Can the mind be free of every motive to investigate?
Public Talk 1
What are we seeking?
Public Talk 1 Saanen
July 10, 1977
What is it that human beings seek? You are the summation of all humanity, wherever you live. You are the representative of every human being. We have to examine closely whether there is psychological security at all. Does thought, which has created beliefs, dogmas, experiences and divisions, give security? Is there security in the past? All nationalities are a danger. The perception of the truth is intelligence. In that intelligence there is complete security, because that intelligence is not yours or mine, and is not conditioned.
Public Talk 2
Is there security in psychological authority?
Public Talk 2 Saanen
July 12, 1977
Is there a life in which there is no spark of authority? Can one live a life without any conformity, conflict, goals, purpose, ideals, which all create conflict? The intensity of the investigation depends on the urgency to find the truth, to have tremendous energy to find out. To investigate there must be no motive, because motive will dictate what you will discover. Intensity is necessary to investigate. That intensity can come into being only when there is no cause and no effect and therefore no reaction. Psychologically, why is it that we obey? Is it because in obedience to an authority there is deep rooted desire for security? To live with ‘what is’ completely, implies no conflict whatsoever. There is no future as transforming it into something else. The very ending is the gathering of supreme energy, which is a form of intelligence.
Public Talk 3
What is the relationship of clarity to compassion?
Public Talk 3 Saanen
July 14, 1977
What is the relationship of skill to clarity? There is another form of learning, which is to become so totally aware that you register only what is absolutely necessary and nothing else. The art of listening, seeing, learning gives extraordinary clarity, and therefore that clarity can communicate verbally. You cannot have clarity without compassion. Because we have no compassion skill has become more important. Fear in any form, physiological as well as psychological, distorts clarity and therefore a person who is afraid has no compassion. If there is no analysis then what will happen to my fear? When one measures oneself with somebody there is fear. Thought is narrow, because thought is based on experience, memory, knowledge, which is the past, which is time-binding. What is the depth, meaning, significance, beauty of compassion? Note: a total of 13 minutes of missing video is replaced by audio only.
Public Talk 4
Does compassion flower in the field of desire?
Public Talk 4 Saanen
July 17, 1977
What is the meaning and significance of compassion? When you feel utterly responsible then you care. The future is what you make of it today. If you are negligent, merely superficially living, you are creating a world which will be most destructive. Pleasure is the continuation and cultivation of an incident by thought. Is it possible to register only that which is absolutely necessary and not register anything else? In relationship image-making is the process of registration. What is love?
Public Talk 5
Is there an action which is without cause and motive?
Public Talk 5 Saanen
July 19, 1977
Is there an action in daily life in which there is no motive, no cause, and therefore no regret? Conflict exists only when you try to do something with ‘what is’. If you have an insight into ‘what is’ then conflict ceases. How does one have an insight into violence, without analysis? When there is freedom from suffering in the consciousness of each human being that freedom brings about a transformation in consciousness. That radical change in consciousness affects the whole of mankind’s suffering. What relationship has suffering, the essence of the ‘me’, to love? What is the action of intelligence?
Public Talk 6
What is it to observe holistically?
Public Talk 6 Saanen
July 21, 1977
To observe freely, holistically, means there is no fragmentation or direction in observation. Is there a state of being in which there is a coming to an end of everything? Is there a way of living which is from moment to moment, without any retention, which is memory? The mind must have no identification with the name, form, with any person, idea or conclusion – is that possible? One can find out the truth of death only when there is an ending to everything that you have.
Public Talk 7
A movement which is timeless
Public Talk 7 Saanen
July 24, 1977
What is the cause of decision-making? Would you decide if you were very clear? Why do we depend so much on will? Intelligence cannot operate when there is the activity of will. There is psychological time only when you move away from ‘what is’. Is it possible to live psychologically without tomorrow? When there is no centre, no object, no structure of the ‘me’ put together by thought, there is vast space. Where there is resistance there is no space. There is no possibility of the depth, beauty, greatness of meditation when there is any form of fear.
Public Discussion 1
What it means to be totally aware
Public Discussion 1 Saanen
July 27, 1977
Can you observe without judgement or approval - just look? Can you look at yourself without any judgement? I want to observe and I find that I am afraid to observe. What am I afraid about? To be totally aware implies a choiceless observation of the content of consciousness. The whole is greater than the parts. If I am conditioned, holding on to parts, I will never see the whole. Note: a total of 42 seconds of missing video is replaced by audio only.
Public Discussion 2
Motive prevents observation
Public Discussion 2 Saanen
July 28, 1977
Is it possible to be totally awake, aware? Awareness implies no practice at all. I must observe my conditioning, whether good, bad, indifferent, mediocre or excellent, without any motive. Is it possible to be free of motive? Having no motive gives freedom of observation. If there is a motive in the exclusive love of another, is that love? You have to look at yourself because you are the whole universe, the whole of humanity. Note: a total of 2 seconds of missing video is replaced by audio only.
Public Discussion 3
Education, meditation and death
Public Discussion 3 Saanen
July 29, 1977
What is the relationship between self-knowledge and education? How shall I teach history or mathematics so as to convey knowledge of the subject and at the same time to know oneself? What is the relationship between discontent and meditation? What is the relationship between death and meditation? Hope is born out of despair. When there is no despair there is no hope. Can you look at loneliness without any movement of thought? To loosen the threads of attachment without effort is part of meditation. The understanding of death comes through meditation.
Public Discussion 4
Facts, reality and truth
Public Discussion 4 Saanen
July 30, 1977
What is the relationship between awareness and truth? Is fact different from reality? Is reality different from truth? If you observe very closely without any prejudice, sensory activity becomes much more acute and there is more sensitivity. Thought, which is the movement of time, tries to investigate into something which is timeless. That is impossible. Is love the product of thought? Where there is compassion, clarity and skill there is no vanity, hypocrisy or contradiction. What is the relationship of intelligence to silence?
Public Discussion 5
Relationship and intelligence
Public Discussion 5 Saanen
July 31, 1977
Freedom implies freedom from prejudice, belief, dogma and conclusion, so that you can observe yourself. Otherwise you will see what you want to see, or deny what you see. Conflict becomes inevitable when each one of us is occupied entirely with oneself. It is only in relationship that one sees what one is, actually, not theoretically or subjectively. Is it possible only to register what is absolutely important? Is there security in registering psychological hurts and fears in relationship? There is security for the brain in intelligence. Is love something to be thought about?