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Copyright © 2007-2010 Daniel Marks | beyondthemind.net. All Rights Reserved.
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Introduction:
This website is a different approach to the modern psychologist, educator and social entrepreneur, J. Krishnamurti (1895-1986) (Wikipedia biography). The approach is from a holistic and integrated standpoint, as far as possible. It is not just taking a fragment here and there, a well-worn catchphrase or two. Instead, it is an exploration into the totality of the work - the books, dialogues, articles, and public talks covering in all around 38 years, from 1948-1986 (hereinafter referred to universally as ‘the talks’).
It is held there is a call for such an endeavour, as there appears to be much confusion surrounding the true nature of what has been ‘pointed out.’ It is now clear that no-one has been transformed; it is equally clear very few have actually understood the totality of the talks, in all their nuances and subtle implications. The interconnected discussions herein are born from years of reading and reflection. Every attempt has been made to read across the board to understand the remarkable breadth of what has been pointed out.
Of necessity, there are a great number of excerpts and quotations from the published works. This does not mean that the man and/or his words are set up as an authority, or one whose utterances should be accepted without question. Everything stated in the talks and in this site needs to be inquired into. The talks are ultimately a mirror into the crucial issues of the mind to be looked at, observed and explored by each one of us. If one sees the truth of a statement by observing the processes of the mind then this is sufficient; one does not need then to bestow authority on any book or single person.
One subject that is not covered in this site and will not be discussed is the man and his life, along with all that such an examination entails. This ‘personality cult’ (for that is what it is) is as old as history itself, with all its notable and iconic examples of Jesus Christ and the Buddha (Wikipedia articles) et al, which in the end is a clever escape from the import of the words spoken by these ‘gurus’, or so-called ‘great men’. What is said is vital, all the rest is merely distraction. Hence, the writer is definitely not in any way a so-called 'follower' of this man. Nor is this site in any respect an interpretation of the talks; it is a discussion site of what the writer has seen in himself from the pointing out.
This inquiry addresses two overarching questions:
What lies at the core of all the talks?
Can we bring about a transformation of consciousness?
We have to listen to the talks in order to understand them. This understanding is not born of the intellect, for no matter the degree of reason and logic we exercise, the intellect alone is not enough, and can never be enough. The understanding is born out of silence in the mind. This is a state of quietness where thought as the intellect does not intrude, allowing direct perception to take place. These understandings are shared openly and every effort has been made to avoid interpretations of any kind by encompassing the talks as a whole, across the board. It is an investigation of what the talks are pointing to, with the full awareness that the talks themselves are only words and not the truth. No extracts have been included on this site that have not been (at least verbally) understood by the writer. Everything here can be freely challenged.
This discussion is open, nothing is set in stone and this site is not attempting to convince you of anything. Hopefully it will illuminate or clarify these perennial issues, which is the actual intent of the site, not simply to provide quotations without attempting to understand them.
The talks are a direct challenge to all of human civilization. To nationalism and all the other artificial divisions, organizations and labels that divide man from man. As such, they go far beyond the central tenets of modern organized religions such as Christianity, Islam and Buddhism, as well as the belief systems of the so-called "New Age," the banalities of contemporary spiritual teachers, and all spiritual institutions. All organizations make followers of their members and instil conformity. Whereas these talks are concerned with the development of the full human being as a true individual, completely uninfluenced by the past, by society, by words, by knowledge, and by all authority.
The underlying thrust of the talks is about Truth, which is beyond the mind, as we know it. It addresses the actual meaning - the word used is significance - of human life. Peace of mind. Finally, true peace and real equality on Earth - the long sought-after brotherhood of Man.
That's what the talks are really all about. Only when there is full understanding of ourselves. Know thyself, and finally end the division
that exists between the self, as the observer, and the observed, which is what one actually is. That is the central statement.
To live a life of awareness and self-understanding (hence change) is thus the sole premise behind this website.
There is something.
Much too vast to put into words.
There is a tremendous reservoir, as it were,
which if the human mind can touch it, reveals something which no intellectual mythology
- invention, supposition, dogma - can ever reveal.
I am not making a mystery of it ... Either one creates a mystery when there isn't one
or there is a mystery which you have to approach with extraordinary delicacy and hesitancy,
and, you know, tentativeness.
And the conscious mind can't do this. It is there but you cannot come to it,
you cannot invite it. It’s not progressive achievement.
There is something but the brain can't understand it.
(Mary Lutyens, Volume 2, Krishnamurti: The Years of Fulfilment, page 224)
(Ellipsis added; emphasis in the original)
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{Photo courtesy Microsoft Clip Art}
It is possible for you to have an impact on the world, but this can only occur when you understand yourself, understand all your motivations, understand why you behave the way you do.
Wholeness - Through Closing The Gap:
The Demise of the Observer/The Self
The observer is the issue, the real barrier to true awareness. The observer is the self, a fragment of thought-consciousness amongst many other fragments - the central enduring fragment that has identified itself as the "me," the ongoing self-image. But the observer is not separate from that which it is observing - although it always thinks it is.
This separation is where all the problems lie. The separation is an illusion, but a very strong one. It is the central illusion of the human mind. It is a gap between the observer and that which it sees. Because of it, the central fragment attempts to do something about what it sees (like fear, or envy), or condemns it, or rationalizes it, or runs away from it. It always reacts to what it sees, it never just observes it. It cannot just observe it, passively.
It is only when this separation ends, when this central observer becomes aware that it is only a part of that which it is observing, that true seeing, or insight, takes place. Of course, when the observer ends, the self ends. And the mind resists that realization, with all its might.
Let it be very clear: The sixty years of the talks of J. Krishnamurti are about one thing - the core issue of the ending of the self.
(Photo courtesy NASA/ESA; taken by the Hubble Space Telescope)
“If there is no ego, there is no problem, there is no conflict, there is no time - time in the sense of becoming or not becoming; being or not being.”
(The Ending of Time: Chapter I, April 1980)
(40 page site -
Last updated April 6, 2010)
Education: Re-Engineering the Noblest Profession
Restructuring the philosophical basis & social intent that lies behind the educators and teaching in general. Can major change be effected?
