‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find;
knock, and it shall be opened unto you’ (Mt 7:7).
That’s what Jesus purportedly said. With the utmost respect---a horribly cringing expression, that---I beg to differ, Jesus. What a heretic I am! You know, I love that word ‘heresy.’
The word comes from a Greek word meaning ‘one who chooses,’ that is, chooses to be different or think differently.
Well, that’s me.
Readers of my blog will know by now that I have found much
wisdom in the writings and speeches of the Indian spiritual philosopher J. Krishnamurti [pictured right]. Now, let’s get something straight right now.
Krishnamurti is not my guru, for I have no gurus. And I don’t agree with
everything the man said, but there’s much in his ideas with which I do agree,
for those ideas have been authenticated in my own life.
In my large collection of Krishnamurti books and other
writings there is a little book appropriately entitled The Little Book on Living, edited by R E Mark Lee. The book is a
collection of aphorisms of Krishnamurti taken from various sources including material
from an unpublished manuscript Thoughts
on Living which was discovered after Krishnamurti’s death. The material
from the latter was apparently penned by Krishnamurti in 1933-34. Here is some
of what Krishnamurti wrote on the subject of ‘seeking’ and ‘searching’:
A mind that is full of light does not seek. It is only
the dull, confused mind that is always seeking and hoping to find. What it
finds is the result of its own confusion.
You will find out the true purpose of life if you do
not deliberately set out to seek it.
Live and you shall know the living truth. Seek truth,
and you shall know living death.
The search for truth is the very denial of truth.
Life passes you by if you search out experience, and it
will also pass you by if you merely wait.
Shocking?
Disturbing? I hope so.
It’s
really quite simple why we should not ‘seek’ or ‘search’ for truth or so-called
meaning in life. It has everything to do with what exactly is truth. Truth is
reality. Truth is life. Truth is not something to be found. It is something of
which we need to become more acutely aware. It is something to be experienced---consciously and mindfully. That is, with choiceless awareness of what is.
The whole idea of seeking, searching, and then supposedly finding truth is contrary to the very nature of truth, for if truth is omnipresent as moment-to-moment experience then we are always in direct and immediate contact with truth irrespective of whether or not we are mindfully aware of that truth. So, if truth is omnipresent, there is no 'space' or distance to be travelled between us and truth as well as our appreciation of truth. A 'path' or 'way' implies there is a separation between us and truth, that is, some distance to be travelled. That, however, is not the case.
The whole idea of seeking, searching, and then supposedly finding truth is contrary to the very nature of truth, for if truth is omnipresent as moment-to-moment experience then we are always in direct and immediate contact with truth irrespective of whether or not we are mindfully aware of that truth. So, if truth is omnipresent, there is no 'space' or distance to be travelled between us and truth as well as our appreciation of truth. A 'path' or 'way' implies there is a separation between us and truth, that is, some distance to be travelled. That, however, is not the case.
Of course, one of the main reasons we are not
mindfully aware of truth is we place barriers between ourselves and
truth---barriers in the form of beliefs, ideas, opinions, views, philosophies,
and prejudices of all kinds. However, once those barriers are removed, there is (as has always been the case in truth) no separation---spatial, temporal, or geographical---or distance between us and truth. That
is why Krishnamurti said, ‘Truth is a pathless land.’ That is why the great
American mythographer Joseph Campbell [pictured left] said, ‘The pathless way
is the only way now before us.’
Pathless
land. Pathless way. That's right. There is no way or path to truth. Truth just is. That much is axiomatic. If you are
following some path or way truth will pass you by. Strong stuff? In a way … and
I don’t mean that sort of ‘way.’
Years
ago, when I was searching and seeking in all directions for supposed 'answers' to life---all to no avail, I'll have you know---a cousin
of mine said to me. ‘You’re still seeking, Jonesy, aren't you?’ What he said really pissed me off no end---as well as to no end. Now, don't get me wrong. It’s not that what he said was so horribly wrong, it’s just that I've found in life that the people most
likely to say something like that have themselves little or no interest in spirituality, personal transformation, and the like. Besides, his comment was disparaging and patronizing. Enough said.
I am
no longer seeking or searching. So, have I now found truth? No, at the risk of
repeating myself (why do people always say that when they are just about to knowingly repeat themselves?), truth is not
something to be found. Truth is something to be experienced now, from moment to moment, for truth is dynamic and not static.
Mind-bending. Trying this today and it's extremely difficult. Not to seek out and yet be present to the truth that is, the 'is that is'. What would Krishnamurti say about the pursuit of goals? Since the pursuit is pursuit, and the goal is a self-made truth (but not THE Truth, which is just the state of reality being being), then I'm guessing that he'd think it was a futile waste of effort and attention. A waste of being. But perhaps he'd be partial to an approach that carefully treads (again, how do you tread on a pathless path?) or touches lightly on not seeking and paying attention to distinctions that are aligned with one's abilities, leading to a more effort-less attraction to that state which is more in alignment with your strengths/inner light? obejctively, one might reach the same 'goal' as a hard-charging achiever bent on 'success!' or 'fulfillment!' or 'enlightenment!', but the journey (again, a journey on a pathless path? again words fail) is a radically different enterprise (again, how can one embark on an enterprise without a path, without a truth, if there is no path and the truth is what is is? perhaps the different is purely perceptual, rooted in a perceptual shift of reality, being, and is being is. ) Just some thoughts. -Eric in Virginia Beach
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments and questions, dear Eric. Truth is paradoxical. There is no path to Truth, so, as Joseph Campbell wrote, 'The path less way is the only way now before us.' In other words, there is no way until our feet have trod it. That last statement of truth comes from a wonderful Theosophist in the US, who has been president of The Theosophical Society in America as well as president of The Theosophical Society in Australia, a woman I regard as a friend. Her name? Joy Mills. As for goals, my reading of Krishnamurti's voluminous writings is that he was only opposed to goal-seeking where it was escapist or purely egoistic in nature. Just as life moves only in one direction, so must we move ever-onward and forward, from one moment to the next, but we need to do this purposefully and with awareness. The most important goal is to remain awake at all times. As for the pursuit of other goals, well, Krishnamurti spoke strongly against selfishness which he regarded as the essential problem of our time. The solution, says, K is love. So, goal seeking, say, to be a doctor, and the best doctor you can be, is quite okay. The path is nothing more than the ceaseless movement of life ever-onwards. That is not a path to truth, because truth is ever with us and in us at each and every point along the way. That is why there is no path or way to Truth as such, nor is there any need for any such path or way. Once again,mthanks, Eric. I hope all is well with you and your loved ones.
ReplyDelete