Is there an observation without the ‘me’ as the observer?
Public Talk 1
Observing without the ‘me’
Public Talk 1 Brockwood Park
September 05, 1970
Who is the observer who decides what to do, think and become? He is one fragment amongst many. What is the action that is total? Can thought bring about total observation? Has thought created division? The moment I am aware of my conditioning there is a duality. Can I observe myself without any image? Can there be a learning without accumulation so that the mind is always fresh to learn? Thought sustains pleasure. Is pleasure an escape from fear? Would conflict disappear if one became aware?
Public Talk 2
Can one live without psychological effort?
Public Talk 2 Brockwood Park
September 06, 1970
Is there a way of living of great delight, where action is complete, without the exhausting process of pleasure? Without formulas and concepts, can the mind see the whole of existence as one unitary movement? Change is only possible if the mind can be made new. Can one let go of the past and have a mind capable of learning? What is the factor that will make the mind new? A quiet mind can observe ‘what is’ and go beyond. Can I know I have a quiet mind? Q: What does the cessation of sorrow imply? Does sorrow end only through self-understanding? When we no longer desire there is an end to sorrow.
Public Discussion 1
If one is conforming there is no freedom
Public Discussion 1 Brockwood Park
September 08, 1970
Q: What are the implications of conforming and is it possible not to conform at all? Why does the human mind conform? The whole process of education is conformity. Does conformity lead to security? Is not the observer the result of centuries of conforming? Can the observer become aware of himself as the very essence of conformity? Are you aware of division in yourself? When you look at a tree or the sky, are you looking through division? Can the mind be intensely aware and not create an image? The observer becomes aware of himself not through the fragment of any action but within himself lights the fire that dissolves the observer.
Public Discussion 2
Maturity is freedom from conditioning
Public Discussion 2 Brockwood Park
September 10, 1970
Q: What shall I do when I realize that my whole life is based on thought? Has feeling any significance apart from thought? Is love a product of thought? Can you remain with a feeling without naming it? Despair, misery, confusion, who is feeling all this? How has division come about between the observer and the observed? Can you look at a tree without the image? Can you look with eyes that have never been touched by the past? Can those eyes look innocently, with freedom? Is the thinker separate from thought?
Public Talk 3
Does a free mind choose?
Public Talk 3 Brockwood Park
September 12, 1970
Is divisive and destructive conditioning creating havoc in the world? How is deep conditioning to be revealed? How is one to go beyond all conditioning? Is the observer different from what he examines, the analyser different from what he analyses? Is there division and so conflict between knowledge and action? Why has knowledge become so important in life? What place has knowledge in freedom? Decision implies choice. What need is there for any choice at all? Q: Why do you need experience at all? Q: Can a mind caught in becoming be creative?
Public Talk 4
Acting without ideas
Public Talk 4 Brockwood Park
September 13, 1970
How does one go beyond the petty, shoddy little self? Can the mind see so that the very seeing is the doing? Usually there is an idea and then action follows. Where there is division as idea and action is conflict inevitable? Intelligence is seeing danger and acting. Isn't self-centredness a factor of division? Can the mind, realizing the transiency of things, find something not of time? Meditation implies a mind free of self-deception. Q: Why does the mind endlessly chatter? The mind is frightened if not occupied. Can thought end so that it does not sustain fear?