole tree. Through the knowledge of the part, we can never realize the joy of the whole. Intellect can never lead to the whole, for it is only a segment, a part.                        Education and the Significance of Life, p 66

Thursday, September 10, 2009

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Knowledge is not comparable with intelligence

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There is a distinction between intellect and intelligence. Intellect is thought functioning independently of emotion, whereas intelligence is the capacity to feel as well as to reason; and until we approach life with intelligence, instead of intellect alone, or with emotion alone, no political or educational system in the world can save us from the toils of  chaos and destruction.Knowledge is not comparable with intelligence, knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not marketable, it is not a merchandise that can be bought with the price of learning or discipline. Wisdom cannot be found in books; it cannot be accumulated, memorized or stored up. Wisdom comes with the abnegation of  the self. To have an open mind is more important than learning; and we can have an open mind, not by cramming it full of information but by being aware of our own thoughts and feelings, by carefully observing ourselves and the influences about us, by listening to others, by watching the rich and the poor, the powerful and the lowly. Wisdom does not come through fear and oppression, but through the observation and understanding of everyday incidents in human relationship.Education and the Significance of Life, pp 65-66

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

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The danger of knowledge

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Psychologically, inwardly, is thought necessary? One must understand this question very deeply. Man, through millennia upon millennia, has been caught in this pattern. And in this pattern there is never freedom, because knowledge, being limited, can never bring freedom. We need absolute freedom to find that which is eternal—obviously—freedom from all attachment, which means from all knowledge. So knowledge, though necessary in a certain direction, is the most dangerous thing that we have inwardly. We are now accumulating a great deal of knowledge, about  the universe, about the nature of everything—scientifically, analytically, archaeologically, and so on. And that knowledge may be preventing us from acting as total, complete human beings. A Timeless Spring, pp 163-164