Observing ourselves without judgement.
This ends division.
Observer is the Observed as there is no judgement, no choice while looking at oneself.
This also solves the issue of absorption as absorption is movement of thought towards outer, mental choice directed outward as escape, like mental choice while browsing phone.
Mental choice directed outwards can be absorption as escape if there is no temporary feeling of conflict. Outer has completely absorbed the mind like a toy. Getting mentally lost in phone or a movie or gossip or TV serial or politics. Self identifying itself with something outwardly. Religions offer such escape, politics offer such escape, entertainment offers such escape.
Mind has avoided inner by moving outer.
When outer cannot absorb, we are aware of conflict.
So how does the mind move from outer absorption, mental conflict to looking at oneself without conflict?
It hears a statement like look at yourself without judgement.
That statement changes the direction of the mind.
What is absorption? It seems absorption is based on words. Mind can get absorbed in itâs own words which are itâs thoughts or outer words. Words can take many forms, entertainment, political speeches, opinions, religious words, internet. It being based on language and words.
If words outside absorb us like in a movie, then we forget other words, other thoughts in our mind at least for that moment. The absorption is however unawareness. If we go for a walk in nature, nature is not based on words, so it doesnât absorb us and mind feels vast space and a lightness, feeling of not being burdened. There is awareness. If we watch TV same thing does not happen as that is unawareness, absorption. So that is outer absorption.
What about inner absorption or unawareness. Inner unawareness also having same cause as outer which is thought.
Through direct experience we can see outer absorption has no value. When mind is not absorbed it is active, living, sensing, free, aware. Mind might have developed outer absorption as an escape from conflict.
What is the root of conflict?
Conflict is same as division.
What is root of mental division, mental conflict?
It is again unawareness or absorption or escape or division of thought, which is mental choice or becoming.
So how does the mind caught in unawareness, in division, escape, choice, becoming, how does such a mind then see.
Someone says look at yourself without judgement.
Looking at oneself is without division. Who is looking at whom. Both are same. There is no choice in it, no judgement in it, no division in it. So in looking at oneself mind is aware, choice or judgement of thought is not there. It is like thought looking at itself so there is no division, choice of thought. Chain of cause and effect has broken. There is no further reaction to what is seen which is itself. There is no escape, no choice, no absorption whether inner absorption as choice or outer absorption, both inner and outer absorption being same, being choice, being thought. So mind is then aware. If it is aware of itself without judgement, there is no further movement of unawareness, no cause and effect of thought. Is that the shift of the mind from absorption, unawareness to awareness, freedom
Yes the mind sees that seeing without judgement, what K calls the âhighest form of intelligenceâ, has no prerequisites, has no direction, has no preparation, has no motive, that it can only take place in the moment and completely embraces âwhat isâ.
The âlowestâ form of intelligence then is to look at oneself with condemnation, with approval, with judgement of any kindâŚwith desire to change âwhat isâ. The lowest form of intelligence is to look at oneself with the belief that what is in this moment âcould beâ different than what is in this moment.
Very nice piece, thanks for sharing Adeen.
When there is no separation, what is absorbed? The self is a feeling that is not always being produced, sometimes the process of discrimination is silent.
Sometimes conflict is absent from consciousness, the space is filled with an experience free from grasping or resistence - I am absent. There is just the unfolding of action : skiing down a steep slope, listening to Barbara Streisand, running from a mad bull. Why would we need awareness in these moments? They are already free from judgement.
Isnât awareness mainly an answer to what we call the suffering self? Awareness just means waking up to my discrimination - when what I want, or what I fear fills the whole space of consciousness, when desire is driving my whole experience? Awareness allows us to be absorbed/dissapear into this moment - whether its in a cinema, with a stranger, a friend or alone in nature - no discrimination, no painful self-consciousness, no âshould beâ.
If âthe highest form of human intelligence is to observe yourself without judgementâ, the lowest form of human intelligence is to observe yourself through the lens of your beliefs about humanity and intelligence.
In other words, intelligence is seeing, hearing, feeling what actually is, and we think intelligence is what we think.
I donât know - do you?
All I can do is ponder the question and ask why, if I am âcaught in unawareness, in division, escape, choice, becomingâ, I am not aware of being caught in these traps. Should I believe I am caught in these traps because I know something is deeply wrong with us humans, or should I get to the truth about what I am, what I am âcaughtâ in, if anything?
Krishnamurti tells me I am caught in these traps, and I donât doubt it, but these traps arenât as obvious to me as the trap of belief. And it only takes one trap to be trapped.
In the trap of Belief/Disbelief, intelligence is just either/or, a matter of choice. And since my every move is a choice, I can never stop thinking, which means I am caught in a constant stream of consciousness.
But is there an âIâ caught in the stream of consciousness, or is âIâ the stream itself? Is anyone really caught, or is there a catch, something Iâm missing, something Iâm unaware of?
Awareness is natural to us as sensations are natural, perception, listening is natural.
Then why is there unawareness in daily life?
Is it because thought has escaped into absorptions.
We could identify many absorptions externally. There are some which are chemical like alcohol which we can easily dismiss as having no value. Then there are those of thought.
Thought has become itself is an escape, an absorption, an unawareness. How to not escape? Krishnamurti points to something which is natural, available when escape is not there. So how does the mind stop escaping? K says look at yourself without judgement.
The judgement is itself escape. The judgement itself is me, self, unawareness, it is escape of thought. Thought has been escaping all the time and now there is looking at oneself. The looking at oneself negates escape, negates further thought. Oneself itself is a movement. There is looking at itself. It includes all movement, so there is no movement separate from it. Earlier there was a movement separate from it as escape, as thought, self. Now there is just looking at any movement, all movement, so division has ended, separativeness has ended as it includes all movement of mind. Who is looking at whom? Thought is looking at itself in awareness. Thought by escaping has separated itself and has become unawareness.
Tradition has also perhaps been an escape, a becoming. Thought as escape, as idea in which it is absorbed. Tradition does not talk (perhaps) about thought looking at itself but still talks in terms of separation, thought and silence, thought and awareness. It still talks in terms of separation so tradition is still escape of thought away from itself.
Now someone says look at yourself without judgement. Judgement is form of escape, form of unawareness, non-looking. With it, division or action of separation has been taken out. Thought looking at itself is part of awareness, awareness is whole undivided. Is there then a shift from escape, unawareness to awareness, non-division. It is natural to us but perhaps at some point awareness changed to escape, unawareness, absorption. May be it came from outside, from society, parents who are themselves conditioned. K did not get absorbed into Theosophy, but we were absorbed into conditioning as thought in us escaped from itself. Now unconditioned K says look at yourself, the escape is illusion, judgement is illusion. Do we then look at ourselves without judgement after hearing this. If we do, then direction of mind has changed.
I am struck by 2 themes in this thread :
- the idea of absorbtion and its negation : awareness.
- the invitation to turn the light of awareness on ourselves.
Absorbtion means being one with the situation. There is just the unfolding of the situation - I have been absorbed. There is no separate I, I am absent.
We might resist this idea, if we think absorbtion is bad - if we think that awareness is something that I do.
When there is only the sunset without judgement, what is wrong with absorbtion?
When we listen to another human beingâs beliefs and emotions without fear, when the other is seen, what is wrong with absorbtion?
When we are absent and allow tears, laughter or intelligence to flow freely with the situation, what need is there for awareness?
There is no problem in being one with the movement of the world.
The problem starts when we are totally absorbed by the movement of the self, the known - when we become the movement of this center, the movement of fear and judgement.
Awareness can allow us to be free of the known and the action of suffering and violence, moment to moment.
Iâm repeating myself, we can look at point number 2 later.
The way I define absorption is different. Nature cannot absorb. If you are walking in nature, it has a feeling of vast space. It is not limited. If you are absorbed by Netflix, that is different, you are then not aware of eating on time or things you have to do. If you are absorbed by a movie you might overeat on popcorn and are not sensitive to your stomach being full. So absorption is unawareness, not sensitivity or space. Absorption gives feeling of dullness. If you watch a movie, mind feels heavy and dull. If you walk in nature, mind feels light and fresh. The way I define, absorption is not awareness. Absorption is mindlessness, doing something without regard to the other, being limited and in itself selfish. Awareness is undivided, sensitivity.
One can get absorbed by a politicians speech or cheering your team in sports or in religious songs but that is not awareness. For that moment you forget some other part of yourself. It is suppression to forget something temporarily.
Two questions that might open up the idea of absorbtion :
What is absorbed? If we say it is the self that is absorbed, is this the same as saying nothing is absorbed?
By which I mean that the self is just a thought/feeling created by the brain.
When the brain is not projecting this feeling (the experience of being the central subject of suffering) the feeling does not exist.
The second question is what is meditation/awareness? Is it not the realisation that I, the observer, the thinker, the wanter of what should be, is not real?
When you are not aware during a wonderful Netflix movie, or at a concert, or during a walk in nature, this is quite normal : you donât exist at that moment.
Also you are never doing the âawaringâ - because feelings and thoughts are not sense organs, they are not aware/alive. You are not aware (because you are not real), but in order to let go of suffering : there must be an awareness of you.
If we are looking for entertainment, and pleasure experience, or political beliefs in order to fill up our own emptiness, then it is not the film, the food or the ideas that are being allowed to express themselves fully - I am still being me, the movement of suffering desire. It is the me that is expressing itself fully.
When I look at a sunset in the hope of oneness, we are 2, the sunset and my suffering.
This is absorbtion of the self by the self, in its resistence to what is.
Maybe by absorbtion you mean : the movement of self (the whole universe is absorbed by me and my wants)
What I mean is that thought is not limited to my brain. There are thoughts inside my brain and thoughts on TV. Brain is just an instrument that is absorbed by my own thoughts or thoughts on TV. By absorption I mean unawareness.
What is absorbed, unaware? Thought itself is unawareness.
What is awareness is a difficult question to answer. It is probably a natural function of the body as body can sense. More than that I cannot say much.
Why is there then unawareness or absorption in daily life if awareness is a natural function of body.
Perhaps awareness is like light. Krishnamurti is like a switch. We are unaware because of thought and K is like a switch. He asks nothing, does not create ideas to carry or implement in thought but just to look. In room of darkness he acts as a switch. When he says look, mind shifts from operating in thinker thought to awareness. Earlier mind gave importance to thought
Brain because it has been conditioned, allows itself to be occupied by unnecessary thoughts/thinking. Rather than remaining empty, silent , it allows itself to be âabsorbedâ into the stream of psychological thought⌠The stream of thought is the past and the brain by being caught in this stream, never ârenewsâ itself in its waking hours, only in deep sleep?
If that is true, K is saying that the highest form of intelligence is seeing without judgement that this is the situation the brain (we) are in. Any âjudgementâ at all would come from the thought stream itself. Seeing without judgement is outside of the âstreamâ.
So it would be a judgement to say that this is not the way it should be; that the brain should be free of the past etcâŚ.that would be a desire for âchangeâ, for âtimeâ to bring about the change, for a method toâŚetc, etc. what he is pointing to then is to go beyond all thatâŚisnât he? As he said in his metaphor: to step out of the stream?
Great stuff - I just feel the need to say something that is hopefully clear (but something in the thread makes me want to say it anyway)
If I do something and it feels good, this is not the end of suffering.
The problem is the word âabsorptionâ.
Krishnamurti used it once or twice to mean self-absorption, and then he quit using the word because it could be (as youâve shown) conflated with the absence of self.
Feeling good has to do with our chemistry: endorphins, dopamine, oxytocin, they make us âfeel goodâ for a while and then they wear offâŚour psychological âsufferingâ has to do with one of the systemic âflawsâ or faults in the system as Bohm put it: the separation we make between the process of thinking and the physical processes. The physical body is more or less aware of what itâs doing, how it is moving, how much force it uses etc. Not so with thought, it doesnât always see when it is being âincoherentâ even when âsufferingâ is the result of its activity, its movement.
Yes, the brain doesnât always know what thought is doing, when and how it is engendering confusion and conflict. The mechanism of thought operates continuously as the stream of consciousness. Sometimes itâs practical, and sometimes psychological, and the two types are incompatible, so there is incoherence.
When the brain cares to know what thought is doing, awareness of and attention to thoughtâs activity reveals a state of confusion and contradiction, and this self-knowledge indicates that the brain has a problem it canât solve because it canât stop thinking.
So the brain is aware that thought is not the problem, but that thoughtâs persistent, constant activity is the problem because for the brain to be as mindful of its inward activity as it is of whatâs unfolding and developing outwardly, it must be no more or less attentive to one as the other.
So what happens when the brain realizes it must be no less aware of its inward activity than it is aware of whatâs happening outwardly? I donât know, but I suspect that when thereâs equanimity, thereâs no division between thought and actuality.
I donât understand this.
It means silence is fundamental and thought is subsidiary, subordinate.
Thought breaks the silence only when necessary.
Yes, thought or thinker is basically unaware. It is like in a room of darkness. K is like a switch. He points to that. The brain which gave importance to thought and was absorbed by thought, thus being unaware, no longer gives importance to it. Brain returns to itâs natural function of awareness. Brain was going in direction of thought, now it does not give it importance. Even if thought arises, it arises in awareness as brain is not absorbed by it. Shift has taken from brain being caught in thought, absorbed by it, to not being caught by it in awareness. As awareness is natural function, it was always there but obscured by the absorption or unawareness of thought. It is like an alcoholic turning sober, a mind that is absorbed by thought, not being absorbed by it