Is your
past, or something in your past, holding you back? Do you keep revisiting the
past or some incident in the past to such an extent that it’s preventing you
from living fully in the now?
Listen to these wise words from the Indian
spiritual philosopher J. Krishnamurti, pictured right and below:
We are the result of the past. Our thought is founded
upon yesterday, and many thousand yesterdays. We are the result of time, and
our responses, our present attitudes, are the cumulative effect of many
thousand moments, incidents and experiences. So the past is, for the majority
of us, the present, which is a fact, which cannot be denied. You, your thoughts,
your actions, your responses, are the result of the past.
So, how can we
be free of the past? Of course, as I’ve said many times, we should never ask
‘how’, because then we are asking for a method or technique. Methods and
techniques are forms of conditioning, which is the past. The past cannot free
us from the past. But what exactly is the past? Here is Krishnamurti
once again:
… What do we mean by the past? … We
mean, surely, the accumulated experiences, the accumulated responses, memories,
traditions, knowledge, the subconscious storehouse of innumerable thoughts,
feelings, influences and responses, With that background, it is not possible to
understand reality, because reality must be of no time: it is timeless. So, one
cannot understand the timeless with a mind which is the outcome of time. The
questioner wants to know if it is possible to free the mind, or for the mind,
which is the result of time, to cease to be, immediately; or must one go
through a long series of examinations and analyses, and so free the mind from
its background. You see the difficulty in the question.
Self-analysis tends to fail because the
‘analysing self’ is just another manifestation of self—that is, one of the
hundreds of little selves (the ‘I’s’ and ‘me’s’ in our mind). How can the self
analyse the self, or one of the many other selves within us? No effort of the
self can remove the self from the centre of its own introspection and mental
machinations. Let’s say that a thought of anger arises in your mind. The part
of your mind which analyses the anger is part of the anger. There is simply no
way, by that means, to free yourself from the background. True psychological
transformation can only arise when one is entirely free of the background (the ‘mental
furniture’). Look and observe. Be aware—choicelessly. Don’t analyse or
interpret. Just look, observe and see things as they are—both the things
outside of us as well as the contents of our own mind. The insight you gain
will change you forever—that is, if you want such change in your
life.
The good news is that you can be
totally free of the past at any moment. It’s entirely up to you. No one else
can do this for you. Yes, there can indeed be that ‘total revolution’ or ‘psychological
mutation’ of which Krishnamurti often spoke. We can instantaneously liberate
ourselves from the past and from past conditioning including beliefs and
misbeliefs of all kinds if we refuse to analyse or dissect the content
of our consciousness (the ‘background’ or ‘mental furniture’) and simply see
things as they really are, without judgment or evaluation.
In what
follows, Krishnamurti describes, much better than I could ever hope to do, the
essential features of a mind that is ‘mindful’ (or, to use his word,
'tranquil'):
Now, to put it very simply, when you want to understand
something, what is the state of your mind? When you want to understand your
child, when you want to understand somebody, something that someone is saying,
what is the state of your mind? You are not analysing, criticizing, judging
what the other is saying; you are listening, are you not? Your mind is in a
state where the thought process is not active, but is very alert. Yes? And that
alertness is not of time, is it? You are merely being alert, passively
receptive, and yet fully aware; and it is only in this state that there is
understanding. Surely, when the mind is agitated, questioning, worrying,
dissecting, analysing, there is no understanding. And when there is the
intensity to understand, the mind is obviously tranquil.
So, this is what you can choose to do—if
you really want to be free, forever,
and instantaneously, from the bondage of the past. Watch, almost with
disinterest, whatever happens, as if it were happening to someone else.
Let there be no comment, judgment or attempt to change anything. Note the
presence of any unhealthy, painful thoughts, emotions or memories, but give them
no power or attention. Don’t suppress or deny them. Don’t resist them, for
whatever you resist, persists. Simply observe … choicelessly … and then let go. And let it be.
Acknowledgment
is made, and gratitude is expressed, to
the Krishnamurti Foundation of America,
Ojai, California, USA. Krishnamurti Excerpts: Benares 2nd Public Talk, 23 January 1949.
RELATED POSTS
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
See the Terms of Use and Disclaimer. The information provided on this blog is
not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Never
delay or disregard seeking professional medical advice from your medical
practitioner or other qualified health provider because of something you read
on this blog.
