watching oneself choicelessly, watching all what happens
Cutting from : J. Krishnamurti Talks in Europe 1967 1st Public Talk London
16th September 1967
I do not know if you have ever looked at anything - looked at a
cloud or a tree, looked at a flower or looked at your neighbour, or
at yourself - looked, watched. I think that watching, looking, is
immensely important. We look through the image which we have about
the thing which we are watching. You look at me and you have an
image about me and according to that image you are looking. Is it
possible to look without the image? - to watch, to look, without any
evaluation, but merely to observe what actually is? Because we are a
mass of contradictions, we are conditioned in various ways, by the
climate, the food, the literature, the pressures of society, the
propaganda and so on. There is the propaganda of the church as well
as the propaganda in the newspapers, of politics or sports, or
whatever it is. We are conditioned. And with that conditioning we
look at ourselves - that is, if we
want to look at ourselves! And so we never observe `what is', we
are looking at the projection which we have formed about ourselves.
So if one is serious, the first thing to discover for oneself is how
one observes anything; how one observes the neighbour, the cloud, and
oneself. Can I look at myself actually as I am, psychologically?
That watching in itself is an extraordinary discipline, isn't it? To
look in itself is a discipline, isn't it? But we have disciplined
ourselves to look - which is an entirely different thing. We have
spent our energy in disciplining ourselves - to be, to look, to
listen, to strive, to adjust and so on and so on. So the discipline
has conditioned us; whereas the very act of listening, looking, at
anything, demands in itself a form of discipline.
I want to listen to you, to what you're saying: to listen I must
give complete attention. If my mind wanders off I'm not listening.
But to stop this wandering is a form of discipline which is a waste
of energy. Whereas what is important is the watching: watching not
only myself, but the wandering away from what I'm watching. What I
am concerned with is watching, not that which I am watching. I want
to watch myself but, as I am watching, my thoughts go off, wander
off, so I try to bring those thoughts back to the point which I am
watching, and so there is a conflict. Whereas if my concern is
watching, I watch `what is' and I am also watching when the mind
wanders off, so there is no contradiction. My concern is watching
all the time. And that watching in itself creates its own
discipline; hence that very enquiry into oneself is its own
discipline. And one needs such discipline to go into oneself
totally.
16th September 1967
I do not know if you have ever looked at anything - looked at a
cloud or a tree, looked at a flower or looked at your neighbour, or
at yourself - looked, watched. I think that watching, looking, is
immensely important. We look through the image which we have about
the thing which we are watching. You look at me and you have an
image about me and according to that image you are looking. Is it
possible to look without the image? - to watch, to look, without any
evaluation, but merely to observe what actually is? Because we are a
mass of contradictions, we are conditioned in various ways, by the
climate, the food, the literature, the pressures of society, the
propaganda and so on. There is the propaganda of the church as well
as the propaganda in the newspapers, of politics or sports, or
whatever it is. We are conditioned. And with that conditioning we
look at ourselves - that is, if we
want to look at ourselves! And so we never observe `what is', we
are looking at the projection which we have formed about ourselves.
So if one is serious, the first thing to discover for oneself is how
one observes anything; how one observes the neighbour, the cloud, and
oneself. Can I look at myself actually as I am, psychologically?
That watching in itself is an extraordinary discipline, isn't it? To
look in itself is a discipline, isn't it? But we have disciplined
ourselves to look - which is an entirely different thing. We have
spent our energy in disciplining ourselves - to be, to look, to
listen, to strive, to adjust and so on and so on. So the discipline
has conditioned us; whereas the very act of listening, looking, at
anything, demands in itself a form of discipline.
I want to listen to you, to what you're saying: to listen I must
give complete attention. If my mind wanders off I'm not listening.
But to stop this wandering is a form of discipline which is a waste
of energy. Whereas what is important is the watching: watching not
only myself, but the wandering away from what I'm watching. What I
am concerned with is watching, not that which I am watching. I want
to watch myself but, as I am watching, my thoughts go off, wander
off, so I try to bring those thoughts back to the point which I am
watching, and so there is a conflict. Whereas if my concern is
watching, I watch `what is' and I am also watching when the mind
wanders off, so there is no contradiction. My concern is watching
all the time. And that watching in itself creates its own
discipline; hence that very enquiry into oneself is its own
discipline. And one needs such discipline to go into oneself
totally.