BR78T3 - How is freedom to be understood and lived?

Brockwood Park, UK - 2 September 1978
Public Talk 3
Text-only version
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0:54
K: We have been talking about
various things that concern our daily life.
We are not indulging in any form of theories
beliefs, or ideological, speculative entertainment.
We are actually deeply concerned - I hope
with our daily life
and to find out if it is at all possible
to bring about a radical change in the ways of our life.
Because our life is not what it should be.
We are confused, miserable
sorrow-ridden
struggling, struggling from day after day till we die.
And that seems to be our lot.
This endless conflict
not only in our personal relationships
but also with the world
which is deteriorating from day to day
becoming more and more dangerous
more and more unpredictable, uncertain
where the politicians and the nations are seeking power.
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2:40
And we should also talk over together this morning, I think
about freedom:
whether man or woman
when I use the word 'man' I include the woman
I hope you don't mind, Women's Lib (laughter).
It seems to one, as one observes in the world
in our daily life, freedom is becoming less and less.
More and more restrictive we are becoming
our actions are limited
our outlooks are very narrow
or bitter, cynical, or very, very hopeful
and we never seem to be free
from our own daily conflict and misery
completely free from all the travail of life.
3:53
And I think we should talk over together this question of freedom.
Of course in the totalitarian states there is no freedom.
Here in the western world and the eastern world, partly
there is somewhat more freedom
freedom to change your job, freedom to travel
to say what you like, to think what you like
express what you like, write what you like.
But even this freedom that one has
is becoming more and more mechanical
it is no longer freedom.
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4:39
So I think we should, if you are at all serious
go into this question rather deeply.
That is, if you are willing.
The Churches, the religions have tried to dominate our thinking:
the Catholic church
in the past tortured people for their belief
burnt them, excommunicated them
and even now excommunication is a form of threat
for those who are Catholics.
Which is exactly the same thing that is happening
in the totalitarian states - control of your mind
your thoughts, your behaviour, your action.
They are more concerned with the control of the mind
control of thought, and anyone who dissents from that
disagrees, is banished away, or tortured
or sent to mental hospitals and so on.
5:53
Exactly the same thing as the past Catholic world has done.
Now they are doing it in the so-called
political, economic states.
So freedom is something that we have to find out what it means
and whether it is possible for us to be free
not only inwardly, deeply
whether it is at all possible inwardly, psychologically
inside the skin as it were
but also to express ourselves correctly, truly, accurately.
Then perhaps we will understand what freedom is.
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6:46
Is freedom the opposite of slavery?
Is freedom the opposite of prison, of bondage, of repression?
Is freedom to do what you like?
Please, as we said the other day
and we have been talking over together
the speaker is only expressing - I hope - verbally
what we are all questioning
therefore you are not listening to the speaker
but listening to the questions which you are putting for yourself
therefore the speaker is not here.
Is freedom the opposite of non-freedom?
7:49
And so is there an opposite at all?
You understand?
That is, if we move away from the bad to the good
and think that is freedom
the good being the freedom
if we accept the good, which we can go into presently
what is the good, and the bad.
Is the good, the goodness the opposite of that which is not good
which is evil, which is bad?
If there are opposites then there is a conflict.
If I am not good, I will try to be good.
I will make every effort to be good
that is if I am somewhat conscious
somewhat sane, not too neurotic.
8:58
So we are asking:
is freedom the opposite of anything?
Or if freedom has an opposite then is it freedom?
Please enquire together in this matter.
That is, any opposite
the good and the bad
the opposite of the bad which is the good
the good has in it the roots of the bad.
Go into it please.
Consider it together.
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9:58
If I am jealous, envious
the opposite of jealousy is a state of mind
which is not jealous - a state of feeling.
But if it is the opposite of jealousy
that opposite has in it its own opposite.
Do we see this?
Because we want to go this morning into the question
of what is love.
whether such a thing exists at all.
Or is it merely sensation which we call love.
So to understand the full significance
and the nature and the beauty of that word
which we use as love, we must understand, I think
what is the conflict between the opposites
whether this conflict is illusory
in that illusion we are caught
which has become a habit
or there is only 'what is'
and therefore there is no opposite to it.
11:35
I hope this is not becoming too intellectual, is it?
Or too verbal, or too nonsensical.
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11:49
Because as long as we live in opposites
jealousy and non-jealousy
the good and the bad
the ignorant and the enlightened
there must be this constant conflict in duality.
Of course there is duality:
man, woman, light and shade, dark, light and darkness
morning and evening and so on
but psychologically, inwardly
we are asking whether there is an opposite at all.
Is goodness the outcome of that which is bad?
If it is the outcome of that which is bad, evil
I don't like to use the word 'evil'
because that is so appallingly misused
as is every other word in the English language
if goodness is the opposite of the bad
then that very goodness is the outcome of the bad
therefore it is not goodness.
13:16
Right?
Do we see in ourselves, not as an idea, as a conclusion
as something somebody has suggested to you
but actually do we see anything born out of an opposite
must contain its own opposite?
Right?
So if that is so
then there is only 'what is', which has no opposite.
Right?
Is somebody meeting me?
We are meeting each other?
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14:04
So as long as we have an opposite there cannot be freedom.
Goodness
is totally unrelated to that which is evil
which is bad - in quotes 'bad'.
As long as we are violent
to have the opposite which is non-violent
creates a conflict
and the non-violence is born out of violence.
The idea of non-violence is the outcome of being
aggressive, abrasive, anger and so on.
So there is only violence, not its opposite.
Then we can deal with violence.
As long as we have an opposite
then we are trying to achieve the opposite.
I wonder if you see?
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15:38
So, is freedom the opposite of non-freedom?
Or freedom has nothing whatsoever to do with its opposite?
Please we have to understand this very carefully
because we are going to go into something, which is:
is love the opposite of hate
the opposite of jealousy
the opposite of
sensation?
So as long as we are living in this habit of opposites
which we are - I must, I must not
I am, I shall be
I have been and in the future something will take place
all this is the activity, the movement of the opposites.
Right sir?
Do we
May we go on?
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17:06
So we are asking: is freedom
totally unrelated to that which we call non-freedom?
If it is then how is that freedom to be lived
understood and acted, from which action takes place?
We have always acted from the opposites.
Right?
I am in prison and I must be free of it.
I must get out.
I am in bondage to a habit
psychologically as well as physiologically
and I must be free of it to become something else.
Right?
So we are caught in the habit
of this everlasting corridor of opposites
and so there is never an ending to conflict
to struggle, to be this and not that.
I think this is fairly clear.
Can we go on from there?
18:36
You are not listening to me:
you are discovering this for yourself.
If you are, it has significance
meaning and can be lived daily
but if you are merely accepting the idea of it
from another, from the speaker
then you are merely living in the world of ideas
and therefore the opposites remain.
The word 'idea'
the root meaning of it, from Greek and so on
is to observe.
See what we have made of that word!
Just to observe, and not conclude
or make an abstraction from what you have observed into an idea.
So we are caught in ideas and we never observe.
If we do observe we make an abstraction of it into an idea.
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20:03
So we are saying:
freedom is unconnected with bondage
whether it is the bondage of habit
physical or psychological
the bondage of attachment and so on.
So there is only freedom, not its opposite.
If we understand the truth of it
then we will deal only with 'what is'
and not with 'what should be'
which is its opposite.
Have you got it?
Are we meeting each other somewhere?
Right?
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21:04
Q: Yes.
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21:05
K: May we go on?
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21:07
Q: Yes.
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21:09
K: So if that is very clear
that there is only the fact, the 'what is'
and there is no opposite to 'what is'.
See, if you understand that basically, the truth of it
you are dealing with facts
unemotionally
unsentimentally, then you can do something.
The fact itself will do something.
But as long as we move away from the fact
the fact and the opposite will continue.
You've understood?
So we are asking now if that is clear
not because somebody said so
because you have discovered this for yourself
fundamentally, it is yours, not mine.
Then we can proceed to enquire into this whole question
which is very complex: what is love?
22:34
If we are sentimental, romantic and imaginative
and Raphaelites and mid-Victorians
then we will never even put that question.
But if we put aside all sentiment
all emotional response to that word
or having any conclusions about that word
then we can proceed sanely
healthily rationally into this question of what is love.
Do you understand?
Right?
So first of all are we approaching the question
without a motive, without sentiment, without prejudice?
Because the approach matters enormously
rather than the object itself.
Right?
Do we meet this?
Am I putting you all to sleep or what (Laughter)
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23:59
So do we know how we approach this question?
Are we aware of our approach to it?
We say, 'Yes, I know what love is'
and therefore you have stopped enquiring.
So, as we said, the approach to the problem
is more important than the problem itself.
Don't make it into a slogan or a cliché
then you have lost it.
So are we clear how we approach this question?
If the approach is correct, accurate
in the sense there is no personal conclusion, or opinion
or experience, then you are approaching it afresh
then you are approaching it with a sense of deep enquiry.
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25:26
So we are saying: what is love?
Theologians have written volumes about it.
The priests throughout the world
have given a significance to it.
Every man and woman throughout the world
gives a specific meaning to it.
If they are sensual
they give that meaning and so on, so on, so on.
So being aware how we approach it
openly, freely, without any motive
then the door is open to perceive what it is.
Right?
We close the door to perception
if we come to it with an opinion
with some conclusion, with our own personal little experience.
26:43
We have closed the door and there is nothing to
you can't investigate, but if you come to it openly
freely, eagerly to find out then the door opens
you can look through.
Alright?
Please, are we doing this?
Because I think this may solve all our human problems.
The approach and what is love.
In the mechanistic world it doesn't exist.
To the totalitarian people
that word is probably an abomination
they only know it as the love of the country, the love of the State.
27:44
Or if you are a Christian you have love of God
or love of Jesus, or love of somebody.
In India it is the love of their particular guru
or their particular deity and so on.
So we are asking, putting all that aside
not ignorantly but seeing what they have done
what religions have done with that word
and perhaps with the feeling behind that word
being aware of all that, we must go into this.
Right?
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28:34
It means we must not only look what others have done to the word
how they have imposed certain conclusions upon our minds
throughout the ages, and also
what our own inclinations are
being aware of all that
let's approach it tentatively.
What is love?
Is it pleasure?
Go on sir, enquire, dig into yourself and find out.
Is it pleasure?
For most of us it is
sexual pleasure which is called love, sensory pleasure.
And that sensory pleasure
sexual pleasure has been called love.
And that apparently dominates the world.
It dominates the world
because probably in our own lives it dominates us.
30:03
So we have identified love with that thing called pleasure
and is love pleasure?
Which doesn't mean that love is not pleasure.
You must enquire into it
it may be totally, something entirely different.
But first we must enquire into it.
Right?
Is love desire?
Is love remembrance?
Please.
Which means, is love
the remembered experience as pleasure
and the demand of thought as desire, with its image
and the pursuit of that image is called love.
Is that love?
Right sir?
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31:35
And is being attached to a person
or to a country, to an idea, is that love?
Attachment, dependence.
Please look into yourself, not listen to me
I am not worth listening to.
But what is significant, what is worthwhile
is that you listen to yourself
when these questions are being put
you have to answer it for yourself because it is your daily life.
And if attachment is not love
and if attachment is love
what are the implications involved in it?
32:34
You understand my question?
If we say love is pleasure
then we must see the whole consequences
and the implications of that statement.
Then we depend entirely on sensory
sexual excitement, which is called love.
And with it goes all the suffering, the anxiety
the desire to possess
and from that possessive desire attachment.
And where you are attached there is fear
fear of loss.
And from that arises jealousy, anxiety
anger, gradual hatred.
Right?
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33:41
And also we must see
what are the consequences if it is not pleasure.
Then what is love
which is not jealousy, attachment
remembrance
pursuit of pleasure through imagination and desire and so on?
Is love then the opposite of all this?
You follow?
I am lost!
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34:38
We said is love
the opposite of pleasure, of attachment, of jealousy.
If love is that, then that love contains jealousy
attachment and all the rest of it.
Therefore
love, seeing all the implications of attachment
pursuit of desire
the continuous reel of remembrances:
I loved and I am not loved
I remember that particular sexual pleasure
or that particular incident which gave me delight
so the pursuit of that
and the opposite of what is called love
is then love the opposite of hate?
Do you understand?
Or love has no opposite.
You're following all this?
It's hot.
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36:07
So we are finding out
please go with it you will see something
extraordinary come out of this.
I don't know what is coming out of it myself
but I can feel something extraordinary coming out of it.
If you all listen to yourselves, actually.
And the religions have made love of god
love of Jesus, love of Krishna, love of Buddha
you follow?
- totally unrelated to daily life.
And we are concerned with the understanding
and finding the truth of our daily life
the totality of it, not just sex or power or position
or jealousy, or some idiotic complex one has
but the whole structure and the nature
of the extraordinary life in which we live.
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37:16
So as we said, the opposite is not love.
If we understand that
that through negation of what it is not
which means, not negating or denying
in the sense of pushing it away, resisting it
controlling it but understanding the whole nature
and the structure and the implications of desire
of pleasure, of remembrance.
Out of that comes the sense of intelligence
which is the very essence of love.
Right?
Are we meeting each other sir?
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38:21
You say this is impossible.
I am young, I am full of beans
and I am full of sex, and I want to indulge in it.
You may call it whatever you like but I like that.
Till I catch some disease
or some man or woman runs away with another
then begins the whole circus
jealousy, anxiety, fear, hatred and so on.
So what is one to do when one is young
full of life, all the glands highly active
what is one to do?
Don't look at me!
(Laughter)
Look at yourself.
Which means - please listen
which means you cannot possibly
depend on another to find out the answer.
39:52
You have to be a light to yourself.
You have to be a light to yourself in understanding
desire, remembrance, the whole attachment
and all that - understand it, live it, find out.
Find out how thought pursues pleasure endlessly.
If you understand the depth
and the fullness and the clarity of all that
then one will not be in a state of perpetual control
then guilt and regret - you follow?
All that one goes through when one is young
if one is sensitive.
If you are merely out for pleasure, well
that is a different matter.
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41:03
So love is not the opposite of hate
of desire, or pleasure.
So love is something entirely different from all that
because love has no opposite.
If you really understand this
go into it, not catch my enthusiasm, my vitality
my interest, my intensity
then you will find out
what is much more inclusive than that, is compassion.
The very word is passion for everything
for the rock, for the stray animal, for the birds
for the trees, for nature, for human beings.
How that compassion expresses itself
when there is that compassion, actually
not theoretically and all that nonsense
when there is actually that state of compassion
all action from that is action of intelligence.
42:45
Because you cannot have love
if you haven't understood the whole movement of thought.
One cannot grasp the full beauty
the significance and the depth of that word
without understanding the whole business of attachment
not intellectually but actually
whether you are free from attachment
from the man or the woman
from the house, from the particular carpet
or particular something or other that you own.
Right?
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43:36
So out of that investigation and awareness
of all the significance of that
from that there comes intelligence
not born of books and cunning thought and discussions
and clever expressions and all that
but the understanding of what love is not
and putting all that aside.
Not say well, I will find out gradually
when I am dead and buried, or just before what attachment
Now, today, to find out while you are sitting there
listening to yourself
to be free completely from all attachment
from your wife, from your husband, from your girl
attachment - do you understand?
Can you?
Not resist it, not throw it away
I am going to fight it, I am going to exercise my will
to resist and so on, so on, so on.
Will is part of desire.
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44:55
So can you put aside
attachment, dependence
and not become cynical, bitter
withdraw and resist.
Because you have understood it
what attachment implies
and in the very understanding of it, it drops away
and it drops away because you are intelligent
there is intelligence.
That intelligence is not yours or mine, it is intelligence.
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45:34
So then the action of compassion
can only come through intelligence.
It is like those people who love animals
protect animals - and wear their fur, right?
You have seen all this, haven't you?
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46:07
When we have understood this to its very depth
then we can proceed to enquire
into this problem of fear with regard to death.
Right?
Do you want to go into it?
No, no please, don't (laughs)
don't casually say, 'Yes, let's do it, for fun'.
Because most of us whether we are young or old
whether we are diseased, or lame
or blind or deaf or ignorant
poor, we are frightened of death.
It is part of our tradition, part of our culture
part of our daily life to avoid this thing called death.
We have read all about it.
We have seen people die
you have shed tears over them
and felt this enormous sense of isolation, loneliness
and the fear of all that.
47:42
And from that there is this great sorrow
grief, not only the human sorrow of two human beings
but also there is this great sorrow
global sorrow, sorrow in the world.
I don't know if you are aware of all this.
We have had recently two wars
hasn't that created immense sorrow for mankind?
No?
Think how many women, children
people have cried and shed tears.
They are not yours or my tears, but human tears, of humanity.
So there is a global sorrow
the sorrow of the world
and a particular human being with his sorrow.
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48:57
Are you getting mesmerised by me?
I am a little anxious
I question this all the time because you are so very silent
and I hope that silence indicates
the non-movement, of physical movement
and the non-movement of thought
does it indicate that you are really deeply concerned
deeply enquiring, putting your whole heart and mind
and everything that you have into this understanding of all this?
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49:42
So before we go into the question of death
we must also understand the nature of sorrow:
why we shed tears
why we rationalise sorrow
why we hold on to it.
In the Christian world sorrow is put on the cross
and it's finished with it.
You have idealised or put away that sorrow through one person
and that person is going to redeem you from sorrow.
You know all this, don't you?
So one never goes into this whole question of sorrow.
In the Asiatic world sorrow is explained
through various theories - very intelligent, very clever.
51:01
There is great possibility in their theories
but yet in the Asian world
including India, there is still sorrow.
So we are asking whether man can ever be free from it.
Because we are asking this question
to find out its right place
the right place of sex, money
physical security, technological knowledge and so on.
All these have their right place.
When once you have put these in their right place, freedom comes.
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51:56
So sorrow:
the word sorrow
in that is involved passion.
Passion, not lust
but that quality of mind
when sorrow is completely, totally understood
and gone into
seeing the whole significance of it
then out of that comes passion.
Not to paint pictures - I don't mean all that kind of stuff.
The passion
that quality of energy
which is not dependent on anything
environment, good food and so on
it is that tremendous quality of energy
which may be termed as passion.
53:12
It comes out of the understanding
of this burden which man has carried for millennia.
Why do we suffer, psychologically?
You may have physical pain, injury, disease, crippled
and is it possible - please listen quietly
is it possible to put pain, physical pain in its right place
and not let it interfere with the psychological state
of the mind - you understand what I am saying?
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54:03
One has
often physical pain in different forms.
Or one may have serious sickness
or crippled
and that sickness, that disease, and so on
not to allow all that to interfere with the freedom
with the freshness of the mind.
That requires tremendous awareness
watchfulness to say physical pain not to be registered
you understand?
- psychologically.
Are we meeting each other?
You have been to a dentist - haven't you?
so have I, all of us have been
and there is considerable pain sitting there by the hour
and not to register that pain at all.
55:41
Then, if you register it
then you are frightened to go there again, fear comes in.
Whereas if you don't register it
the pain, you follow?
quite a different quality of mind, brain comes into action.
So we went into the question of registration
very clearly, carefully, so I won't go into it now.
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56:13
So similarly
we live with sorrow
and perhaps that is getting more and more
expansive, through divorce, people are divorced
and their children go through a terrible time
the children suffer
neurotic, all that goes on with the children.
They are fed up with their present wife
and for various sexual and other reasons
and they chase another woman, or man
you follow all this?
- this is happening.
And, so there is tremendous suffering in the world
the people who are in prison
the poverty that exists in India and Asia
incredible poverty.
57:37
And the sorrow of a world
of those who live in Totalitarian States.
We were talking the other day to a person
just in Switzerland we met them
and we asked them a question, saying how do you tolerate all this?
He said, 'We get used to it'.
No, no, see what the implications are.
We get used to oppression, suppression, fear
watching always what we are saying, we get used to it.
As we have got used to our own particular little environment
you understand what I am saying?
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58:34
So, is it possible to be totally free from sorrow?
If the mind, if the brain is capable
of not indulging in its own misery
in its own loneliness
in its own anxieties, travail and struggle
and you know fear and all that
therefore there is no centre from which you act.
The centre being the 'me'
with all the things that we've included in that
as long as that exists there must be sorrow.
So the ending of sorrow is the ending of 'me', the ego.
Which doesn't mean the ending of 'me' implies
callousness, indifference - on the contrary.
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1:00:04
So we know what sorrow is
and never to run away from it
just to live with it, capture it, understand it
go into it at the moment, not a few days later
after you have been through all kinds of struggle
just to never move from that fact.
Then there is no conflict about it.
Then out of that comes a totally different kind of energy
which is passion.
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1:00:46
So now we'll have to go, if we have time
Beg your pardon?
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1:00:54
Q: Twenty seven past….
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1:00:55
K: Oh, we've got some more time.
So we can go into the question of what is death.
All this is necessary to find out what is meditation
you understand?
To be free of hurts, wounds, psychologically
to be free of fear
to understand the whole movement of pleasure
the nature and the structure of thought
and the thought that has created the division:
the 'me' and the thing which is observed is not 'me'
you follow?
- all the divisions.
To understand all this and lay the foundation
then one can really meditate
otherwise you live in illusions
some kind of fanciful day dreaming.
Or you go to Japan, or Burma
I don't know if you can go to Burma nowadays
Japan and learn Zen meditation.
1:02:16
It is all such nonsense!
Because unless you put your house in order
the house that is burning, that is being destroyed
unless you put your house, that is yourself, in order
to sit under a tree in a cross-legged Lotus position
or whatever position you take, is utterly meaningless.
You can delude yourself
you can have illusions galore.
So that is why it is important to understand
and be free of anxiety, fear, attachment
and whether it is possible to find out the ending of sorrow.
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1:03:19
Then we can go into the question of death.
I wonder why we are all so frightened of it.
Have you ever asked: what does it mean to end
anything?
What does it mean to end attachment?
To end it.
Say at this moment, sitting there
observing yourself very carefully
and realising that you are attached to a person
or to something or other, ideas, your experience and so on.
To end that attachment now without argument, without etc.
etc.
Just end it.
Then what takes place?
You understand my question?
I am attached to this house, behind me - I hope not!
And realising that I am attached
not theoretically or in abstraction, but actually
the feeling of possessing that
being something there, all that nonsense.
1:05:08
To observe that
be aware of that attachment and end it instantly.
The ending is tremendously important.
The ending of a habit
smoking or whatever habit one has, to end it.
So one must understand what it means to end something
without effort, without will
without asking, 'If I end this will I get that?'
then you are in the market.
When you are in the market place you say
'I will give you this, give me that'
which most of us consciously or unconsciously do.
That is not ending.
To end and find out what happens.
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1:06:23
So in the same way, death.
Please hold on to it for a minute
don't say, 'Is there life after death?'
'Do you believe in reincarnation?'
As I said, I don't believe in anything.
Full stop.
Including reincarnation.
But I want to find out
one must find out what it means to die.
It must be an extraordinary state.
That is freedom from the known
you understand this?
I know my life, your life.
You know your life very well, if you have gone into it
observed it, carefully watched all the reactions
and your behaviour, your lack of sensitivity
or being sensitive escape into insensitivity
and so on and so on, so on.
1:07:34
You know your life very well, if you have watched it.
And all that is going to end.
Right?
Your attachment is going to end when you die.
You can't carry it with you
but you may like to have it till the last moment.
Right?
So can you end your habit, one habit
without arguing, rationalising, fighting it
you know, say finit terminat, finished, over?
Then what happens.
You will find out only if you don't exercise will.
Right?
'I will give up'
whatever your particular habit is.
1:08:49
Then you are struggling with it
you are battling with it, you are running away from it
suppressing it and all the rest of it goes on.
But if you say
'Yes, I'll end it, it doesn't matter, I'll end it'
see what happens.
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1:09:07
In the same way death implies the ending.
The ending of everything that one has collected during this life:
the furniture, the name, the form
your experiences, your opinions, your judgements
your jealousies, your gods, your worship, your prayers
your rituals, everything comes to an end.
The brain, which has carried immemorial memories
and tradition and thoughts
that brain lacking oxygen peters out.
That is, the 'me' which has collected so much
the 'me' is the collection of all this.
1:10:17
Right? That is obvious. No?
The 'me' is my fear, the 'me' is my attachment
my anger, my jealousy, my fears, pleasure
my attachment, my bitterness, my aggression
that is the 'me'.
And that 'me' is going to come to an end.
That 'me' is projected by thought
which is the outcome of knowledge
the knowledge of my 50, 60, or 30 or 20 or 80 or 100 years
that is the fact, the knowledge, the known.
The ending of the known
which is the freedom from the known, is death, isn't it?
No?
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1:11:31
And so one must find out
whether the mind can be free from the known.
Not at the end of 30 years later but now.
The end of the known
which is 'me', the world I live in, all that.
The 'me' is memories - please listen to all this
the 'me' is memories, experiences
the knowledge which I have acquired
through forty, sixty, thirty, twenty, or a hundred years
the 'me' that has struggled
the 'me' that is attached to this house, to this woman
to this man, to this child, to this furniture, to this carpet
the 'me' that is the experience
that I have gathered through a number of years
the knowledge, the pain, and the anxiety, the fears
the jealousies, the hurts, the beliefs being a Christian
love of Jesus, love of Christ, all that is 'me'.
1:12:46
And that 'me' is just a lot of words - no?
A lot of memories.
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1:13:01
So can I be free from the known
end the known now
not when death comes and says
'Get out old boy, it is your time'.
Now.
But we cling to the known because we don't know anything else.
We cling to our sorrows, that's our we cling to our life
the life which is pain, anxiety
you know all that, you know all this
that is our daily, miserable life.
And if the mind doesn't cling to it at all
there is an ending to all that.
But unfortunately we never end.
We are always saying
'Yes, all right, I'll end it but what is going to happen?'
1:14:18
So we want comfort in the ending
do you understand sirs?
So somebody comes along and says
'Old boy, believe in this
that will give you tremendous comfort'
All the priests throughout the world come
and pat your shoulder or hold your hand when you are crying
they give you comfort, the love of Jesus
or he will save you, do this and do that.
Do you understand?
We are saying, the ending in which there is no time
the ending of time, which is death - you understand?
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1:15:16
So what takes place when there is the ending of 'me'
the known, and when there is freedom from the known?
Is that ever possible?
It is only possible
when the mind has understood
and put everything in its right place
so there is no conflict.
When there is freedom from this known
what is there?
Do you understand my question?
Do you ask that question?
I'll end my attachment to this house
to that woman, or to that boy or to that girl
I'll end it.
And then what?
Don't you ask that?
1:16:19
If you do ask it, 'then what'
you have approached the whole problem inadequately.
You will never ask that question, 'then what'.
The very question, 'then what'
implies that you have really not actually
dropped, ended something.
It is the lazy mind that says, 'then what'.
Climb the mountain and you will find out
what is on the other side.
But most of us sit on our easy chairs
and listen to the description
and are satisfied with the description.
Finished. Right?
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