What shall we talk about together? What would you like to
talk over this morning? Questioner: Can we talk
about attention? Attention and
the nature of perception. K: Attention and?
Q: Perception. K: Is there anything else? Q: Last time, we were going to
continue to look at insight. K: Or what is insight.
Attention, perception,
insight what else? Q: About energy.
K: About energy. By Jove. Anything else? Perception, insight, energy. Should we talk about all that
what is insight and so on? Shall we? Are you interested in it? Seriously,
or just to pass the time? What is attention? What do you think
is the difference between concentration, awareness and attention? What do you think is the difference
between those three? To concentrate on something.
What takes place
when you concentrate? Aren't you bringing
all your energy, focused on a particular page or on mathematics, history,
whatever it is bringing all your energy and
focusing on a particular subject? Would you call that
concentration? Q: The word implies it centre.
K: Yes, centre, concentrate. So, bringing all the energy
to centre upon something. Q: It also implies effort. K: Yes,
what is implied is effort, and also, what more is implied? Q: Also cutting
everything else out.
K: Cutting out everything else. That is, you are trying
to concentrate, to centre your attention
on a particular subject and resist the other thoughts
interfering upon that which you are centred. So, there is an effort
when you concentrate to push aside
every other thought except the one thought
centred upon a particular subject. We would call that
concentration, wouldn't you? You would call that concentration,
wouldn't you? Right? You are sure? Then what is the difference
between that and awareness, to be aware? The other day when we were talking
over together with the students, you asked a question:
what is it to be sensitive? In awareness, is there not implied
a great deal of sensitivity? Examine it, let's look into it.
Please don't accept
anything I say. But let's talk it over together, let's see all
the implications in it. That is, we understand now
what it means to concentrate to centre all your energy
and focus on a particular subject. Then what do we mean by aware, to be aware? I am aware that you are
sitting on the floor.
I am not concentrating. I am aware, I watch, I perceive that you have got
a red shirt or blue shirt and so on I perceive. I am aware of the shape of the hall,
the roof, what kind of roof it is, the curtains, the sunlight,
all that. Now, in that awareness,
is there any choice? You understand what I mean? In that awareness,
I look at that red shirt and say, I don't like that shirt,
I prefer a pink shirt.
I don't like that
particular kind of dress, I prefer something else. In that process,
what takes place? Q: In awareness?
K: In awareness, what takes place? K:When I say, I like that shirt
and I don't like that shirt, I like the roof, I don't like
that window, and so on. Q: You are comparing. Q: That is making judgments.
K: Judgment.
On what is that judgment based? Q: My tastes.
My experience and my taste. K: Your like and dislike.
Go further into it. Go on. Isn't there implied in that:
choice.
I choose the red shirt,
I don't like the blue shirt. There is choice, isn't there? So, as long as there is choice
in awareness, is there awareness? You understand my question? To be aware implies to be sensitive
to everything, doesn't it? To the tree outside,
the sunlight on the green lawn, and the yellowing leaves
of autumn, the clouds, the beauty of the earth, and coming from the outside to be aware of the roof,
of the walls, of the curtains, how you are sitting. But if there is choice in that,
I am not totally aware, I am only choosing that
particular thing. You get it? If we have understood
concentration, awareness, then what is attention? To attend.
Go on. Q: Directing your energy towards
something that you are interested in without resisting other things,
you are just interested in that. K: We said, didn't we,
that when there is concentration, there is a centring
of energy upon something? There is a centre from which
you are concentrating, you are giving your energy. In awareness,
if there is any choice it is still part of that centre
choosing.
Right? And in attention,
is there any centre, is there any concentration
at all? There is only attending. I wonder if you see. That is, I want to learn
the art of listening. The art of listening, that is,
we said the other day too that art implies putting everything
in its right place.
That is the meaning
of that word. To listen, not to your prejudices,
not to your conclusions, what you think,
what you don't think, but to listen entirely, completely,
to what the other fellow is saying. That is attention, isn't it? Where there is no choice,
there is no centre from which you are
forcing yourself to look. Here there is no centre
or choice, you are completely attentive
with all your ears, eyes, nerves, completely sensitive
to everything.
That is, not only sensitive
to what is happening outside politically, economically,
socially, so-called religiously, but also to be attentive
to what is happening inside, psychologically, conscious of the thoughts,
the feelings, the prejudices, the fears, the conclusions,
all that, to see the whole of that,
is to be attentive. Would that be right? Mr Joe,
what do you say to that? So, let's go back. You are in the class.
You are trying to concentrate on what the teacher
is trying to tell you, and you are not
paying complete attention because you are looking
out of the window. You are looking out
of the window, and you force yourself
not to look out of the window and come back to the book.
Haven't you noticed this?
Q: Yes. K: Good.
At last there is something. Q: That is concentration, isn't it?
K: Wait, I am coming to that. So in that there is conflict,
isn't there? You want to look out
of the window and at the same time
you want to look at the book, so there is conflict.
So, attention implies
non-conflict. That is, when you are
looking out of the window, look out of the window,
completely. See the movement of the leaves,
the sky, the clouds, the sunlight
be completely attentive to that and then come back to the book. So one learns
the art of attention not by forcing, not by practising,
not by compelling, but giving your attention
to what you are...
If you want to look
at somebody's face, look completely, so that there is no battle
going on inside you. Can you do it? Q: It seems to me
that people pay attention when they are interested
or when there is a motive. K: Yes.
You pay attention, he points out, only when you are interested. Do you? Do you pay attention
when you are interested? Do you? Go into it carefully,
don't agree.
You are interested
in playing guitar. Do you give
complete attention to it? The whole implication is, whether you really want
to play guitar or is it an escape, or is it just
a passing interest, or is it that you are competing with whoever
the latest guru in guitar is. If you are completely interested
there is no comparison. You are completely aware,
attentive to what you are doing.
Are you doing this now? When you listen to what
the speaker is saying, are you listening completely? Or you are looking
at somebody else, or your thoughts are going off
in some direction. Are you listening with complete
attention to what is being said? In that attention
there is no conflict you are listening. Right. So, that is the point.
When there is attention, the implication of that is
that the mind, the brain is not directing, moving
in a particular direction. I wonder if you see this. When there is attention,
is there any motive? The meaning of the word
'motive' implies a cause from which
there is a movement. Q: Because that
would be a centre.
K: No, listen first.
Do it, not verbalise it. The meaning of
the word 'motive' is: a movement which has a cause. From a cause, move. Is this too difficult? No.
So, find out when there is attention,
is there a motive? Is there a cause
which make you attend? If there is a cause,
it is not attentive. A cause implies a direction. Right? Do you see all this? So, as we said, what is insight? Insight is that state of mind
which is completely attentive and therefore no motive, and such a mind which is quiet
has an insight into something. Insight into what is being said,
whether it is true or false, have an insight into something.
No, you haven't got it. Is this somewhat clear? No. You all look rather bedazed. Let's go into it.
Scott Forbes:
If there is no motive what would inspire you to give
all of your attention to something? K: What would make you
give all your attention? Just look, find out. Find out for yourself. We said,
if there is any motive motive implies a movement
which has a cause which is, I want to do something,
from that motive, move. There is a centre which says,
I must go in that direction because it is most pleasant
or it is most agreeable, or I don't want to go
in that direction because it is not profitable, I might be punished,
there might be fear.
So, when there is a cause there is a direction. Is there, in attention, a cause? Which means a motive
to be attentive. A motive might be because I will get something
from this attention. I might profit from it,
I will avoid pain, I will avoid this or that.
Now, when there is
a cause for attention, is it attention,
I am asking you? I am not saying yes or no.
I am asking you to investigate, to find out
when you are attentive, when there is a cause,
is there attention? It may be a little bit
too difficult. You also asked what does
it mean to have insight. What does it mean to have an insight
into the nature of attention? Right? What is it to have an insight into the structure
and nature of attention? We said there is no attention
when there is concentration. That is fairly simple, isn't it? Because there I am resisting
every other thought except the one thought.
Thought wanders off, I try to
pull it back and try to concentrate. So there is constant effort, constant movement from this to that,
and from that to pull back. This is simple. Right, sir? Now, when there is attention,
is there such movement? And attention implies
that you are paying attention with all your being,
with all your energy, with everything that you have,
attending to something.
Now, wait a minute. When there is great danger,
don't you attend? Q: Yes. K: Don't you? What is implied in that?
Look at it, carefully. Great danger a car coming towards you
at full speed, what takes place there? Or when you see something
terribly dangerous, what takes place there? Go on.
I am doing all the talking.
You go on, investigate together. What takes place? Q: You act. K: You react.
What is your reaction? Q: Usually, it is a good action. K: Good or bad,
it doesn't matter, we are not talking of
good action or bad action.
What is the reaction when you see
something tremendously dangerous? It must have happened
to all of you. Some danger.
Some kind of danger. At that moment, aren't you
paying tremendous attention? Q: The reaction is not a process
of thinking, it is very quick. K: Very quick.
I am talking of
that moment which is very rapid. What takes place? There is a cause, isn't there? To save yourself, self-protective movement, which is quite natural, isn't it?
Otherwise you would be destroyed. Q: Yes. K: Right? So there is the reaction
of self-protectiveness when there is
tremendous danger.
In that danger, the whole response of your brain
is to walk away from it, move away from it. Now, if there is no danger, if there is no direction danger is a form
of direction is there attention at all
without a cause? This is too difficult. And when there is attention
without cause the mind is
extraordinarily alive and then only there is
an insight into something. As we were saying
the other day, science means pure observation not only into matter, into
all the things scientists are doing, but also an observation
into oneself.
Pure observing. The purity of observation
of oneself. You understand? Can you do it? To observe
without any distortion, to see what you are why you think this, for what reason do you pursue
a certain thing, to be attentive, to be aware, or to observe
with clarity and purity of what is going on inwardly as you observe what is going on,
outwardly. When you observe outwardly the tree, etc.
If you don't like it,
that is a motive, isn't it? You have already decided
to move away from it. Can you observe
without any distortion, not only out there
but also what is going on inside, without any like and dislike, without wanting something, frightened, just to observe? Can you do it?
Will you do it? Just for the fun of it,
just see what takes place, what happens. Have you ever watched a cloud? Just watch it. See the light on it,
the shape of it, the movement that is going on, just to observe it you know, just watch.
Can you do it? You can, can't you? Now, can you do the same thing watch yourself
without any movement? Any movement, that is,
any form of distortion, like and dislike, without saying,
I don't like what I am? Can you observe that way? You can the microphone,
can't you? Because it is a microphone,
it is very easy. You can't call it a giraffe
or anything. So, in the same way,
to look at yourself. When you observe yourself
with complete purity I am using the word 'purity'
as without any colouring, any distortion,
any form of twisting what you see and in that observation,
there is an insight, an insight totally
of what you are.
Will you do it? Because it is another form
of education, isn't it, really? We are educated in facts, in theories,
in speculations, etc. Mathematics, history and so on. We never educate ourselves by observing ourselves. Will you do it? Because if you do it your mind becomes
extraordinarily clear, because then you are not caught
in any illusion, you move from fact to fact.
To observe when you are angry. You can observe anger arising,
can't you? Can you? Obviously. Right? You can observe
the arising of greed. You can observe somebody
calling you a fool and getting hurt you can observe that,
the movement.
Now, can you observe it may be a little bit difficult
can you observe thought arising? Do you remember, we talked
about it the other day? We said, all registration
is the basis of thinking. The brain registers
an incident and from the memory
of that incident, thought arises. The incident is that
you have said something to me which is not pleasant,
which is rather hurting. So the brain registers
the hurt and from that, thought arises.
You can observe this very simply.
It is not complicated. Right? So you know for yourself the origin or the beginning
of thought. Do you? Look, your brain is the result of
thousands and thousands of years as a human being coming from the animal
or whatever you like from the beginning of time. There, human beings have
registered for centuries.
They have said,
I am a Muslim. The brain has registered
what it has been told, that you are a Hindu
or a Christian, or British, or a Frenchman. It has been registered. And from that, there is
the assertion that I am British or I am an Arab, and so on.
So from this conditioning,
which is the form of registration, arises all the reaction
of thought. Got it? Don't accept it, investigate it. Find out for yourself if
what is being said is false or true. Some of you live in America,
or Indonesia, or in Europe, Far East or Far West not in California but Far West,
in the sense, America.
The Americans are conditioned, the Europeans including
the British are conditioned, the Indians are conditioned. That is, the centuries
and centuries of propaganda, of repetition, of superstition,
of belief and so on, that has been registered,
conditioned the mind, the brain. Haven't you noticed this? From that you say,
I am an American, or I am a Hindu,
I am this or I am that. So, thinking begins when there is registration.
Now, there must be registration,
as we said, in certain things. If I want to drive a car,
I must learn how to drive it, the brain must register. And then after a while
it becomes automatic, but it has registered. If I want to speak
a particular language I must learn the words,
registration and so on, and from that, I speak.
Is it possible
just listen to this is it possible not to register
any psychological facts? You understand? I must register when
I am learning how to drive a car. Why should there be registration
when you call me a fool, which hurts me? Why should I register? Why should the brain register
when you call me a fool? Go on, find out. I have an image about myself. I think I am a very great man,
or some silly thing I think I am.
I have built an image
about myself my parents have helped me
to build the image, the school has helped me
to build the image, university, society, girlfriend or boyfriend there has been
a building of image. Haven't you noticed this? Good. That image gets hurt,
doesn't it? Because you are that image. You are not separate
from that image.
Right? So, not to be hurt
implies no image. Can you live a life
from now on until you die which I hope will be
a very long time not to have any kind of
psychological image at all? Can you do it? To find out implies
to be attentive at the moment when
somebody calls you a fool, or when somebody says,
what a marvellous person you are, which is the same thing. Not to register implies
total attention at that moment. Q: So, Krishnaji, when someone
calls me a fool or they flatter me and I notice that I am happy or sad,
is that attention? K: No, sir.
You have said
two different things. When somebody calls you a fool
not you but me somebody calls me a fool
or flatters me, the image which I have
built about myself and I am that image,
I am not different from that image that image gets hurt or that image feels flattered. When you are flattering me or calling me a fool, to be totally attentive
at that moment, then there is no registration. Have you got it? Will you do it? Not here,
not just verbally agree, but all your life,
while you are here at Brockwood for the next two or three
or five years, not to get hurt.
It is the most marvellous thing,
if you can do it. Never to be hurt by anybody, which means not to have
a single image about yourself. Q: When you say,
to be without an image, implies that you are different
from the image, doesn't it? K: No. You know how
images are formed? Don't you know? Go on, investigate it.
You have an image
about yourself, haven't you? How is it formed? Who has formed it? Go on. You are a Brahmin, from India. By what right do you
call yourself a Brahmin? Why? Go on, find out! Because your mother,
your father, your grandfather, generations and generations
said, we are Brahmins. And that propaganda,
that assertion that Brahmins do this
and don't do that, all that has been registered
in the brain.
The brain has registered it. And then, having registered it,
when I ask you what you are, the reaction is,
I am a Brahmin. You see how the image is made? Do you? Oh, come on,
I have explained it. You have an image of yourself
as a Christian, haven't you? No?
Q: No.
K: That is, your parents say,
nonsense, and brush that aside, but some of you may be living in a world
that says we are Christians, or Catholics, or protestants, and there is an image
of what a Catholic should be. He believes in the saviour, the only saviour
which is Jesus Christ, there is the Virgin Mary,
all the rituals, all the dogmas, all the circus that
goes on around that. That has been registered
for 2,000 years the brain has been
imprinted with that. All that has been imprinted
on the brain.
So, the brain has an image
that you are a Catholic. That is simple, no?
Q: Yes. K: Can you wipe away
all that image? Can the image
disappear completely? Because, see the danger
of having images. The danger.
See what is happening: The Arab has an image
and the Israelis have an image, so they are at battle
with each other. The Muslim and the Hindu, the communist, socialist
and the capitalist and so on each individual of that group
has an image. So, they are all always
in conflict with each other. Right?
Do you see this? War is the result
of these images.
No? One of the reasons of war. There are other reasons, but one
reason is good enough to discuss. So, can you be
free of your image as a Hindu, Buddhist, Catholic, Jew, Arab, Indonesian,
whatever it is. Why carry that image? You understand my question? It is such a burden.
It is a bore! If you have an image,
you are going to be hurt and when you are hurt
you build a wall around yourself and you isolate yourself, and you are frightened
to go out of that because you might get hurt.
Do you see this? Now, are you listening
with complete attention? Listen carefully to what I am
going to tell you in a minute. Are you listening completely
with attention to what we have said
about image? If you have, you are not forming
an image that says, I must get rid of the image. You understand what I said? No. I listen to what has
been said about image how the images are formed, the importance of being free
from all images because those bring about
conflict between human beings.
If I listen to it
with complete attention, there is no image. Attention wipes away the image. Right? And therefore you don't form
another image. Do you get this, some of you? Now, have you listened
with complete attention, so that you have no image? Go on.
Or you have some images
which are rather pleasurable. Some images we say, I rather like
that image about myself. Somebody calls me a great man,
and I like that image. So I keep to that image.
And somebody comes along
and says, you are not as great
as you think you are, I am hurt, because
I have got the image. So, can you pay attention and see the whole nature of building images? It is part of your education,
isn't it? Can you do it? Not say,
I am an awfully clever man, I am an awfully clever chap. Some of you think that already. Better, superior
to somebody else that is an image
about yourself.
Somebody comes and says,
don't be silly, you are not clever
as you think you are, so you shrink. You get the point? Right? We have talked
about insight, what do we mean
by attention, what were the other questions? Q: Somebody mentioned energy. K: Energy. When you are attending, all your energy is there.
When you are
not paying attention, the energy is dissipated
or divided or broken down. Do you notice that? This is really a very
complicated question, this energy business. Registration, as we said,
takes energy, doesn't it? The Nagra, that machine, is now registering
what we are talking about. To register,
that requires energy, electrical form of energy.
Now, when you don't register... You get the point? There must be registration when there is learning
how to drive a car, but when there is
no building of images, which requires energy, and if there is no building images
what happens to that energy? This is a little too much. You see, while you are very young,
as you are, you have plenty of energy in every direction
plenty of energy. You want to go and walk,
play games, do all kinds of things, things which are orderly
or disorderly, for yourself, not about outside disorderly, that is also implied.
When there is no knowledge
or information about the way that energy
should be expressed, that energy becomes very
mischievous or destructive or merely pleasurable, sexual and so on. Do you see this? I wonder. You see the implications
of all this? Or have I got to go into
all the details of it? Q: Are you suggesting
that we channel our energy into these various things? K: Who is there to channel, to say, I will use my energy
in that direction'? There is a centre, isn't there? There is a direction. The movement of the direction
has a cause.
The cause may be, I like that, therefore, I will put all my energy
in that direction. What happens when you do that? Look at it carefully, watch it. You have plenty of energy. You are young, all the glands are
working powerfully and so on.
You have got plenty of energy,
and you say, I will give all my energy
to guitar, or all my energy to sex, or all my energy playing,
doing something or other. What happens when you give all your energy
in a particular direction, whether pleasurable or
the avoidance of pain same thing. Go on, inquire.
For God's sake, use your brains
to find out what happens. Q: There is no energy
for anything else.
K: No, I understand that. When all your energy
has been given to playing a violin, you become first-class at it,
great skill, because you have given
all your energy what happens? Need I tell you that? Can't you find out? Q: The thing becomes out of place. Whatever you are giving all your
energy to becomes out of place. K: Comes out?
Q: Out of place.
No, out of place. K: Out of place
which means what? Q: Distortion.
K: Watch carefully. Out of place
find out what it means. Don't just offer your opinion, find out what is implied
in what she said.
It is out of place.
What does that mean? Q: The proportion of it. K: Go on
which means what? Q: A disorder, an imbalance. K: Imbalance, isn't it? Q: You have no energy left
for anything else. K: It is an imbalance if I give
all my energy to one thing, I am not balanced all round.
Right? Then what happens
when I am not harmonious? What happens when I am only
cultivating one direction of energy? There is imbalance, obviously. There is no balance. Therefore, what takes place
when there is no balance, when there is no harmony? I am very good at violin,
I am stupid elsewhere. Stupid in my relation to my wife,
my children or with society.
So, what takes place
when there is imbalance? Q: I am not aware of other things.
K: Yes, you are not sensitive. Go further into it
what happens? I bring conflict, don't I?
In myself and in others. No? Q: For example, with the violin
you will become obsessed with it. You have to fulfil
other functions and then you can't get on
with anyone else because all you want to do
is play the violin.
K: So what happens? Q: Nothing works anymore. K: Yes. So, where there is imbalance
there must be conflict. Energy then is spent in continuing the conflict or trying to find out
how to avoid conflict, or how to escape from all this.
Because I am imbalanced,
I am neurotic, in essence. You understand? When a person gives all his
energy in one direction, obviously,
it is a neurotic way of living. So, go from that. Is it possible to have
a harmonious life in which there is no imbalance but every action
complete in itself? You understand? Oh, this is too difficult.
Q: What is it that decides how much energy is proper
to give to something? Supposing you are a violinist,
it takes tremendous energy and time, you want to be good at it. But where is the dividing line between that necessary application
and a neurotic one? K: I understand that. Where do you draw the line? Where do you say,
I will give my energy to this completely, or I will give
partial energy to this and partial energy to that,
and so on. If you give partial energy
to play the violin, it is finished you can't be
a first-class violinist.
So, what will you do? Go on, inquire, find out. Q: Wouldn't attention
then come into that? Attention
or a kind of insight into that, to understand how the energies
have to be balanced. K: Look, you want to be
a first-class violinist, right? Suppose you do. And you naturally have to give
a great deal of energy to it.
And you haven't time or sufficient
energy in other directions, therefore you don't live
a balanced life. And you want to live a balanced life
and yet be very good at violin. What will you do? Q: There are two desires, now. K: What are you saying? Q: They are opposing.
The two desires you have,
are opposing and it leads nowhere. K: Would you ask yourself, though I want to be
a very good violinist, I want to live a total life? A life that is whole. Would you ask that question? I want to be
a very good violinist, but also I want to live a life
that is whole, that is complete,
that is not fragmented I am a violinist,
I am nothing else or this or that. I want to live a life
that is whole that means healthy,
sane, holy I want to live such a life and yet
I want to be very good at violin.
Q: If you see that, then you don't
have to draw any line, it will just happen properly. K: I didn't quite hear. Q: In wanting a balanced life, if you really see
how necessary it is, and you also want
to play the violin and if you can
really see everything, you won't have to draw any line.
K: No. K: Will you do that? Or is it just a lot of words? Will you, though you want
to be very good at something, see the importance
and the necessity of leading a life
that is harmonious, whole, complete,
not fragmented? And because you see
the utter importance of it, there is no fragmentation.
Right?
Do you see that? Not verbally,
but do you actually see the importance of not living
a fragmentary life? Because after all, playing the violin and being
good at it is a fragmentary life. But if I see
the tremendous importance of living a life that is whole,
then the violin has its place. Right? Therefore,
which is more important, being good at violin or seeing the way
of living harmoniously in which the violin
has its place? When you see that,
there is no problem. You understand this? Q: Yes, then there is no choice.
K: So, do you see it? K: Or you merely agree
with the words which I am using? Do you see for yourself
the importance, the utter, complete, total importance
of living a life that is whole, not fragmented? All our life is fragmented I am a businessman, I am an artist, I am an engineer and so on, a religious man
everything is divided, fragmented.
I am a Hindu, you are a Christian,
a protestant same thing. Nationally, religiously,
economically, linguistically, we are all
fragmented human beings. Are you aware
that you are fragmented? Are you? You are? If you are, you are. Q: I think one of the difficulties
when you talked about the image is that there is still the feeling
that I can have an image of myself but even if I drop that image,
there will be a 'myself' inside.
K: As we said,
'yourself' is the image. Q: Nothing but that? K: If there is no image at all,
is there the image-maker? This is a little too much. You have said something,
which is, the image is the cause
of fragmentation. You have an image about yourself
and if I have an image about myself then we are...
Right? So, the cause of fragmentation
is the image-making. I see some great
violinist playing and I say, by Jove,
I would like to do that because, first of all,
I have a little talent about it, it gets a lot of money,
and the applause of the public. The vanity, all that is involved
and I like that. That is my image.
I am that image. So, to have no image implies
living a total life, a life that is completely
harmonious, not fragmented. Can you do this
while you are here at Brockwood? Find out, go into it. See how important it is
not to have an image.
You won't get hurt you know,
the whole business of it. Then you are a free human being
and it is a marvellous state because in that
there is tremendous clarity. Out of clarity comes compassion
and skill and all the rest of it. Is that enough for this morning? We also talked a great deal
about meditation, didn't we, the other day? Perhaps we can have one more meeting
with the students before I go away.
I am just beginning that thing
which we started the other day about meditation. Do you remember, we pointed out the various forms
of historical process of meditation? You see, to understand
the whole image-making process and see all the implications of it
is a form of meditation, isn't it? No? Because I am
meditating about something. I begin meditating
about something, about the making of images. I go into it,
I think about it, I watch it, and I see the implications and
the destructive nature of images.
And to have an insight into it, the mind must be free
from all prejudices. That is the beginning
of meditation to ponder over something. And as you go into it more and more,
it is not meditation about something but a state of mind
which is in meditation. This is very difficult,
I won't go into it.
Q: When you say to meditate
about image-making, isn't that a direction? K: No, I am watching. Meditation is to ponder over,
think over, observe. Observe how you form an image, how you cling to certain images
and avoid other images to observe that. That is a form of meditation.
Q: Yes,
but isn't there choice involved, that I will observe this
and not something else? K: I observe how the images
are being made. From that, I may discover that
where there is image, there is fear. And I may look at fear:
why there is fear, what is fear,
what is the root of fear. To find that out,
I must not escape from it.
There must be no escape,
there must be no suppression, no saying,
I am justified to have fear. You just observe. That is a form of meditation. And to observe very clearly, without distortion,
observe purely, the mind must not be chattering, must be attentive
in observation.
Can you do all this, poor chaps? It is really not
very complicated. Complication arises when you are
trying to convey something which you haven't heard before. Then you are trying to understand
what the other fellow is saying. You are not here to understand
what the other fellow is saying, but to understand, through the words
the other fellow is using, to observe yourself.
So the other person
doesn't become an authority, you just observe. I think that is enough,
don't you? Right..
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