Krishnamurti: The Talks on Freedom - Eckhart Tolle and the Koan

               Q: Could you briefly share with us the main experiences you had that led you to become a
spiritual teacher?

(1) "It all changed one night when I woke up in the middle of the night. The fear, anxiety and heaviness of depression were becoming so intense, it was almost unbearable. And it is hard to describe that 'state' where the world is felt to be so alien, just looking at a physical environment like a room. Everything was totally alien and almost hostile. ...

And the thought came into my head, 'I can't live with myself any longer'. That thought kept repeating itself again and again.

And then suddenly there was a 'standing back' from the thought and looking at that thought, at the structure of that thought, 'If I cannot live with myself, who is that self that I cannot live with? Who am I? Am I one—or two?' And I saw that I was 'two'. There was an 'I', and there was a self. And the self was deeply unhappy, the miserable self. And the burden of that I could not live with. At that moment, a dis-identification happened.

(2) -- "Suddenly I stepped back from myself, and it seemed to be two of me - The 'I', and this 'self' that I cannot live with. Am I one or am I two? And that triggered me like a koan. It happened to me spontaneously. I looked at that sentence - 'I can't live with myself'. I had no intellectual answer. Who am I? Who is this self that I cannot live with? The answer came on a deeper level. I realized who I was. ..."

(3) -- "I was so stunned by this strange realization that my mind stopped. I was fully conscious, but there were no more thoughts. ... "

(1) 'I' consciousness withdrew from its identification with the self, the mind-made fictitious entity, the unhappy 'little me' and its story. And the fictitious entity collapsed completely in that moment, just as if a plug had been pulled out of an inflatable toy. What remained was a single sense of presence or 'Beingness' which is pure consciousness prior to identification with form—the eternal I AM. I didn't know all of that at the time, of course. It just happened, and for a long time there was no understanding of what had happened.

As the self collapsed, there was still a moment of intense fear—after all, it was the death of 'me'. I felt like being sucked into a hole. But a voice from within said, 'Resist nothing'. So I let go. It was almost like I was being sucked into a void, not an external void, but a void within. And then fear disappeared and there was nothing that I remember after that except waking up in the morning in a state of total and complete 'newness'.

I woke up in a state of incredible inner peace, bliss in fact. With my eyes still closed, I heard the sound of a bird and realized how precious that was. And then I opened my eyes and saw the sunlight coming through the curtains and felt: There is far more to that than we realize. It felt like love coming through the curtains. And then as I walked around the old familiar objects in the room I realized I had never really seen them before. It was as if I had just been born into this world; a state of wonder. And then I went for a walk in the city. I was still in London. Everything was miraculous, deeply peaceful. ...

And that is the peace, the deep peace that comes when there is no longer anybody commenting on sense perceptions or anything that happens. No labeling, no need to interpret what is happening, it just is as it is and it is fine. [Laughter] There was no longer a 'me' entity. ...

... only later did I realize that my thought processes after waking up that morning had been reduced by about eighty to ninety percent. So a lot of the time I was walking around in a state of inner stillness, and perceiving the world through inner stillness."

Q: Do you think your transformation had less to do with achieving peace than letting go of the anxiousness and the worry?

(2) "Yes. It wasn't really the achievement of anything; it was the realization by letting go of the identification. Something suddenly was there that actually had always been there but had been obscured continuously by identification with the heavy mind structure. As I came to work with other people, I realized every human being already has that dimension. No matter how anxious, depressed, disturbed and fearful they may be. That dimension is already in there, in every human being."

Q: Can you share what writings and teachers had the greatest effect on you in further realizing what had been revealed to you?

(1) "... there were other teachers who were just as meaningful whom I never met in person that I feel a very strong connection to. One is J. Krishnamurti, and another is Ramana Maharshi. I feel a deep link. And I feel actually that the work I do is a coming together of the teaching 'stream', if you want to call it that, of Krishnamurti and Ramana Maharshi. They seem very, very dissimilar, but I feel that in my teaching the two merge into one. It is the heart of Ramana Maharshi, and Krishnamurti's ability to see the false, as such and point out how it works. So Krishnamurti and Ramana Maharshi, I love them deeply. I feel completely at One with them. And it is a continuation of the teaching."
Three interviews with Eckhart Tolle.
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Commentary:
There are two issues that stand out in this recall of a major life experience: identification and realization. Thought has identified itself with ideas and beliefs and material possessions - indeed, the self is the central image that comprises our entire identity. When a dis-identification occurs (through examination/awareness of one's mind processes), then there is a sudden realization (a state beyond the intellect) of the essential nature, if you will, of life itself. Thought is arrested, no longer reacting ceaselessly to the environment.

The realization occurs when thought examines its own workings (when it stands back, as it were, and becomes aware of itself), which is not something it does in normal daily existence. This examination is via questioning, as in the above experience, and if the thought process stops then a change takes place in the quality or state of mind.
~~~~~~~~~~
References:
(1): This is a brief extract from a partial excerpt of an interview with Eckhart Tolle, conducted in 2000, taken from a book called Dialogues With Emerging Spiritual Teachers, by John W. Parker (2000); paragraphs and ellipses added.
(2):   An Interview with Eckhart Tolle by Josh Max, conducted at the Omega Institute, on October 18, 2003.
(3):   From the Introduction to Tolle's book: The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment (New Edition, 2004 [1999], page 4)
            (See also: The Wisdom of the Ages, for Now Anyway, by Jesse McKinley, The New York Times, March 23, 2008)
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"J. Krishnamurti, the great Indian philosopher and spiritual teacher, spoke and traveled almost continuously all over the world for more than fifty years attempting to convey through words - which are content - that which is beyond words, beyond content. At one of his talks in the later part of his life, he surprised his audience by asking, "Do you want to know my secret?" Everyone became very alert. Many people in the audience had been coming to listen to him for twenty or thirty years and still failed to grasp the essence of his teaching. Finally, after all these years, the master would give them the key to understanding.

'This is my secret,' he said. 'I don't mind what happens.'"
                                                             (Eckhart Tolle, Excerpt from: A New Earth: Awakening to your Life's Purpose, 2005,Chapter 7, page 198)

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Commentary:
                                                                      "Reason is excellent; the capacity to reason logically, sanely, healthily, objectively, is essential;
                                                                           not to get emotional, but to use the capacity of the intellect clearly. The intellect is a part,
                                                                      not the whole of man. It must be able to observe clearly, reason objectively, efficiently, sanely,
                                                                 not neurotically, and realize that the intellect is only a part and cannot possibly solve all our problems."
                                                                             (Inward Revolution: Madras Talk, January 13, 1971; KFT Newsletter, Spring, 2006)

We all worship the intellect. It has, after all, created all of civilization. Science, technology, philosophy, political systems, the supercomputer, great architecture, literature and art. The energy pouring through the brain has expressed itself for millennia, in a continual evolutionary state of technical progress. Technology is seen as the ultimate answer to all our human problems, from global poverty to inequality to climate change - if only the right gadgets can be invented, if only someone can dream up a new idea. And if the right amount of money is thrown at the problem. There is never any deep investigation of why the problems exist in the first place, of their first cause.

Thus, as we have seen in history, the intellect is not enough. It has simply not solved the psychological problems of man (technology will never solve psychological problems, no matter their nature). But the problem is not with the intellect per se, as it is with the self that commandeers it. There is nothing wrong with objective logic and reasoning that underpins the detached (non-selfish) intellect. What occurs is that everything created for practical and material reasons is perverted for selfish ends by the very people who espouse the triumph of technology.

An example is the enormous scientific effort that has gone into boosting the wealth of the global economy, yet widespread poverty levels and inequality still exist, even within the most developed countries. In every case, technical, material and financial progress has been hijacked for the personal and selfish ends of an elite few. Ultimately, material progress for the public in general has trickled-down from this level. Yet, even in rich countries like the US, widespead poverty levels still exist, as in the very real problem of the 'working poor'; (37 million at or below poverty rate - The New York Times, Editorial, November 26, 2008).

We all live in a rigid social oligarchy of the rich, whether we like it or not, whether we live in a so-called 'democracy' or not. We accept it all without question, we are completely docile about this social stratification. This is the corporatized political system, where companies are seen as more important than people. *(Massive inequality in the world - Wall Street Winners get Billion-Dollar Paydays, The New York Times, April 16, 2008; The narcissistic super-rich of the new Gilded Age - Age of Riches: Challenges of $600-a-Session patients, NYT, July 7, 2008; Society split in two - Fair Game: Borrowers and Bankers: A Great Divide, NYT, July 20, 2008; Barack Obama and the 1% and 99% - Negotiating the Contrasts of Poverty And Wealth, NYT, July 12, 2008)

So, the real issue, as stated above, is the self. The intellect cannot solve all the problems created by the self, because the self has caused all the problems. That is why a koan is something one can put to oneself, as a fundamental question, in order to still the self-absorbed thought-process, enabling direct perception. Only then, beyond the self, can the problem be seen holistically and thus addressed completely. This is the lesson of history: the ego has perverted the energy behind all thought, thus by extension everything in society.
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Beyond the commentary above, no judgment whatsoever is made on the validity, significance and/or value, or otherwise, of the experience outlined. What is described is accepted entirely at face value. That said, it is recounting an experience from the past that is no longer valid.

As for the declaration that this particular man's talks are what he states as 'the continuation of the teaching,' it is clear that there are obvious similarities in the talks given by both men (this is also true of some of the "teachings" of Osho). Moreover, Tolle appears to have simplified - or 'stepped-down' - the subtleties of what Krishnamurti spoke about over 60 years, in order to reach a greater listening or viewing public. This is backed up by the clear disparity in the numbers viewing the respective YouTube videos of both men.

It is also revealing to note there is no questioning or investigation whatsoever in his books (notably, he doesn't deal in any substantive way with self-knowledge). They contain a series of flat statements as a response to questions, not spirited inquiry. There is thus no ongoing dialogue in these carefully edited books - things are presented as a fait accompli, take it or leave it. This applies also to his website, wherein he states he will read but not respond to questions put to him by any visitors to the site (he only answers a select few in his highly self-promoting email newsletters). Hence, there is in his so-called 'teaching' a distinct lack of accessibility for the many statements he has made.

As for enlightenment, someone who frequently recounts a past experience (such as Tolle's at top), no matter how profound or spiritual it may have been, has come to only partial insight, has he not? A person who has had a complete insight into the human condition would never relate a past experience, as that is dead and buried, and no longer truth, which must of course be only in the present. This recall also appears to be self-contradictory, for he repeatedly denies the value of living or dwelling in the past, such as in the very book title: "the power of now."
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The primary purpose in reproducing the above Tolle excerpts, then, is to demonstrate the value of what is known in Zen as a koan. The talks do also address what effectively is a koan, though this term is never used. The phrase used instead is: "the impossible question". That is, a question that stands by itself, that does not have an intellectual or logical answer. It is a question that is in fact beyond the capacity of the intellect to answer. Therefore a new state of mind is required to hold that question, without seeking any answer to it. Seeking answers is the reaction of the self-centered mind, looking for some reward. The impossible question is put to bring about a state or quality of mind that has no observer - a mind free from the relentless abstraction of thought, of the burden of words:

                                                                                "The state of mind that questions is more important than the question itself.
                                                                   If it is a right question, it will have no answer, because the question itself will open the door"
                                                                     (Jayakar Biography: Chapter 20, "Through Negation there is Creation" - page 232)
                                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                           “The impossible question is this: can the mind empty itself of the known? - itself, not you empty the mind. That is an impossible
                                                     question. If you put it with tremendous earnestness, with seriousness, with passion, you’ll find out.”
                                                                              (The Impossible Question: page 157; single word emphasis in the original)
                                                                                                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Put again, in different phrasing: "Our only concern is with the question, "Can the mind free itself from its self-created bondage?" All other questions are irrelevant and prevent the mind from attending to that one question. There is no attention when there's a motive, the pressure to achieve, to realize; that is, when the mind is seeking a result, an end. The mind will discover the solution of this problem, not through arguments, opinions, convictions or beliefs, but through the very intensity of the question itself."
                                                            (From: Kinfonet Announcement: 2008 Memorial Day Dialogues email, March 3, 2008, unsourced)
                                                                                                                          (A State of Mind)

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