A Move from Freedom
Jiddu Krishnamurti says that each of us has the ability to understand the very complex and miraculous workings of the human mind if we proceed with great interest. We will come to find that it is this incredible instrument in which the “eternal, unnameable” resides. But a person must through personal observation, negate all of the barriers which have to this point prevented him from this amazing discovery.
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A Move from Freedom
“If you can move from freedom, then you will discover the most extraordinary things of the mind. And then you will find that the mind itself is the total reality: it is not that there is a reality to which the mind goes, but the mind itself, that extraordinary thing, when there is no contradiction within itself – when there is no anxiety, no fear, no desire to be successful – then that mind itself is that which is eternal, unnameable. But to speculate about the eternal without understanding the whole process of the mind is just childish play; it is an immature game which scholars, whom you worship, play. So, it would be good if you and I could really go into this, as two human beings interested in solving the problems we have, which are also the problems of the world. The personal problem is not different from the world problem. But you cannot tackle it if you have not understood the mind. So, please, do watch your mind, go into it not merely when you have nothing to do, but from the moment you get up to the moment you go to bed, from the moment you wake up until you go back to sleep. Then you will begin to find out what an extraordinary richness there is – a richness not in knowledge, but in the nature of the mind itself. It is in the mind also that there is ignorance. The dispelling of ignorance is all-important, not the acquisition of knowledge, because the dispelling of ignorance is negative while knowledge is positive. And, a man who is capable of thinking negatively has the highest capacity for thinking. The mind which can dispel ignorance and not accumulate knowledge such a mind is an innocent mind, and only the innocent mind can discover that which is beyond measure. “
— Jiddu Krishnamurti, The Collected Works
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Inner Life Exercise
Ponder this:
“Meditation is the ending of thought
What is important in meditation is the quality of the mind and the heart. It is not what you achieve, or what you say you attain, but rather the quality of a mind that is innocent and vulnerable. Through negation there is the positive state. Merely to gather, or to live in, experience, denies the purity of meditation. Meditation is not a means to an end. It is both the means and the end. The mind can never be made innocent through experience. It is the negation of experience that brings about that positive state of innocency which cannot be cultivated by thought. Thought is never innocent. Meditation is the ending of thought, not by the meditator, for the meditator is the meditation. If there is no meditation, then you are like a blind man in a world of great beauty, light and colour. Wander by the seashore and let this meditative quality come upon you. If it does, don’t pursue it. What you will pursue will be the memory of what it was – and what was is the death of what is. Or when you wander among the hills, let everything tell you the beauty and the pain of life, so that you awaken to your own sorrow and to the ending of it. Meditation is the root, the plant, the flower and the fruit. It is words that divide the fruit, the flower, the plant and the root. In this separation action does not bring about goodness: virtue is the total perception. ”
–from a talk by Jiddu Krishnamurti
After reading this, I recalled several experiences in my life where I chased a situation, maybe a sunset, or a relationship trying to recapture the pleasure or sense of security it once gave me. This chasing always brings disappointment, because life is new and changing and always fresh. Memory can serve us in a practical way like remembering a recipe, but it’s impossible to recreate the old because Life has no concern for our past experiences. This is good news because when we see what doesn’t work, we naturally align ourselves with cosmic law and stop hurting ourselves.
It just struck me, reading Lisa’s comment, that it is not any particular event that was spectacular… it was Newness itself. So, so many times the mind tries to recreate a happening which occurred spontaneously: when in fact, its very beauty was the result of such spontaneous arising. Excitement and passion arise in that first witnessing of something that you know nothing about, have never seen or touched, but which has it’s own special Life, completely separate from the mind’s acquired knowledge. To empty the mind of thought and dive into this event or thing unknown; and then to swim in it’s purity seems a gratifying endeavor. There is a deep longing for that innocence… which comes new and fresh with every spoken word, every encounter, every breeze and whisper. But to drag ‘me’ into the scene, as Mr Krishnamurti said, “What you will pursue will be the memory of what it was – and what was is the death of what is. ” In all honesty, this is the greatest tragedy ~ a Life un-lived.