Attention and order
Public Talk 1
Truth is the catalyst to end conflict
Public Talk 1 Ojai, California
May 19, 1984
We are going to question everything, including what the speaker is saying. If you are dissatisfied, not in revolt, with all the things that man has put together, then you are beginning to inquire into it. Is it possible to fundamentally change human behaviour? Love and simplicity are the essence of austerity. Can there be austerity without inward clarity? Do I approach a problem freely or with a solution I would like to bring about? What is thinking? Knowledge and thought being limited must bring about conflict. What is the place of thought?
Public Talk 2
What is wrong with pleasure?
Public Talk 2 Ojai, California
May 20, 1984
What is order? Learning implies a constant movement, observation without a motive. Why have I sought pleasure all my life? What is wrong with pleasure? Can fear ever end or must it be the burden of humanity everlastingly? Is your brain passionate enough to find out? What is going to happen to the brain when the computer can do almost everything? How can I stop the movement of time and thought? Is that the right question?
Public Questions 1
1st Question & Answer Meeting 11
Public Questions 1 Ojai, California
May 22, 1984
Q1: I understand that all people have a similar consciousness, but it seems a vast jump to say that all people share the same consciousness. Q2: Have you designated a special teacher or a person to carry on your teachings after you have gone? Someone is claiming this position. Q3: What is observing thought down to its very roots? I watch my thoughts, one leads to another in an endless chain. What ends this? What brings change? Q4: Please explain what you mean by saying that if one perceives truth and doesn't act, it acts as poison. Q5: Why is the observance of silence so important for seekers of truth?
Public Questions 2
2nd Question & Answer Meeting 11
Public Questions 2 Ojai, California
May 24, 1984
Q1: There are moments in which there is great clarity. What is necessary to allow such a sustained clarity, intensity and the wholeness of being? Q2: What is judgement? How is one to determine the line dividing opinion and the perception of fact? Q3: There are many people who have considerable difficultly with homosexuality. Could you, even briefly, put some light on this question? Q4: How is one to live on this earth without harm or destruction to its beauty, without bringing suffering and death to others?
Public Talk 3
Attention is like a fire
Public Talk 3 Ojai, California
May 26, 1984
Since all time is in the now, what is action? What is action in relation to becoming? Is violence different from the examiner? If I am confused or uncertain, can the brain be secure? When the brain is clear, is there choice at all? Psychologically we are all attempting to become something. All time is in the present. The future is now. Can one deal with the fact, not with the idea? Is love action in itself? Attention is the flame in which sorrow ends. Why have we kept death far away from living? To live with death, can you end ambition now? Apart from the physical body, what are you?
Public Talk 4
Is love part of consciousness?
Public Talk 4 Ojai, California
May 27, 1984
What is it to be free? What is freedom that is not ‘from’ something and not a reaction? Is freedom possible when thought is operating all the time? What is the relationship between desire and thought? Is thought driven by desire? What is beauty? When do you perceive the sense of immensity and the truth of beauty? Can you look at something with all your senses fully alive, alert? When there is total attention, is there a self? Is love in the realm of thought? To understand the depth, greatness, flame of love, can jealousy, ambition, and violence end, not tomorrow but now? What is religion? Why is it necessary to meditate at all?