K said that there is no security in the world and yet he said that the brain has to be secure in order to function.
So what is going on…?
I think that when the Brain is challenged and is disturbed it functions the best. That is my personal experience.
Responds intelligently not in time , for example when a catastrophe happens the brain goes into sleep or denial mood.
So the brain only malfunctions when time interferes with the problem or challenge…
Time is the enemy of the Brain.
We act from fear (aka desire, all important center) - thus in a very limited (broken?) fashion.
How does acting from fear limit my actions?
Also, fear of what?
Fear of bad stuff.
The same way a carpenters actions are limited if their only tool is a hammer - everything looks like a nail.
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Fysically our brain is secure. Through evolution it is protected by the skull.
The question is : what about psychological security? Does it actually exist or is it merely an invention of thought? And how will we find out for ourselves?
Seems to me very important to find it out, because this so-called security might as well an illusion. And do we want to live in an illusionary world?
Most of us do, but what about you and me?
The theory that we’re considering here is that the brain has been conditioned to believe in and to maintain a ‘center’ that is false, illusory or as JK called it, “a trick of thought”, the “me and mine”. And that there can be no total ‘security’ for a brain so conditioned.
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The only example I know of K saying that “the brain must have complete security” is a video of K talking to a small group of young men at Malibu. Peter Fonda was present at this talk, but what struck me is that no one asked K what he meant by this after years of saying that there is no security, so to this day, I don’t know how it is that the brain can have complete security.
When I posed this question in this forum the usual experts confidently recited their beliefs about what K meant, but no one took it seriously. So I pose the question again: what did Krishnamurti mean when he said that the brain must have complete security?
Who can answer what he meant? Looking into it for myself, it ‘means’ that psychologically when the brain believes, gets attached to, (has a center)…when it is anything but silent, empty etc, that , (the past) which it has become attached to can be lost and will certainly be lost at death. So while there is comfort in attachment, the ‘insecurity’ of losing it is always possible and this anxiety is always present in the attached, conditioned brain. For it to realize its potential (infinite?) it must have the ‘complete security’ of silence and emptiness.
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Yes the brain is inside a scull but the skull can easily be broken by a simple fall on the pavement. You may get run over by a car or get shut by a terrorist on the street. Or you may get caught in a rapid fire and so on.
There is no security for the brain or for any matter.
From an interview by Robert Lavine, Malibu, 24 February 1975
“Without security, the brain cannot function properly. So where are you to find real, deep, abiding security? Not in thought or books or the things thought has created. Not in the things thought has created as religion, which is a neurotic attitude. Where is the brain to find this security? When one observes that thought cannot give security, when you have an insight into this reality, that very insight is security.”
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How can we tell? Maybe our knowledge and disdain can get in the way? Maybe we cannot see past it?
What about my simple paraphrasing of the expression early on in this thread? (post 4)
K doesn’t see any security in wealth or knowledge. We think there is security economicaly but everything is relative.
A child feels secure when good food ,cloth and shelter is provided by the parents or the government. In the same way the brain feels secure if guaranteed these essentials , not only for one brain but all brains.
Your first post in this thread was post 5 where you said, “We act from fear (aka desire, all important center) - thus in a very limited (broken?) fashion.”
How is it relevant to the question?
@70707 and the rest
Where to start with this problem of security of the brain?
So … i stated that the fysical brain is protected by the skull. This protection gives the body security to act in ordinary life. Without this deep-grounded sense of security one is not able to act properly. And ofcourse … the extra-ordinary does happen, as you mentioned. But should the body worry about whatever and whenever sthg might happen at all ?
This might well come into being when thought takes over. Is this what is happpening? Let’s talk about it, if you please …
The brain is as good a starting point as any. Can we say that the brain is the avatar of fear? It is fear manifested in neuronal pathways?
The brain’s function is to be afraid, in search of security, to act from fear. For survival purposes.
Fear is another possible starting point. Fear is the invention of the brain. It is thanks to the brain that I experience fear - that I worry of the dangers that I must avoid.
With all this in mind - what does security of the brain, in its present state, even mean?
The brain must first have an accurate model of itself in action, to protect itself from itself - it must be a metamind.
Krishnamurti said, "Where is the brain to find this security? When one observes that thought cannot give security, when you have an insight into this reality, that very insight is security.”
In other words, security is beyond thought, so when the brain is beyond thought, unlimited, it is secure.
Can we go slowly on this? The statement is that there is no inward security, meaning that psychologically we don’t know what security is and we might as well never know.
But isn’t it amazing that here is a tendency (even a slight one) to find out, not only for yourself but together in this forum.
We have read a lot of books, seen a lot of video’s, talked about it a lot with other people. But … the question remains open : what about this security? Fysically the brain feels secure, well protected.
Can we start from there, so that we don’t have to worry about this? Never again ?It seems fundamental to be sure of this before going any further in our inquiry.
Some of you doubt this statement but if you go into it it seems to be so obvious, even simple. That is what evolution has done to us. At least sthg we can trust upon.
Sometimes it is good to let go with your doubt or scepticism and this might be the time.
So that we can go further in our inquiry with the question which comes forth : why do we want psychologically to be secure? Why?