I went to Brockwood Park, Bramdean, Hampshire where Krishnamurti used to speak to audiences in the early 1970's
I do not remember much about the content of the talks but some time later I bought some of his published books. I may have read one or two of the 8 I have but they did not have a lasting impact. I have however now read Awakening of Intelligence right through and I now know, that, where perhaps I wasn't ready previously, I am now in the right frame of mind to see for myself what he means. In short I get it, so now I live differently.
Take a look if you want to and see what impact it has for you.
The following is taken from the home page of the The Krishnamurti Foundation http://www.kfoundation.org/.
Krishnamurti was born in India in 1895 and died in the United States in 1986.
He spoke throughout his life in many parts of the world to large audiences as well as with numerous individuals, including writers, scientists, philosophers and educators. Asked to describe what lay at the heart of his teaching, he said,
"Truth is a pathless land. Man cannot come to it through any organisation, through any creed, through any dogma, priest or ritual, nor through any philosophic knowledge or psychological technique. He has to find it through the mirror of relationship, through the understanding of the contents of his own mind, through observation and not through intellectual analysis or introspective dissection..."
Krishnamurti was concerned with all humanity and stated repeatedly that he held no nationality or belief and belonged to no particular group or culture. In the latter part of his life, he travelled mainly between the schools he had founded in India, Britain and the United States, schools that educate for the total understanding of man and the art of living. He stressed that only this profound understanding can create a new generation that will live in peace.
If you want to see many of the texts of Krishnamurti on line you can find them here: http://www.jkrishnamurti.org/
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012
How Do You See The World, Your World?
Is it someone else who is making the world a bad place? Who is this someone else? Is the world such a bad place and what, if anything, can you do about it?
Do you think our leaders are a different breed not made of the same stuff as you or I, or are they the essentially same with just extra opportunities that helped them get to where they are today? Do you think your goals are different to theirs or are they very similar only you cannot effect such widespread change as they can?
We are driven by many desires and I ask how many of them you are truly aware of. Perhaps you are running on autopilot with automated responses to situations where you call upon your past experience rather than deal dynamically with a situation in the present. Dealing with what is, in the now, requires attention and awareness not relying on past responses that may not be relevant in the current situation.
Have you seen if you understand how you are responding, see how you are use the past in the present just because it may be easier to do that.
Is your response to something following an old pattern or are you coming to it afresh every time? It is easier to have your ready made response but is it the best way to deal with a situation. Do you find yourself being backed into your corner by nobody else other than yourself? If so stop, see, understand and be aware of how you are responding.
Sometimes we 'read' the response we think other people require from us. You may think this helps to keep the peace and build friendships but is it really what you want to say and what is your motive for placating a comment or a behaviour that you may deeply disagree with? It will neither keep the peace or build friendship as you will have a growing resentment to someone you do not tell the truth to and once that process has begun it is difficult to start again, only this time honestly.
The way you see the world, your world, is crucial to how you behave in it. If you see a corrupt human race scheming in the world and the only way to function in it is to be corrupt yourself then you will not want to go any further with what I am saying. See the world as corrupt and you really want to do something about it then you may want to read on. Don't be fooled by thinking it is easy to make change. The type of change required is fundamental and you have to do it for yourself as no other authority can speak for you.
Can you truly change yourself to living in the 'now', reacting to life afresh and not just regurgitating past experiences? I am talking about our relationship with each other and the world; I am not talking about how we have to understand some types of knowledge in the work place. This is about our relationship on the personal level: our true interaction with nature, other sentinel beings and with each other. Are we part of the solution or part of the problem? You have a choice. Which is it to be?
Be aggressive to the aggressors so nothing changes or change yourself and start the process of being truly free at last.
You can view this article on the following link where it was first published: http://EzineArticles.com/6876899
Do you think our leaders are a different breed not made of the same stuff as you or I, or are they the essentially same with just extra opportunities that helped them get to where they are today? Do you think your goals are different to theirs or are they very similar only you cannot effect such widespread change as they can?
We are driven by many desires and I ask how many of them you are truly aware of. Perhaps you are running on autopilot with automated responses to situations where you call upon your past experience rather than deal dynamically with a situation in the present. Dealing with what is, in the now, requires attention and awareness not relying on past responses that may not be relevant in the current situation.
Have you seen if you understand how you are responding, see how you are use the past in the present just because it may be easier to do that.
Is your response to something following an old pattern or are you coming to it afresh every time? It is easier to have your ready made response but is it the best way to deal with a situation. Do you find yourself being backed into your corner by nobody else other than yourself? If so stop, see, understand and be aware of how you are responding.
Sometimes we 'read' the response we think other people require from us. You may think this helps to keep the peace and build friendships but is it really what you want to say and what is your motive for placating a comment or a behaviour that you may deeply disagree with? It will neither keep the peace or build friendship as you will have a growing resentment to someone you do not tell the truth to and once that process has begun it is difficult to start again, only this time honestly.
The way you see the world, your world, is crucial to how you behave in it. If you see a corrupt human race scheming in the world and the only way to function in it is to be corrupt yourself then you will not want to go any further with what I am saying. See the world as corrupt and you really want to do something about it then you may want to read on. Don't be fooled by thinking it is easy to make change. The type of change required is fundamental and you have to do it for yourself as no other authority can speak for you.
Can you truly change yourself to living in the 'now', reacting to life afresh and not just regurgitating past experiences? I am talking about our relationship with each other and the world; I am not talking about how we have to understand some types of knowledge in the work place. This is about our relationship on the personal level: our true interaction with nature, other sentinel beings and with each other. Are we part of the solution or part of the problem? You have a choice. Which is it to be?
Be aggressive to the aggressors so nothing changes or change yourself and start the process of being truly free at last.
You can view this article on the following link where it was first published: http://EzineArticles.com/6876899
Sunday, December 11, 2011
A short Introduction To Starting Personal Development
There seems to me to be a growing consciousness that our current leaders, local and government institutions and corporate organisations are failing to address the human needs of this time. We are unhappy that we have a continuing recession and we are unable to bring those who we largely see as the perpetrators of this situation to account.
Our indignation is fuelled almost daily as news items are revealed as to the depth of the financial crisis we are unwittingly part of.
Perhaps this is not the whole story. Elected members of our governments and investment bankers are all people after all and they are essentially the same as us with their fears and aspirations. So what is going on?
I think we may all be guilty to some degree as we largely bought into the boom periods in the Western World and liked the idea of getting rich without too much effort or responsibility. We borrowed beyond our short term means to pay back our personal and mortgage loans we took out to make our lives more comfortable. We thought that the rising value of our property would go on so we would be able to borrow more money against the property so we could afford our luxury items. We were greedy just as the bankers were who we now vilify. Yes governments could be firmer with financial controls but they are weekend by threats the financiers make about taking their money elsewhere. We too tell the government that we do not want to pay for services we see as a luxury so the government cuts spending as there is less income coming in as the economy slows.
We have got ourselves into a right mess and we don't know how to get out of it. We want more money and to pay less for goods. I don't think we can have it both ways. We want bankers to pay for their recklessness but it would be with our own money in a complicated sort of way. Governments do not seem able to stand up to bankers and seem incapable of telling us the truth of their ineffectiveness. We seem to be unable to hold either of them to account and to look at what we can do.
We need a different paradigm. Perhaps growth is not our God as we are led to believe. We can have good lives in the developed parts of the world if we have less. It's just the way we currently do things which makes us think we need to have lots of goods to survive. Perhaps it is time to step back and see what is really important in life. After all I am not suggesting we eradicate all technological advances. It may be that something simple like having one family car instead of two is a start. Perhaps selling your investment property in negative equity would save you some stress and give you some time back. Perhaps having more time for your children rather than fretting about moving to where the so called best school is. It has all got more and more frenetic to the point of seeming to be verging on pointless. Why are we here? It cannot be for all what we are constantly told surely?
We can re-educate ourselves and find personal solutions, not just by following the crowd and society's dash to external status and wealth. Fear of poverty and worthlessness may be your reason to continually strive in all of this but isn't there a place for internal happiness and love that doesn't require this constant battle to acquire? Of course you need an income and yes everybody knows you care that your family does well. There are however other ways you may be able to measure your growth rather than the financial rate race most of us seem to be in.
So how do you go about this process? The first thing is to just stop. Give yourself some time to see the bigger picture. Stop thinking you have no choice. Start thinking you may have other reasons for being alive. The more you make space for personal thinking in your life the more you may find there is another level of meaning waiting to inspire you with new options.
Our indignation is fuelled almost daily as news items are revealed as to the depth of the financial crisis we are unwittingly part of.
Perhaps this is not the whole story. Elected members of our governments and investment bankers are all people after all and they are essentially the same as us with their fears and aspirations. So what is going on?
I think we may all be guilty to some degree as we largely bought into the boom periods in the Western World and liked the idea of getting rich without too much effort or responsibility. We borrowed beyond our short term means to pay back our personal and mortgage loans we took out to make our lives more comfortable. We thought that the rising value of our property would go on so we would be able to borrow more money against the property so we could afford our luxury items. We were greedy just as the bankers were who we now vilify. Yes governments could be firmer with financial controls but they are weekend by threats the financiers make about taking their money elsewhere. We too tell the government that we do not want to pay for services we see as a luxury so the government cuts spending as there is less income coming in as the economy slows.
We have got ourselves into a right mess and we don't know how to get out of it. We want more money and to pay less for goods. I don't think we can have it both ways. We want bankers to pay for their recklessness but it would be with our own money in a complicated sort of way. Governments do not seem able to stand up to bankers and seem incapable of telling us the truth of their ineffectiveness. We seem to be unable to hold either of them to account and to look at what we can do.
We need a different paradigm. Perhaps growth is not our God as we are led to believe. We can have good lives in the developed parts of the world if we have less. It's just the way we currently do things which makes us think we need to have lots of goods to survive. Perhaps it is time to step back and see what is really important in life. After all I am not suggesting we eradicate all technological advances. It may be that something simple like having one family car instead of two is a start. Perhaps selling your investment property in negative equity would save you some stress and give you some time back. Perhaps having more time for your children rather than fretting about moving to where the so called best school is. It has all got more and more frenetic to the point of seeming to be verging on pointless. Why are we here? It cannot be for all what we are constantly told surely?
We can re-educate ourselves and find personal solutions, not just by following the crowd and society's dash to external status and wealth. Fear of poverty and worthlessness may be your reason to continually strive in all of this but isn't there a place for internal happiness and love that doesn't require this constant battle to acquire? Of course you need an income and yes everybody knows you care that your family does well. There are however other ways you may be able to measure your growth rather than the financial rate race most of us seem to be in.
So how do you go about this process? The first thing is to just stop. Give yourself some time to see the bigger picture. Stop thinking you have no choice. Start thinking you may have other reasons for being alive. The more you make space for personal thinking in your life the more you may find there is another level of meaning waiting to inspire you with new options.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
I believe Spiritual guidance comes from within you.
Before you can love someone it will be necessary that you love yourself first.
Before you can respect someone it will be necessary that you respect yourself first.
Do you wait to be led or are you willing to lead knowing what you are going to do is absolutely right for you and that you are congruent and passionate about it? If so it does not matter what others may say about your actions.
Be self-reliant as a sign of your own affection for yourself. Other people have their own lives to live. They do not want to be coerced into affirming their love and need for you.
You are part of the universe. We really are all made of stars!
Before you can love someone it will be necessary that you love yourself first.
Before you can respect someone it will be necessary that you respect yourself first.
Do you wait to be led or are you willing to lead knowing what you are going to do is absolutely right for you and that you are congruent and passionate about it? If so it does not matter what others may say about your actions.
Be self-reliant as a sign of your own affection for yourself. Other people have their own lives to live. They do not want to be coerced into affirming their love and need for you.
You are part of the universe. We really are all made of stars!
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Life and Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs has died at the ridiculously young age, by today's standards, of 56. He had told people he had pancreatic cancer in 2004. I expect all of us know he was the joint founder of an American company called Apple. Apple's market value is estimated at £227bn. Steve Jobs personal wealth was estimated at £5.4bn in 2010.
These are enormous numbers yet he is dead. No amount of financial wealth made it possible for him to survive the cancer. I am not certain I know what death means and I do not know what it meant for him, or for any of us, but it is obvious that, whatever it is and however it happens, it is unavoidable.
I have felt a sense that if you do something more right, use your life more meaningfully, it will not happen to you. You can avoid death somehow, or at least it is still a long way off and does not have to be dealt with right now. By ignoring the fact of our own death we can continue scurrying around keeping busy with only minimal reflection on what it all means.
Steve Job's death has focused me in on the random nature of our own survival in this life. I cannot say what happens next, following what I expect to be the cessation of my own consciousness but I can be in awe and appreciation for the engagement I have with life even though what I have now is beyond my full understanding.
I feel a sadness at his death and technologically speaking he has made a difference but it has also given me a freshness to see that we can lose life long before our expected time. I am therefore grateful that I am alive and happy to be here. It is not the difficulties I am focused on at the present time but the celebration that I can function healthily and can still have the energy to think of new ways of being of service to the world I find myself in.
I believe he was a Buddhist. I hope his faith and what it meant was good for him.
He once said "Great things in business are not done by one person, they are done by a team of people." Perhaps I would like to expand that to 'Great things are not done by one person but by all of us working together'.
These are enormous numbers yet he is dead. No amount of financial wealth made it possible for him to survive the cancer. I am not certain I know what death means and I do not know what it meant for him, or for any of us, but it is obvious that, whatever it is and however it happens, it is unavoidable.
I have felt a sense that if you do something more right, use your life more meaningfully, it will not happen to you. You can avoid death somehow, or at least it is still a long way off and does not have to be dealt with right now. By ignoring the fact of our own death we can continue scurrying around keeping busy with only minimal reflection on what it all means.
Steve Job's death has focused me in on the random nature of our own survival in this life. I cannot say what happens next, following what I expect to be the cessation of my own consciousness but I can be in awe and appreciation for the engagement I have with life even though what I have now is beyond my full understanding.
I feel a sadness at his death and technologically speaking he has made a difference but it has also given me a freshness to see that we can lose life long before our expected time. I am therefore grateful that I am alive and happy to be here. It is not the difficulties I am focused on at the present time but the celebration that I can function healthily and can still have the energy to think of new ways of being of service to the world I find myself in.
I believe he was a Buddhist. I hope his faith and what it meant was good for him.
He once said "Great things in business are not done by one person, they are done by a team of people." Perhaps I would like to expand that to 'Great things are not done by one person but by all of us working together'.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Thoughts for everyday
This morning I was reading a small book with poignant sayings in it that I find inspiring. I wondered if I could add some of my own. To my amazement I had written 29 of my own within an hour. I will share them with you now. Actually it ended up as 35. I hope you find them useful. Perhaps you can think some of your own.
I present them to you now in the same order I thought of them:
- Start today.
- Start defining the you you want to be.
- Behave as if you already have what you want.
- Guilt puts nothing right.
- Allow progress to proceed.
- Stubbornness comes from you, release it.
- The right behaviour works for you AND others.
- Always be kind to yourself.
- Quietly know that you are valid and deserve good things in life.
- When the sun shines look to it and feel its wonderful warmth on your skin and spirit.
- You can be many things and still be whole.
- Thoughts, emotions and spirit can guide you wisely. Your physical body will carry you forward.
- It sometimes helps me to be of fewer words as sometimes others listen to less.
- Less is more meaningful when it comes to internal chatter, social competitiveness, resentment and negativity.
- What's so beautiful to you that makes you cry with pleasure? For me it is music.
- When you feel something know where it comes from before you give it a voice.
- If there is something you do or feel that you think is wrong still know you are as good as the best role model you have? It's just you do not know, or need to know, what it is they do not like about themselves.
- What you resist persists; let it go like water in a stream.
- You can be 'on message' with yourself. If you lack motivation you are possibly trying to carry out an 'ought' or a 'should'.
- Ask yourself what do you really want to do? Not why you can't really do something.
- Learn from compromise as it is a kindness.
- You can do different things on different days. You don't have to be consistent.
- Practice what you want to be good at and grateful for what you already are.
- You have the same amount of resources that the people you look up to have.
- Use what you have to be you and rejoice in your uniqueness.
- Be loveable and you will be loved.
- Only what you believe in is possible.
- Forgiveness releases resentment and empowers you to start again.
- If you want progress for yourself release your resentments and know that anything human is possible for you.
- You have a choice in every moment. You can use it wisely or think you have no choice.
- Allow yourself as many options as you can. They can all be good.
- There is no right or wrong solution. All answers to problems can be positive.
- Think about the abundance you have as being grateful helps it to grow.
- Everything you imagine in you mind is possible except perhaps really being able to fly horizontal over long distances unaided.
- Happiness is only truly experienced when it is shared.
I present them to you now in the same order I thought of them:
- Start today.
- Start defining the you you want to be.
- Behave as if you already have what you want.
- Guilt puts nothing right.
- Allow progress to proceed.
- Stubbornness comes from you, release it.
- The right behaviour works for you AND others.
- Always be kind to yourself.
- Quietly know that you are valid and deserve good things in life.
- When the sun shines look to it and feel its wonderful warmth on your skin and spirit.
- You can be many things and still be whole.
- Thoughts, emotions and spirit can guide you wisely. Your physical body will carry you forward.
- It sometimes helps me to be of fewer words as sometimes others listen to less.
- Less is more meaningful when it comes to internal chatter, social competitiveness, resentment and negativity.
- What's so beautiful to you that makes you cry with pleasure? For me it is music.
- When you feel something know where it comes from before you give it a voice.
- If there is something you do or feel that you think is wrong still know you are as good as the best role model you have? It's just you do not know, or need to know, what it is they do not like about themselves.
- What you resist persists; let it go like water in a stream.
- You can be 'on message' with yourself. If you lack motivation you are possibly trying to carry out an 'ought' or a 'should'.
- Ask yourself what do you really want to do? Not why you can't really do something.
- Learn from compromise as it is a kindness.
- You can do different things on different days. You don't have to be consistent.
- Practice what you want to be good at and grateful for what you already are.
- You have the same amount of resources that the people you look up to have.
- Use what you have to be you and rejoice in your uniqueness.
- Be loveable and you will be loved.
- Only what you believe in is possible.
- Forgiveness releases resentment and empowers you to start again.
- If you want progress for yourself release your resentments and know that anything human is possible for you.
- You have a choice in every moment. You can use it wisely or think you have no choice.
- Allow yourself as many options as you can. They can all be good.
- There is no right or wrong solution. All answers to problems can be positive.
- Think about the abundance you have as being grateful helps it to grow.
- Everything you imagine in you mind is possible except perhaps really being able to fly horizontal over long distances unaided.
- Happiness is only truly experienced when it is shared.
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