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BR77DSS2.7 - The importance of living a life that is whole, not fragmented
Brockwood Park, UK - 23 October 1977
Discussion with Staff and Students 2.7



0:19 Krishnamurti: What shall we talk about together? What would you like to talk over this morning? Questioner: Can we talk about attention? Attention and the nature of perception.
0:36 K: Attention and?

Q: Perception.
0:42 K: Is there anything else?
0:53 Q: Last time, we were going to continue to look at insight.
0:58 K: Or what is insight. Attention, perception, insight – what else?
1:06 Q: About energy.

K: About energy. By Jove. Anything else?
1:24 Perception, insight, energy.
1:35 Should we talk about all that – what is insight and so on? Shall we? Are you interested in it? Seriously, or just to pass the time?
1:56 What is attention?
2:06 What do you think is the difference between concentration, awareness and attention?
2:22 What do you think is the difference between those three? To concentrate on something. What takes place when you concentrate?
2:41 Aren't you bringing all your energy, focused on a particular page or on mathematics, history, whatever it is – bringing all your energy and focusing on a particular subject?
2:58 Would you call that concentration?
3:03 Q: The word implies it – centre.

K: Yes, centre, concentrate. So, bringing all the energy to centre upon something.
3:14 Q: It also implies effort.
3:17 K: Yes, what is implied is effort, and also, what more is implied?
3:25 Q: Also cutting everything else out.
3:29 K: Cutting out everything else. That is, you are trying to concentrate, to centre your attention on a particular subject and resist the other thoughts interfering upon that which you are centred.
3:50 So, there is an effort when you concentrate to push aside every other thought except the one thought centred upon a particular subject.
4:03 We would call that concentration, wouldn't you?
4:10 You would call that concentration, wouldn't you? Right? You are sure? Then what is the difference between that and awareness, to be aware?
4:28 The other day when we were talking over together with the students, you asked a question: what is it to be sensitive?
4:44 In awareness, is there not implied a great deal of sensitivity?
4:54 Examine it, let's look into it. Please don't accept anything I say. But let's talk it over together, let's see all the implications in it.
5:09 That is, we understand now what it means to concentrate – to centre all your energy and focus on a particular subject.
5:23 Then what do we mean by aware, to be aware?
5:31 I am aware that you are sitting on the floor. I am not concentrating. I am aware, I watch, I perceive that you have got a red shirt or blue shirt and so on – I perceive.
5:45 I am aware of the shape of the hall, the roof, what kind of roof it is, the curtains, the sunlight, all that.
5:56 Now, in that awareness, is there any choice?
6:07 You understand what I mean? In that awareness, I look at that red shirt and say, I don't like that shirt, I prefer a pink shirt.
6:19 I don't like that particular kind of dress, I prefer something else.
6:28 In that process, what takes place?
6:36 Q: In awareness?

K: In awareness, what takes place?
6:40 K:When I say, I like that shirt and I don't like that shirt, I like the roof, I don't like that window, and so on.
6:49 Q: You are comparing.
6:54 Q: That is making judgments.
6:57 K: Judgment. On what is that judgment based?
7:04 Q: My tastes. My experience and my taste.
7:09 K: Your like and dislike. Go further into it. Go on.
7:22 Isn't there implied in that: choice. I choose the red shirt, I don't like the blue shirt. There is choice, isn't there? So, as long as there is choice in awareness, is there awareness?
7:48 You understand my question? To be aware implies to be sensitive to everything, doesn't it?
7:59 To the tree outside, the sunlight on the green lawn, and the yellowing leaves of autumn, the clouds, the beauty of the earth, and coming from the outside to be aware of the roof, of the walls, of the curtains, how you are sitting.
8:24 But if there is choice in that, I am not totally aware, I am only choosing that particular thing.
8:32 You get it? If we have understood concentration, awareness, then what is attention?
8:47 To attend.
8:57 Go on.
9:08 Q: Directing your energy towards something that you are interested in without resisting other things, you are just interested in that.
9:19 K: We said, didn't we, that when there is concentration, there is a centring of energy upon something?
9:30 There is a centre from which you are concentrating, you are giving your energy.
9:37 In awareness, if there is any choice it is still part of that centre choosing.
9:45 Right? And in attention, is there any centre, is there any concentration at all?
9:58 There is only attending. I wonder if you see. That is, I want to learn the art of listening. The art of listening, that is, we said the other day too that art implies putting everything in its right place.
10:21 That is the meaning of that word.
10:28 To listen, not to your prejudices, not to your conclusions, what you think, what you don't think, but to listen entirely, completely, to what the other fellow is saying.
10:45 That is attention, isn't it? Where there is no choice, there is no centre from which you are forcing yourself to look.
11:00 Here there is no centre or choice, you are completely attentive with all your ears, eyes, nerves, completely sensitive to everything.
11:21 That is, not only sensitive to what is happening outside – politically, economically, socially, so-called religiously, but also to be attentive to what is happening inside, psychologically, conscious of the thoughts, the feelings, the prejudices, the fears, the conclusions, all that, to see the whole of that, is to be attentive.
11:55 Would that be right?
12:02 Mr Joe, what do you say to that?
12:09 So, let's go back. You are in the class. You are trying to concentrate on what the teacher is trying to tell you, and you are not paying complete attention because you are looking out of the window.
12:32 You are looking out of the window, and you force yourself not to look out of the window and come back to the book.
12:39 Haven't you noticed this?

Q: Yes.
12:42 K: Good. At last there is something.
12:44 Q: That is concentration, isn't it?

K: Wait, I am coming to that. So in that there is conflict, isn't there? You want to look out of the window and at the same time you want to look at the book, so there is conflict.
13:02 So, attention implies non-conflict.
13:10 That is, when you are looking out of the window, look out of the window, completely.
13:18 See the movement of the leaves, the sky, the clouds, the sunlight – be completely attentive to that and then come back to the book.
13:33 So one learns the art of attention not by forcing, not by practising, not by compelling, but giving your attention to what you are...
13:45 If you want to look at somebody's face, look completely, so that there is no battle going on inside you.
13:58 Can you do it?
14:02 Q: It seems to me that people pay attention when they are interested or when there is a motive.
14:07 K: Yes. You pay attention, he points out, only when you are interested.
14:16 Do you? Do you pay attention when you are interested? Do you? Go into it carefully, don't agree.
14:29 You are interested in playing guitar. Do you give complete attention to it?
14:43 The whole implication is, whether you really want to play guitar or is it an escape, or is it just a passing interest, or is it that you are competing with whoever the latest guru in guitar is.
15:04 If you are completely interested there is no comparison.
15:12 You are completely aware, attentive to what you are doing.
15:23 Are you doing this now? When you listen to what the speaker is saying, are you listening completely?
15:34 Or you are looking at somebody else, or your thoughts are going off in some direction.
15:43 Are you listening with complete attention to what is being said?
15:51 In that attention there is no conflict – you are listening.
16:03 Right. So, that is the point. When there is attention, the implication of that is that the mind, the brain is not directing, moving in a particular direction.
16:31 I wonder if you see this.
16:40 When there is attention, is there any motive?
16:51 The meaning of the word 'motive' implies a cause from which there is a movement.
17:00 Q: Because that would be a centre.
17:03 K: No, listen first. Do it, not verbalise it.
17:10 The meaning of the word 'motive' is: a movement which has a cause.
17:19 From a cause, move.
17:26 Is this too difficult? No. So, find out when there is attention, is there a motive?
17:38 Is there a cause which make you attend? If there is a cause, it is not attentive. A cause implies a direction. Right? Do you see all this? So, as we said, what is insight? Insight is that state of mind which is completely attentive and therefore no motive, and such a mind which is quiet has an insight into something.
18:14 Insight into what is being said, whether it is true or false, have an insight into something.
18:23 No, you haven't got it. Is this somewhat clear? No. You all look rather bedazed. Let's go into it. Scott Forbes: If there is no motive what would inspire you to give all of your attention to something?
18:47 K: What would make you give all your attention? Just look, find out. Find out for yourself.
19:02 We said, if there is any motive – motive implies a movement which has a cause – which is, I want to do something, from that motive, move.
19:23 There is a centre which says, I must go in that direction because it is most pleasant or it is most agreeable, or I don't want to go in that direction because it is not profitable, I might be punished, there might be fear.
19:42 So, when there is a cause there is a direction.
19:51 Is there, in attention, a cause? Which means a motive to be attentive.
20:04 A motive might be because I will get something from this attention.
20:11 I might profit from it, I will avoid pain, I will avoid this or that.
20:19 Now, when there is a cause for attention, is it attention, I am asking you?
20:27 I am not saying yes or no. I am asking you to investigate, to find out when you are attentive, when there is a cause, is there attention?
20:40 It may be a little bit too difficult.
20:51 You also asked what does it mean to have insight. What does it mean to have an insight into the nature of attention?
21:02 Right? What is it to have an insight into the structure and nature of attention?
21:15 We said there is no attention when there is concentration. That is fairly simple, isn't it? Because there I am resisting every other thought except the one thought.
21:33 Thought wanders off, I try to pull it back and try to concentrate. So there is constant effort, constant movement from this to that, and from that to pull back.
21:49 This is simple. Right, sir?
21:56 Now, when there is attention, is there such movement? And attention implies that you are paying attention with all your being, with all your energy, with everything that you have, attending to something.
22:19 Now, wait a minute. When there is great danger, don't you attend?
22:25 Q: Yes.
22:28 K: Don't you? What is implied in that? Look at it, carefully.
22:39 Great danger – a car coming towards you at full speed, what takes place there?
22:50 Or when you see something terribly dangerous, what takes place there?
22:58 Go on. I am doing all the talking. You go on, investigate together.
23:09 What takes place?
23:15 Q: You act.
23:18 K: You react. What is your reaction?
23:24 Q: Usually, it is a good action.
23:27 K: Good or bad, it doesn't matter, we are not talking of good action or bad action. What is the reaction when you see something tremendously dangerous?
23:40 It must have happened to all of you. Some danger. Some kind of danger. At that moment, aren't you paying tremendous attention?
23:55 Q: The reaction is not a process of thinking, it is very quick.
23:59 K: Very quick. I am talking of that moment which is very rapid. What takes place?
24:12 There is a cause, isn't there? To save yourself, self-protective movement, which is quite natural, isn't it? Otherwise you would be destroyed.
24:26 Q: Yes.
24:29 K: Right? So there is the reaction of self-protectiveness when there is tremendous danger.
24:41 In that danger, the whole response of your brain is to walk away from it, move away from it.
24:57 Now, if there is no danger, if there is no direction – danger is a form of direction – is there attention at all without a cause?
25:20 This is too difficult. And when there is attention without cause the mind is extraordinarily alive and then only there is an insight into something.
25:43 As we were saying the other day, science means pure observation – not only into matter, into all the things scientists are doing, but also an observation into oneself.
26:03 Pure observing. The purity of observation of oneself. You understand? Can you do it? To observe without any distortion, to see what you are – why you think this, for what reason do you pursue a certain thing, to be attentive, to be aware, or to observe with clarity and purity of what is going on inwardly – as you observe what is going on, outwardly.
27:00 When you observe outwardly – the tree, etc. – if you don't like it, that is a motive, isn't it?
27:10 You have already decided to move away from it. Can you observe without any distortion, not only out there but also what is going on inside, without any like and dislike, without wanting something, frightened, just to observe?
27:42 Can you do it? Will you do it?
27:49 Just for the fun of it, just see what takes place, what happens.
27:59 Have you ever watched a cloud? Just watch it. See the light on it, the shape of it, the movement that is going on, just to observe it – you know, just watch.
28:16 Can you do it? You can, can't you? Now, can you do the same thing – watch yourself without any movement?
28:30 Any movement, that is, any form of distortion, like and dislike, without saying, I don't like what I am?
28:41 Can you observe that way? You can the microphone, can't you? Because it is a microphone, it is very easy. You can't call it a giraffe or anything. So, in the same way, to look at yourself.
29:12 When you observe yourself with complete purity – I am using the word 'purity' as without any colouring, any distortion, any form of twisting what you see – and in that observation, there is an insight, an insight totally of what you are.
29:47 Will you do it? Because it is another form of education, isn't it, really? We are educated in facts, in theories, in speculations, etc.
30:04 Mathematics, history and so on. We never educate ourselves by observing ourselves.
30:21 Will you do it?
30:31 Because if you do it your mind becomes extraordinarily clear, because then you are not caught in any illusion, you move from fact to fact.
30:58 To observe when you are angry. You can observe anger arising, can't you?
31:10 Can you? Obviously. Right? You can observe the arising of greed.
31:21 You can observe somebody calling you a fool and getting hurt – you can observe that, the movement.
31:32 Now, can you observe – it may be a little bit difficult – can you observe thought arising?
31:50 Do you remember, we talked about it the other day? We said, all registration is the basis of thinking.
32:05 The brain registers an incident and from the memory of that incident, thought arises.
32:23 The incident is that you have said something to me which is not pleasant, which is rather hurting.
32:35 So the brain registers the hurt and from that, thought arises.
32:43 You can observe this very simply. It is not complicated.
32:50 Right? So you know for yourself the origin or the beginning of thought.
33:02 Do you? Look, your brain is the result of thousands and thousands of years as a human being – coming from the animal or whatever you like – from the beginning of time.
33:24 There, human beings have registered for centuries.
33:31 They have said, I am a Muslim. The brain has registered what it has been told, that you are a Hindu or a Christian, or British, or a Frenchman.
33:47 It has been registered. And from that, there is the assertion that I am British or I am an Arab, and so on.
34:05 So from this conditioning, which is the form of registration, arises all the reaction of thought.
34:14 Got it? Don't accept it, investigate it. Find out for yourself if what is being said is false or true.
34:32 Some of you live in America, or Indonesia, or in Europe, Far East or Far West – not in California but Far West, in the sense, America.
34:46 The Americans are conditioned, the Europeans including the British are conditioned, the Indians are conditioned.
34:55 That is, the centuries and centuries of propaganda, of repetition, of superstition, of belief and so on, that has been registered, conditioned the mind, the brain.
35:14 Haven't you noticed this? From that you say, I am an American, or I am a Hindu, I am this or I am that.
35:32 So, thinking begins when there is registration.
35:43 Now, there must be registration, as we said, in certain things.
35:55 If I want to drive a car, I must learn how to drive it, the brain must register.
36:03 And then after a while it becomes automatic, but it has registered. If I want to speak a particular language I must learn the words, registration and so on, and from that, I speak.
36:21 Is it possible – just listen to this – is it possible not to register any psychological facts?
36:32 You understand? I must register when I am learning how to drive a car.
36:40 Why should there be registration when you call me a fool, which hurts me? Why should I register? Why should the brain register when you call me a fool? Go on, find out. I have an image about myself. I think I am a very great man, or some silly thing I think I am. I have built an image about myself – my parents have helped me to build the image, the school has helped me to build the image, university, society, girlfriend or boyfriend – there has been a building of image.
37:28 Haven't you noticed this? Good. That image gets hurt, doesn't it? Because you are that image. You are not separate from that image. Right? So, not to be hurt implies no image.
37:57 Can you live a life from now on until you die – which I hope will be a very long time – not to have any kind of psychological image at all?
38:24 Can you do it?
38:32 To find out implies to be attentive at the moment when somebody calls you a fool, or when somebody says, what a marvellous person you are, which is the same thing.
38:53 Not to register implies total attention at that moment.
39:05 Q: So, Krishnaji, when someone calls me a fool or they flatter me and I notice that I am happy or sad, is that attention?
39:15 K: No, sir. You have said two different things. When somebody calls you a fool – not you but me – somebody calls me a fool or flatters me, the image which I have built about myself – and I am that image, I am not different from that image – that image gets hurt or that image feels flattered.
39:55 When you are flattering me or calling me a fool, to be totally attentive at that moment, then there is no registration.
40:11 Have you got it? Will you do it? Not here, not just verbally agree, but all your life, while you are here at Brockwood for the next two or three or five years, not to get hurt.
40:31 It is the most marvellous thing, if you can do it. Never to be hurt by anybody, which means not to have a single image about yourself.
40:50 Q: When you say, to be without an image, implies that you are different from the image, doesn't it?
40:59 K: No. You know how images are formed? Don't you know? Go on, investigate it. You have an image about yourself, haven't you? How is it formed? Who has formed it? Go on. You are a Brahmin, from India. By what right do you call yourself a Brahmin? Why? Go on, find out!
41:47 Because your mother, your father, your grandfather, generations and generations said, we are Brahmins.
42:01 And that propaganda, that assertion that Brahmins do this and don't do that, all that has been registered in the brain.
42:11 The brain has registered it. And then, having registered it, when I ask you what you are, the reaction is, I am a Brahmin.
42:26 You see how the image is made? Do you? Oh, come on, I have explained it. You have an image of yourself as a Christian, haven't you? No?

Q: No.
42:44 K: That is, your parents say, nonsense, and brush that aside, but some of you may be living in a world that says we are Christians, or Catholics, or protestants, and there is an image of what a Catholic should be.
43:07 He believes in the saviour, the only saviour which is Jesus Christ, there is the Virgin Mary, all the rituals, all the dogmas, all the circus that goes on around that.
43:23 That has been registered for 2,000 years – the brain has been imprinted with that.
43:35 All that has been imprinted on the brain. So, the brain has an image that you are a Catholic. That is simple, no?

Q: Yes.
43:49 K: Can you wipe away all that image? Can the image disappear completely? Because, see the danger of having images. The danger. See what is happening: The Arab has an image and the Israelis have an image, so they are at battle with each other.
44:18 The Muslim and the Hindu, the communist, socialist and the capitalist and so on – each individual of that group has an image.
44:34 So, they are all always in conflict with each other. Right? Do you see this?
44:47 War is the result of these images. No? One of the reasons of war. There are other reasons, but one reason is good enough to discuss. So, can you be free of your image as a Hindu, Buddhist, Catholic, Jew, Arab, Indonesian, whatever it is.
45:13 Why carry that image? You understand my question? It is such a burden. It is a bore! If you have an image, you are going to be hurt and when you are hurt you build a wall around yourself and you isolate yourself, and you are frightened to go out of that because you might get hurt.
45:48 Do you see this? Now, are you listening with complete attention?
45:58 Listen carefully to what I am going to tell you in a minute. Are you listening completely with attention to what we have said about image?
46:07 If you have, you are not forming an image that says, I must get rid of the image.
46:19 You understand what I said?
46:26 No.
46:33 I listen to what has been said about image – how the images are formed, the importance of being free from all images because those bring about conflict between human beings.
46:55 If I listen to it with complete attention, there is no image.
47:03 Attention wipes away the image.
47:10 Right? And therefore you don't form another image.
47:19 Do you get this, some of you? Now, have you listened with complete attention, so that you have no image?
47:34 Go on.
47:42 Or you have some images which are rather pleasurable.
47:52 Some images we say, I rather like that image about myself. Somebody calls me a great man, and I like that image. So I keep to that image. And somebody comes along and says, you are not as great as you think you are, I am hurt, because I have got the image.
48:19 So, can you pay attention and see the whole nature of building images?
48:41 It is part of your education, isn't it? Can you do it? Not say, I am an awfully clever man, I am an awfully clever chap. Some of you think that already. Better, superior to somebody else – that is an image about yourself. Somebody comes and says, don't be silly, you are not clever as you think you are, so you shrink.
49:10 You get the point?
49:21 Right? We have talked about insight, what do we mean by attention, what were the other questions?
49:42 Q: Somebody mentioned energy.
49:46 K: Energy. When you are attending, all your energy is there.
50:02 When you are not paying attention, the energy is dissipated or divided or broken down.
50:12 Do you notice that?
50:21 This is really a very complicated question, this energy business. Registration, as we said, takes energy, doesn't it? The Nagra, that machine, is now registering what we are talking about. To register, that requires energy, electrical form of energy.
50:48 Now, when you don't register... You get the point? There must be registration when there is learning how to drive a car, but when there is no building of images, which requires energy, and if there is no building images what happens to that energy?
51:26 This is a little too much.
51:40 You see, while you are very young, as you are, you have plenty of energy in every direction – plenty of energy.
51:52 You want to go and walk, play games, do all kinds of things, things which are orderly or disorderly, for yourself, not about outside disorderly, that is also implied.
52:16 When there is no knowledge or information about the way that energy should be expressed, that energy becomes very mischievous or destructive or merely pleasurable, sexual and so on.
52:39 Do you see this?
52:48 I wonder. You see the implications of all this? Or have I got to go into all the details of it?
53:04 Q: Are you suggesting that we channel our energy into these various things?
53:10 K: Who is there to channel, to say, I will use my energy in that direction'?
53:18 There is a centre, isn't there? There is a direction. The movement of the direction has a cause. The cause may be, I like that, therefore, I will put all my energy in that direction.
53:39 What happens when you do that?
53:48 Look at it carefully, watch it. You have plenty of energy. You are young, all the glands are working powerfully and so on.
54:03 You have got plenty of energy, and you say, I will give all my energy to guitar, or all my energy to sex, or all my energy playing, doing something or other.
54:19 What happens when you give all your energy in a particular direction, whether pleasurable or the avoidance of pain – same thing.
54:32 Go on, inquire. For God's sake, use your brains to find out what happens.
54:44 Q: There is no energy for anything else.
54:47 K: No, I understand that. When all your energy has been given to playing a violin, you become first-class at it, great skill, because you have given all your energy – what happens?
55:18 Need I tell you that? Can't you find out?
55:22 Q: The thing becomes out of place. Whatever you are giving all your energy to becomes out of place.
55:29 K: Comes out?

Q: Out of place. No, out of place.
55:37 K: Out of place – which means what?
55:43 Q: Distortion.

K: Watch carefully. Out of place – find out what it means. Don't just offer your opinion, find out what is implied in what she said.
55:57 It is out of place. What does that mean?
56:01 Q: The proportion of it.
56:04 K: Go on – which means what?
56:07 Q: A disorder, an imbalance.
56:11 K: Imbalance, isn't it?
56:13 Q: You have no energy left for anything else.
56:16 K: It is an imbalance if I give all my energy to one thing, I am not balanced all round.
56:26 Right? Then what happens when I am not harmonious?
56:36 What happens when I am only cultivating one direction of energy?
56:44 There is imbalance, obviously. There is no balance. Therefore, what takes place when there is no balance, when there is no harmony? I am very good at violin, I am stupid elsewhere. Stupid in my relation to my wife, my children or with society.
57:08 So, what takes place when there is imbalance?
57:13 Q: I am not aware of other things.

K: Yes, you are not sensitive. Go further into it – what happens? I bring conflict, don't I? In myself and in others. No?
57:29 Q: For example, with the violin you will become obsessed with it. You have to fulfil other functions and then you can't get on with anyone else because all you want to do is play the violin.
57:37 K: So what happens?
57:42 Q: Nothing works anymore.
57:45 K: Yes. So, where there is imbalance there must be conflict.
57:55 Energy then is spent in continuing the conflict or trying to find out how to avoid conflict, or how to escape from all this.
58:13 Because I am imbalanced, I am neurotic, in essence. You understand? When a person gives all his energy in one direction, obviously, it is a neurotic way of living.
58:35 So, go from that. Is it possible to have a harmonious life in which there is no imbalance but every action complete in itself?
58:52 You understand? Oh, this is too difficult.
59:02 Q: What is it that decides how much energy is proper to give to something?
59:09 Supposing you are a violinist, it takes tremendous energy and time, you want to be good at it.
59:17 But where is the dividing line between that necessary application and a neurotic one?
59:26 K: I understand that. Where do you draw the line? Where do you say, I will give my energy to this completely, or I will give partial energy to this and partial energy to that, and so on.
59:50 If you give partial energy to play the violin, it is finished – you can't be a first-class violinist.
1:00:02 So, what will you do? Go on, inquire, find out.
1:00:18 Q: Wouldn't attention then come into that? Attention or a kind of insight into that, to understand how the energies have to be balanced.
1:00:30 K: Look, you want to be a first-class violinist, right? Suppose you do. And you naturally have to give a great deal of energy to it.
1:00:43 And you haven't time or sufficient energy in other directions, therefore you don't live a balanced life.
1:00:56 And you want to live a balanced life and yet be very good at violin. What will you do?
1:01:14 Q: There are two desires, now.
1:01:18 K: What are you saying?
1:01:19 Q: They are opposing. The two desires you have, are opposing and it leads nowhere.
1:01:38 K: Would you ask yourself, though I want to be a very good violinist, I want to live a total life?
1:01:49 A life that is whole. Would you ask that question? I want to be a very good violinist, but also I want to live a life that is whole, that is complete, that is not fragmented – I am a violinist, I am nothing else – or this or that.
1:02:14 I want to live a life that is whole – that means healthy, sane, holy – I want to live such a life and yet I want to be very good at violin.
1:02:28 Q: If you see that, then you don't have to draw any line, it will just happen properly.
1:02:37 K: I didn't quite hear.
1:02:42 Q: In wanting a balanced life, if you really see how necessary it is, and you also want to play the violin and if you can really see everything, you won't have to draw any line.

K: No.
1:02:59 K: Will you do that? Or is it just a lot of words? Will you, though you want to be very good at something, see the importance and the necessity of leading a life that is harmonious, whole, complete, not fragmented?
1:03:22 And because you see the utter importance of it, there is no fragmentation. Right? Do you see that? Not verbally, but do you actually see the importance of not living a fragmentary life?
1:03:52 Because after all, playing the violin and being good at it is a fragmentary life.
1:04:05 But if I see the tremendous importance of living a life that is whole, then the violin has its place.
1:04:15 Right?
1:04:22 Therefore, which is more important, being good at violin or seeing the way of living harmoniously in which the violin has its place?
1:04:41 When you see that, there is no problem. You understand this?
1:04:47 Q: Yes, then there is no choice.

K: So, do you see it?
1:04:53 K: Or you merely agree with the words which I am using? Do you see for yourself the importance, the utter, complete, total importance of living a life that is whole, not fragmented?
1:05:21 All our life is fragmented I am a businessman, I am an artist, I am an engineer and so on, a religious man – everything is divided, fragmented.
1:05:49 I am a Hindu, you are a Christian, a protestant – same thing. Nationally, religiously, economically, linguistically, we are all fragmented human beings.
1:06:05 Are you aware that you are fragmented?
1:06:21 Are you? You are? If you are, you are.
1:06:35 Q: I think one of the difficulties – when you talked about the image – is that there is still the feeling that I can have an image of myself but even if I drop that image, there will be a 'myself' inside.
1:06:48 K: As we said, 'yourself' is the image.
1:06:52 Q: Nothing but that?
1:06:53 K: If there is no image at all, is there the image-maker?
1:07:05 This is a little too much.
1:07:14 You have said something, which is, the image is the cause of fragmentation.
1:07:27 You have an image about yourself and if I have an image about myself then we are... right?
1:07:37 So, the cause of fragmentation is the image-making.
1:07:45 I see some great violinist playing and I say, by Jove, I would like to do that because, first of all, I have a little talent about it, it gets a lot of money, and the applause of the public.
1:08:03 The vanity, all that is involved and I like that. That is my image. I am that image. So, to have no image implies living a total life, a life that is completely harmonious, not fragmented.
1:08:29 Can you do this while you are here at Brockwood?
1:08:38 Find out, go into it. See how important it is not to have an image. You won't get hurt – you know, the whole business of it.
1:08:52 Then you are a free human being and it is a marvellous state because in that there is tremendous clarity.
1:09:04 Out of clarity comes compassion and skill and all the rest of it.
1:09:17 Is that enough for this morning?
1:09:31 We also talked a great deal about meditation, didn't we, the other day?
1:09:39 Perhaps we can have one more meeting with the students before I go away. I am just beginning that thing which we started the other day about meditation.
1:09:54 Do you remember, we pointed out the various forms of historical process of meditation?
1:10:08 You see, to understand the whole image-making process and see all the implications of it is a form of meditation, isn't it?
1:10:24 No? Because I am meditating about something. I begin meditating about something, about the making of images.
1:10:37 I go into it, I think about it, I watch it, and I see the implications and the destructive nature of images.
1:10:46 And to have an insight into it, the mind must be free from all prejudices.
1:10:58 That is the beginning of meditation – to ponder over something.
1:11:07 And as you go into it more and more, it is not meditation about something but a state of mind which is in meditation.
1:11:21 This is very difficult, I won't go into it.
1:11:23 Q: When you say to meditate about image-making, isn't that a direction?
1:11:33 K: No, I am watching. Meditation is to ponder over, think over, observe. Observe how you form an image, how you cling to certain images and avoid other images – to observe that.
1:11:57 That is a form of meditation.
1:12:00 Q: Yes, but isn't there choice involved, that I will observe this and not something else?
1:12:05 K: I observe how the images are being made. From that, I may discover that where there is image, there is fear.
1:12:20 And I may look at fear: why there is fear, what is fear, what is the root of fear.
1:12:29 To find that out, I must not escape from it. There must be no escape, there must be no suppression, no saying, I am justified to have fear.
1:12:40 You just observe. That is a form of meditation.
1:12:51 And to observe very clearly, without distortion, observe purely, the mind must not be chattering, must be attentive in observation.
1:13:19 Can you do all this, poor chaps?
1:13:28 It is really not very complicated. Complication arises when you are trying to convey something which you haven't heard before.
1:13:40 Then you are trying to understand what the other fellow is saying. You are not here to understand what the other fellow is saying, but to understand, through the words the other fellow is using, to observe yourself.
1:14:01 So the other person doesn't become an authority, you just observe.
1:14:18 I think that is enough, don't you? Right.