Can people who have been involved with the teachings for a while help me out with this?
What do you think about the following post? Does it make any sense?
In the article the writer is reflecting on Krishnamurti’s teachings in the light of neuroscience, and he thinks Krishnamurti’s essential teaching has to do with insight. He then breaks down the process of insight into 5 stages that neuroscience has (apparently) discovered - using the traditional apocryphal story of Archimedes (see the above cartoon) as a reference point. These are:
- Preparation: Attempted solving of the problem as usual — using long-term memory, analytical thinking, or the trial-and-error method — the individual gathers essential information in this stage but is unable to solve the problem through his current knowledge base or skillset.
(Archimedes starts his pondering after getting asked by King Hiero II of Syracuse to determine whether his new crown is pure gold or not)- Fixation: The stage of fixation represents the individual attempting to solve the problem over and over using the strategies he already knows.
(Archimedes continues his pondering)- Impasse: Impasse is when all fails and the individual reaches a deadlock.
(Archimedes gets stumped — pondering has failed)- Incubation/Restructuring: This is speculated to be the insight’s core and has been called the enlightenment stage. All conscious effort to solve the problem is withdrawn.
(Archimedes has given up and decides to chill — brunch & a warm public bath when suddenly (?) something mysterious occurs (?) )- The ‘Aha’ moment: The moment of insight, the epiphany, the sudden perception of a solution.
The writer says that K’s teachings catapult his audience straight into the third stage of impasse - where one is confronted by the fact that no amount of thinking, thought, can solve the problem, even through subconscious, randomised or latent thinking (called ‘intent observation’ in neuroscience).
It is only when thought is completely in abeyance can insight occur, according to Krishnamurti.
The ‘nudity’ reference has to do with Archimedes famously leaping out of his bath shouting Eureka! The writer suggests that something similar might happen to Krishnamurti’s audience if they can remain with the challenge of impasse at stage 3.
1 Like
By impasse Krishnamurti means coming to a realisation that thought, thinking, no matter what it does, is still limited.
In the following 60 second clip (taken from a discussion with scientists at Brockwood Park), they have been using the image of a ‘monkey’ as a synonym for thought. And K has been saying that no matter what the monkey (thought) does, however large or small a space it lives in, it is still limited. K calls coming to this realisation an impasse:
2 Likes
Thank you for the detailed explanation James!! I get it now. Also thanks for the clip! How did you know exactly where to find it? :o
Hi Aliza - it was a coincidence really, because I have just recently been rewatching that particular series of discussions between Krishnamurti and scientists (sometimes referred to as the ‘brain seminar’, because they include experts on the brain 
), and I made the connection between the neuroscience article you shared and the particular moment where K talked about coming to an impasse in thought.
Oh! What a happy coincidence. Thanks again for sharing!
1 Like