A mind that seeks truth must be free of the observer
Public Talk 1
Can the mind change radically outside of time?
Public Talk 1 Saanen
July 15, 1973
Can my mind look not only at particular problems but at the world problem? Each of us must bring about transformation in himself and so in his relationship to the world. Can structures based on thought change the mind? Authority in any form denies truth. Will time and knowledge bring transformation? When you listen to a statement do you draw a conclusion, which means thought is in action? If there is no image or word, is there thinking? Intelligence is to see the movement of knowledge. Questions from the audience followed the talk.
Public Talk 2
Can the mind choicelessly see its conditioning?
Public Talk 2 Saanen
July 17, 1973
How can outward change be brought about in relation to inward change? If each of us has a motive can we share a problem? If there is no freedom from conditioning can there be a transformation of the mind? Can the mind be aware of its conditioning and observe it choicelessly? Has the mind the energy to explore without distorting the content of conditioning? Is the mind different from its content? Does division between the observer and the observed bring about conflict? Questions from the audience followed the talk.
Public Talk 3
Can thought explore consciousness?
Public Talk 3 Saanen
July 19, 1973
Not to be involved in the world and yet live in it. Is freedom from conditioning brought about by thought or is it a non-movement of thought? Analysis and control imply time. What is time? Can the mind be free of violence without the movement of thought? Can there be no interference of thought with regard to ‘what is’? The ‘what is’ is violence, the result of thought. When non-movement meets thought what takes place? In the very observation of ‘what is’ there is instant action. Can the mind observe without the image? What is the mind if there is no thought? Questions from the audience followed the talk.
Public Talk 4
Can thought reveal the meaning of life?
Public Talk 4 Saanen
July 22, 1973
Is purpose the same as meaning? Not being able to go beyond boredom and loneliness do we make pleasure important? Is pleasure the deep meaning of life? Desire and pleasure. Why does the mind insist on and pursue pleasure? There is contact and sensation. Need there be desire? How can you discard the beauty of the earth or the beauty of the bough of a tree? What is the quality of a mind that has seen the whole structure of pleasure and desire? Can the mind realize there is nothing permanent?
Public Talk 5
What is the action of total inaction?
Public Talk 5 Saanen
July 24, 1973
What is the relationship between action and the realization of the meaning of life? Can I observe the dreadful burden of ideals and therefore let it wither away completely? Is there an action totally unrelated to the disorder of pleasure, character, belief and will? When the mind sees the falseness of that, is there a ‘me’? What is the action of the ‘non-me’? Can a sense of wholeness be brought about by thought, investigation, searching and asking? From the perception of truth, wisdom arises. Intelligence is the daughter of wisdom. Questions from the audience followed the talk.
Public Talk 6
Can death be brought into the field of the known?
Public Talk 6 Saanen
July 26, 1973
What is sorrow and is there ever an end to it? Can one be aware of physical pain and not be caught in it psychologically? Do we act from hurts we are not aware of? Can hurts be wiped away so that the mind functions clearly, sanely and wholly? If you understand one hurt completely haven't you understood all the other hurts? Can analysis solve hurt? Self-knowing is the ending of sorrow and the beginning of wisdom. What place has love in relationship and action? Can I die to all my attachments while living? Can you see a sunset with all its glory, delight in it and die to it?
Public Talk 7
What is religion and what is meditation?
Public Talk 7 Saanen
July 29, 1973
Do I understand the statement ‘I am the world and the world is me’ only as an idea? Do religion and meditation have any significance in daily living? Can thought, which is time, ever be still? When one is aware of the movement of the self in all its activities, out of that comes a mind that is completely still. Why do I want to express something new, creative, put energy into words, pictures or stone? The new is timeless, the summation of all energy. A new kind of energy must be released, instantly putting aside the activities of the self. Questions from the audience followed the talk.
Public Discussion 1
How does one observe?
Public Discussion 1 Saanen
August 01, 1973
Q: What is the observed without the observer? The observer is the conditioned entity of memory, tradition, knowledge and experience. I observe through images, symbols and words, put together by thought. Thought has created the culture and that culture has shaped my mind. Can I observe the mountain without the past – the observer, the word and the image? Naming means comparing, conforming to the past, strengthening it, and creating a duality as the past and the present. Can the mind observe ‘what is’ without giving it a name and without any movement of thought? Look at the fact without a single image and see what an extraordinary change takes place. It is like having a young mind.
Public Discussion 2
Choice, will and action
Public Discussion 2 Saanen
August 02, 1973
What is an action uninfluenced by the environment? Thought moving away from confusion is an escape. Where there is no movement of thought is there confusion? When there is total confusion, inaction is complete action. Action then is a movement which is the outcome of the perception of truth. Out of that perception there is intelligence. It is the intelligence born of wisdom that acts. It opens the door to a daily life that is completely simple.
Public Discussion 3
Relationship without dependence
Public Discussion 3 Saanen
August 03, 1973
Q: What is the relationship of a human being who is not at all dependent? I depend on you because I am lonely, insufficient, frightened and I need a companion. I need you to love me because I don't know what love is. I cannot afford to lose you therefore I must possess you. Loneliness destroys relationship. Loneliness is a form of isolation which the mind has cultivated through ambition. When there are no activities of ambition is there loneliness? I have created society through my ambition and that ambition has brought a sense of isolation. How am I, who sees the result of ambition, to live with you who are ambitious? In the great depth of sufficiency there is no loneliness or ambition. That is love.
Public Discussion 4
Fear is a destructive poison
Public Discussion 4 Saanen
August 04, 1973
Can the mind ever be free of fear? Fear is a dreadful thing, it paralyzes you, makes you ugly, brings about violence physically and inwardly, and you become superstitious and accept illusion. Can you observe fear, investigate it and deal with the whole of it? What is the basic movement of fear, the root of it? The movement of thought as time brings fear. Thought can never be still. What is the quality of a mind that sees thought cannot stop?
Public Discussion 5
Are you aware?
Public Discussion 5 Saanen
August 05, 1973
Q: Can one observe and go beyond oneself? ‘Myself’ is the result of time, thousands of years of experience and knowledge. The past has conditioned the mind to become what it is now, dependent on stimuli, running away from sorrow, battling and violent. I am the world and the world is me. What makes me unaware? Is awareness different from the observer? The observer is the past. In awareness there is no observer at all. A mind that seeks truth must be free of the observer. Out of that comes a flower that blossoms in goodness, an extraordinary movement of love.
Public Discussion 6
Are life and death two separate things?
Public Discussion 6 Saanen
August 06, 1973
Q: What makes the mind cling to something transient? For most of us death means the ending of life. Is that what we are frightened of? Have you inquired into a life that has been endlessly occupied? It is the fear of everybody to be nothing. All problems arise from that. If the mind is not occupied at all, there is then only observation and nothing else. Life, love and death are the same thing. A mind that is not in conflict is free from death.
Public Discussion 7
Where there is intelligence there is order
Public Discussion 7 Saanen
August 07, 1973
Q: Can the mind ever come upon something sacred? How does order in the mind act in the world? How is intelligence to earn a livelihood? Knowledge breeds disorder. Learning must be the constant renewal of observation. Inquiry must be sensitive to deception. Intelligence is never contradictory. Is there anything that is holy, untouched by the human mind? The mind starts with inquiry, not knowing a thing about what is sacred, with no motive, no will, no ‘me’ and no distraction of thought. The mind in meditation is intelligence in action. Nothingness is the most sacred thing.