You are only aware now, or never
Public Talk 1
What will change a human being?
Public Talk 1 Saanen
July 11, 1976
Why has man created the society and culture in which we live? Thought, being fragmentary, cannot possibly solve the things it has created. You can face the fact only if you are actually listening to the fact. If thought cannot change me, what will? One must find out if there is a totally different kind of energy not brought about through conflict. Can the mind, consciousness, empty itself of itself to find out if there is a totally different kind of energy? Questions from the audience followed the talk.
Public Talk 2
Observation and fear
Public Talk 2 Saanen
July 13, 1976
Is it possible not to register? If I keep on registering, the brain is always conditioning itself. Observe the moving waters of a river with all your senses, including the sensory perception of the brain itself. Have you ever observed a painting without comparison? When there is no registration, thought takes its proper place. Can you separate the word from the feeling? Note: a total of 30 seconds of missing video is replaced by audio only.
Public Talk 3
The impediments to radical transformation
Public Talk 3 Saanen
July 15, 1976
Why don’t you, as a human being, change most profoundly? Action from the area of knowledge is never complete. Will is the essence of desire. Has will a place in life? Is it possible to be completely with sensation with no interference of thought? Thought is a process of comparison, measurement from ‘what is’ to ‘what should be’. Is there such thing as ‘tomorrow’ in the psychological world? Is reward/punishment, which is the motive for our operation, preventing change? Is there an action without motive? Note: a total of 3 minutes and 24 seconds of missing video is replaced by audio only.
Public Talk 4
Can the content of consciousness free itself?
Public Talk 4 Saanen
July 18, 1976
Is it at all possible for the content of consciousness to free itself from its own limitation? We are conscious of ourselves only when there is a problem. Pleasure is the movement of thought in time, and we are conditioned to that. As long as the brain is operating using its knowledge in skills, it is limited, mechanical. In that there is no freedom. Is it possible to see something lovely, look at it, give your complete attention to it and not record it? You are only aware now, or never. Note: a total of 4 minutes and 11 seconds of missing video is replaced by audio only.
Public Talk 5
Suffering and love
Public Talk 5 Saanen
July 20, 1976
What actually is our relationship to each other in our daily life, and what is it based on? When there is no image-maker, no registration takes place; there is no ‘me’ who gets hurt. When there is no image there is love. Can the immense burden of loneliness, despair, hurts, come to an end – not gradually but now? Can sorrow, which is part of human conditioning and consciousness, end, not in some distant happy future, but now? The now is the most important. Q: Are emotions rooted in thought? Note: a total of 23 seconds of missing video is replaced by audio only.
Public Talk 6
Can attachment, belief, experience, knowledge, end now?
Public Talk 6 Saanen
July 22, 1976
Is there a ‘me’ when thought, which is a material process, comes to an end with death? What is the beginning of thought? When there is an ending to the stream of sorrow, there is a totally different dimension in which there is no beginning and no ending. That is absolutely timeless. When you see an attachment in yourself, end it immediately. That is, to die instantly to that. When you see how extraordinarily important it is that time must have a stop, death has an extraordinary meaning. Note: a total of 7 minutes and 45 seconds of missing video is replaced by audio only.
Public Talk 7
When you are a light to yourself you are a light to the world
Public Talk 7 Saanen
July 25, 1976
There is no one to guide you, to tell you that you are progressing or to encourage you. You have to stand completely alone in meditation. This light can only come to you when you understand what you are. To be aware of oneself without any choice, allowing the whole movement of the self to flower. As you observe, it undergoes a radical transformation. Thought has divided itself as the controller and the controlled, but there is only thinking. To observe your consciousness wholly there must be no motive or direction. Q: What is right livelihood? Note: a total of 22 seconds of missing video is replaced by audio only.
Public Discussion 1
Why should we get hurt?
Public Discussion 1 Saanen
July 28, 1976
Q: One feels held in, bound, enclosed - is it possible naturally to come out of that and flower? It is very important to have freedom to observe, with no direction or motive. Is it possible to be free of past hurts and to prevent future hurts so that the brain is never hurt, remains young and is innocent? There is only observation when you observe without the observer. Note: a total of 48 seconds of missing video is replaced by audio only.
Public Discussion 2
How does understanding take place?
Public Discussion 2 Saanen
July 29, 1976
Q: Could we talk about the nature of understanding? Insight implies a mind that is quiet, willing to listen, to go beyond the word and observe the truth of something. What is one’s responsibility with regard to another, when both are building images about themselves? When the observer realises he is the observed, then conflict, division and struggle comes to an end. Can one live without a motive? Why do we have direction in life? Note: a total of 23 seconds of missing video is replaced by audio only.
Public Discussion 3
Judgement and death
Public Discussion 3 Saanen
July 30, 1976
Why do we judge, condemn, approve or accept? Why this constant movement of appreciation or depreciation? If I am afraid of death then I can’t inquire; that fear is going to warp my investigation. A human being dies, but sorrow and confusion as a vast field goes on. As long as you remain one foot in and one foot out of the stream of sorrow, you will never find out what is beyond death. A man who dies to everything will know what is eternal. Note: a total of 26 seconds of missing video is replaced by audio only.
Public Discussion 4
On being a light to oneself
Public Discussion 4 Saanen
July 31, 1976
Q: Can we talk more about being a light to oneself? Is there a part of me where there is clarity, a sense of total freedom in which there is no confusion or conflict? Is it possible to see the totality of one’s consciousness, including that which is hidden, what you call the unconscious? You can see the totality only when there is no direction, no motive. Is good the opposite of evil? Note: a total of 2 minutes and 47 seconds of missing video is replaced by audio only.
Public Discussion 5
Is there thinking without the word?
Public Discussion 5 Saanen
August 01, 1976
Q: Could we discuss the question of awareness without following any particular system or practice? What is the function of a word? When there is awareness is there concentration? Q: Does freedom imply aloneness? What do we mean by the word ‘love’? To be free of attachment doesn’t mean its opposite, detachment. Attachment separates. Is there something sacred, holy in your life? Q: Why doesn’t one realise that the observer is the observed? What prevents it from taking place? Note: a total of 50 seconds of missing video is replaced by audio only.