THE MINDFUL ART OF KNOWING ONESELF

Most of us---except those who, for reasons best known to themselves, prefer the 'unexamined life' (which, as Socrates supposedly pointed out, is not worth living)---want to know more about ourselves. We want what is often referred to as 'self-knowledge,' for with that, so we have been told, comes a certain 'power,' 'presence' and---most importantly---'peace of mind.' However, few of us have any real idea of how to gain true knowledge of who we really are.

Many people meditate, in various well-known ways, in order to gain so-called 'self-knowledge.' However, as the great Indian spiritual philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti (pictured left) pointed out more than once, without knowing yourself there cannot possibly be a state of meditation. Meditation is self-knowledge. Self-knowledge is meditation.

That is why mindfulness meditation has one great advantage---it actually has several---over other forms of meditation where the ‘method’ employed is usually to sit still and concentrate. Mindfulness meditation, on the other hand, ‘happens’ while living, so to speak, and is applied to the whole of one’s life and daily living---from one moment to the next. It is meditation without ceasing---something like what the Apostle Paul (pictured below right) perhaps had in mind when he gave the advice to ‘pray without ceasing’ (1 Thes 5:17). True meditation has no ‘method’---it simply happens all by itself or not at all. It ‘happens’ when you simply---observe! Here is a YouTube video clip in which Krishnamurti and Dr Allan W Anderson have a discussion to find out what meditation truly is:

True self-knowledge means knowing the whole content of your mind and consciousness and the experience of your body---yes, every thought, every feeling, every mood, every sensation. And what do I mean by ‘knowing’? It means paying bare attention to, and being choicelessly aware, of every thought, every feeling, every mood, and every sensation, as they arise from one moment to the next, and observing where they come from. There must be no analysis, no judgments, no interpretations, no self-criticism. If you engage in any of the foregoing, you are no longer living in the present, you are back in the past---inextricably caught (indeed, bound) up in bundles of memories, belief systems, opinions, ideas and so forth. Bad stuff. You bet! Why? Well, it’s very simple. All those things prevent you---yes, prevent you---from experiencing life in all its directness and immediacy.

That is why I am totally and implacably opposed to religions and ideologies which require you to believe 'this' or 'that.' Unfortunately, Christianity, except in its more liberal, progressive and esoteric forms, is a religion of beliefs. Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism and Islam are not, for the most part, religions of belief. You can be a Buddhist, Hindu, Jew or Muslim without holding any specific beliefs. Not so with Christianity, the two main creeds of which begin with the words 'I/We believe.' A so-called 'secular Christian' is an oxymoron if ever there was one, but there can be, and indeed are, secular Muslims, Jews, etc. As for ideologies, Marxism is an example of a belief-based ideology, but I digress. Forgive me. 

Beliefs are a menace to society---and a total, impenetrable barrier to true knowledge and wisdom. Beliefs are always someone else's 'version' of reality---the result of someone else's conditioned mind, mental habits and fragmentary thinking, that is, the past. There is nothing of any value to believe, and there is nothing to be gained by believing anything or anyone. Just observe. Then you will know---and understand. You do not need to believe anything, and if you truly want to know---don't believe! Beliefs, being 'mechanical' in nature, and constructed entirely of past thoughts, are for spiritual cripples---that is, those who can't, or won't, think for themselves. In that regard, I have always found helpful these words attributed to the Buddha: 'Do not believe, for if you believe, you will never know. If you really want to know, don't believe.' My point exactly.

So, we must merely observe, that is, be aware---choicelessly so---of the movement of the mind, otherwise you are back in the past---the so-called conditioned mind with all its baggage and wallpaper. Merely observe.

Of course, that’s not an easy thing to do. As soon as we become aware of something, we almost invariably start to analyze, judge, form an opinion as to whether or not we like it, and so forth. We get caught up in the movement of the mind, which is nothing other than the ‘self.’ As I have said many times before, the problem with the movement of the mind as self is that it is a veritable prison. Unless we are freed from the bondage of self, there is no hope for us. The thousands of ‘I’s’ and ‘me’s’ are nothing more memory and habit.

Krishnamurti denied the separate, independent existence of a ‘Self’ (with a capital ‘S’)---that is, a ‘Supreme Self,’ a ‘Big Self,’ a ‘Higher Self,’ or ‘Atman.’ For Krishnamurti, any such concept was ‘still within the field of thought.’ Possibly. However, the ‘Self’ of which I speak is simply the absence, or freedom from the bondage, of the thousands of ‘I’s’ and ‘me’s’ which, in themselves, have no separate, independent existence. As I see it, the ‘Self’ of you is nothing more nor less than the presence of the very livingness of life in you and as you---that is, the person that you are. End of the matter. I am not referring to anything ‘supernatural’ or ‘hocus pocus.’ When you get rid of the ‘little selves’---which are illusory in any event---you are left with the so-called ‘Big Self.’ It’s as simple as that---so please keep it simple.

Most self-knowledge is anything but knowledge of the person that you are. All too often, the knowledge is nothing more than the ceaseless, mindless, senseless activity of the waxing and waning I’s’ and ‘me’s’ which are solely the result of conditioned mind and thinking. The result of such ‘self’ observation? More and more bondage to self. More and more self-obsession and self-absorption. Not a good thing.

You are wasting your time meditating unless you understand the reality of what I have just written. Krishnamurti wrote that you must first establish ‘deeply, irrevocably, that virtue which comes about through self-knowing, is utterly deceptive and absolutely useless.’ Strong stuff, but undeniably true.

So, don’t engage in self-deception, which is just another way of describing what the world refers to as so-called 'self-knowledge.' The true ‘emptiness’ of which the mystics and the holy ones---in all religious traditions and none---have spoken comes from a total surrender, a letting go, of all desire to do anything other than to observe, to be aware, to know---yes, a letting go of 'self.' Freedom comes from the realization that only a free mind---a mind which is free from conditioning and beliefs of all kinds---can both enquire and know. The problem with most Westerners is that we have taken too seriously the ‘advice’ that we must analyze everything, form opinions, believe this or that, and so forth. It’s all self-deception and self-delusion. There is no ‘way’ to be free---and certainly no ‘path.’ The way to be free is to be free.

There is no ‘path’ to true self-knowledge. There is no ‘technique’ or ‘method’ that can be employed, so don't bother trying to find one---and reject all those so-called 'gurus' and 'teachers' who would try to teach (or sell) you one. If you are looking for, or relying upon, any of those things or persons, you will not acquire self-knowledge. You may acquire knowledge of ‘this’ or ‘that’---but no knowledge of the person that you are. I am deadly serious---as always.

Acknowledgment is made, and gratitude is expressed,
to the Krishnamurti Foundation of America, Ojai, California, USA.

RELATED POSTS

A SPIRITUAL GUIDE TO MINDFUL LIVING

YOUR MIND IS ITS OWN PRISON

MINDFULNESS, THE ‘SELF’ AND SERENITY

PIERCING THE MOMENT WITH MINDFULNESS

MINDFULNESS, PSYCHOLOGICAL MUTATION AND HEALING

KNOW THYSELF! UNCHAIN THYSELF! RIGHT NOW! RIGHT NOW!

SLAVES OF THE 'I'---EVEN UNTO DEATH

HOW INSIGHT MEDITATION WORKS

BETTER TO NOT BELIEVE AT ALL

FORGET ABOUT HAVING A 'TRANSCENDENTAL' EXPERIENCE!

YOUR MIND IS ITS OWN PRISON

In one of his famous 1948 Mumbai talks the late J Krishnamurti (pictured left) said, 'The mind is its own prison;  therefore, transformation and liberation from suffering can only be achieved by ending of the ceaseless activities of the mind.’

Now that statement is very profound, for has it ever occurred to you that the only problem you really have is entirely---yes, entirely---of your own creation?

True, you may be facing various ‘challenges.’ Some may be financial, others may concern difficulties at work or at home, but, at the end of the day, the only problem you really have is this---you have a conditioned belief system which tends to prevent you from seeing things as they really are. Worse, this conditioned belief system results in your unconsciously attracting into your life all sorts of negative experiences which cause you much pain and suffering.

Let me explain. We perceive life through our senses and our conscious mind. Over time, beginning from the very moment of our birth, sensory perceptions harden into memories formed out of aggregates of thought and feeling. In time, the illusion of a separate 'witnessing self' emerges. However, as I have said many times before, our mental continuity and sense of identity and existence are simply the result of habit, memory and conditioning. Also, genetics has a bit to do with it as well. Hundreds and thousands of separate, ever-changing and ever-so-transient mental occurrences harden into a mental construct of sorts which is no more than a confluence of impermanent components (‘I-moments’) cleverly synthesized by the mind in a way which appears to give them a singularity and a separate and independent existence and life of their own.

Now, it is through this perception of an internally created sense of 'self' that we experience, process and interpret all external reality. For example, if you see yourself as inferior to others, you will invariably find that life takes you at your own estimation of yourself, so don’t be surprised if you find yourself being treated as a doormat. Your every experience will tend to confirm what you fear most---‘I am indeed inferior to others, and others think so, too.’ Ditto if you perceive yourself as full of fear. Your life experience will be one long self-fulfilling prophecy, and you will find yourself identifying with Job in the Bible who uttered those immortal words, ‘For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me’ (Job 3:25).

But how, exactly, is the mind its own prison? Well, the mental construct of ‘self’ which we have each built up over many years imposes limitations on how we see life. All too often, life’s experiences are filtered through a distorted lens comprised of the totality of our various self-images. Although we are always in direct contact with what is, we rarely see things as they really are because of this distorted lens. How you experience what happens to you will be determined very largely by how you see yourself.

And what are those 'ceaseless activities of the mind' of which Krishnamurti spoke? Well, our mind spends most of the day engrossed in satisfying the seemingly insatiable 'needs' of our intellect, emotions and will---not to mention the supposed 'needs' of our body as well. These so-called 'needs' are for the most part nothing other than selfish self-indulgences of innumerable kinds. We are talking about all manner of selfishness, self-centredness, self-absorption and self-obsession---self, self, self! It really is a lot of work---so much work that we seem to have no time to become acquainted with the real 'you' and 'me.' I will have more to say about that shortly. Anyway, I am reminded of what the well-known British New Thought writer James Allen wrote: 'Self is the lusting, coveting, desiring of the heart, and it is this that must be yielded up before Truth can be known, with its abiding calm and endless peace.'

Well, I almost hear you ask, 'What can I do about this state of affairs?' A lot. The first thing to do is to accept that you are a ‘person’---a vital and integral part of life's self-expression. That is what you are. You are not that 'witnessing self' which is nothing more than the aggregation of the hundreds and thousands of ‘I-moments’ you have manufactured in your lifetime. The second thing to do is to recognize that you are always in direct contact with external reality---that is, with what is. Now, once you have fully accepted that fact, you can start to live differently. To do that, you need to observe life as if there were no observer. A familiar theme of Krishnamurti was the need for observation 'without the observer.' Why? Because where there is an 'observer' there is a conditioned mind and a conditioned point of view. In other words, where there is an observer, there is a distorting lens which experiences, processes and interprets---and distorts---all that happens in our lives through an amalgam of thoughts, memories, beliefs, opinions, prejudices and biases---all of which is the past.

So, instead of experiencing reality in a direct and immediate way, we find ourselves locked in the past, and where there is the past, there can be no mindfulness. Of course, in an empirical sense there will always be an observer, in the form of the 'person' that each one of us is, but that is about the extent of it. If you can be choicelessly aware of whatever happens---that is, if you simply let be whatever impressions come to your mind, and cease to judge, analyze, compare, evaluate and interpret them---you will instantaneously liberate yourself from the bondage of self. Krishnamurti had this to say about the matter:

For the mind which is the known and the product of the past, to dissolve is the very opposite process. It means the cessation of all seeking, all thought, [for] all the mind’s activities in the nature of clinging or grasping are directed at self-assertion.

We love to assert our ‘self,’ yet it is a paradox of enormous proportions that we are always trying to escape an unwanted ‘self.’ Alcoholics and other addicts know that all too well. The mind is a prison because it lives in the past. That's right---the past. Everything in it is the past and the product of the past. Even when you try (yuk!) to act spontaneously, you will always end up acting out of your past---from habit, memory and conditioning.  However, there is hope---there is a way out! The regular practice of mindfulness, in the form of the presence of bare attention to, and choiceless awareness of, the action of the present moment experienced as the Eternal (that is, ever-present) Now will enable you, the person that you are, to use your mind to liberate the mind from the bondage of the past and the conditioned ‘self.’ It is a wondrous thing to behold! If you can stop identifying with the conditioned 'self'---indeed, if you can let it go---then you will experience a state of mind---and Be-ing---which is the essence of 'no-thing-ness'. It is almost like---death! But it is really anything but that. Krishnamurti had this to say about the matter in a 1978 talk:

Another one of my favourite authors, Eckhart Tolle, expresses it well in his wonderful book The Power of Now:

You will not be free of [your] pain until you cease to derive your sense of self from identification with the mind, which is to say from ego. As long as I am my mind, I am those cravings, needs, wants, attachments and diversions and apart from them, there is no I.

Spiritual philosopher Vernon Howard wrote, 'We must clear the mind of its habitual obstacles.' That's good advice---if you really want to be free. Now, know this, for this is where all change for the better begins. You are a person among persons. In the words of Max Ehrmann (pictured right), the author of the world-famous poem ‘Desiderata,’ ‘You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.’ That is the only 'basis' on which you can come to a realization of your ‘True Self’---the Self which is always manifesting and expressing Itself in and as all things---and that is what I mean when I use the words, ‘a person among persons.’ Your mind---and its offspring (the intellect, the emotions, and the will)---together with your body are not 'you.' They are only the expression of your 'Be-ing-ness' (your 'I Am-ness'), and that Be-ing-ness is an expression of 'All-Being,' that is, life in all its fulness and totality. The True Self is that which is always in the act or state of Be-ing, and nothing---absolutely nothing---can be without manifesting and expressing some phase or aspect of this 'I,' which is the one reality that forever lives and moves and has its be-ing in and as all things.

Yes, there is an 'I' which is not one of those many false 'I's' and 'me's' that wax and wane but nevertheless make life miserable for you. This 'I'---and there is only one such 'I'---is that 'part' (for want of a better word) of you which says 'I am' and which is in fact that 'I Am.' Your 'I Am-ness' is your True Self---that in you, and in me, and in all persons and things, which simply IS. And when you come to know this Self---the very self-livingness and self-givingness of your life---to be One with all that lives, you will have succeeded in liberating yourself from the terrible bondage of self. The result? Well, those 'ceaseless activities of the mind' of which Krishnamurti spoke will---cease!

Never forget this fact---that which you think you are, you are not. It is only an illusion---a 'shadow' of the 'real' you---the person that you are. Get to know the 'real' you. How? Stop identifying with your false, illusory sense of self. In the words of Norman Vincent Peale, shift from a ‘sense of self to a sense of non-self’ (or be-ing). Live mindfully, and experience each new thing with shoshin (a ‘beginner’s mind’)---that is, with curiosity, eagerness and openness and without the conditioning of the past.

That is the only way to be free ... and to be truly alive.

RELATED POSTS

ARE YOU IN PRISON? (CHANCES ARE YOU ARE BUT DON'T KNOW IT)

MINDFULNESS, THE ‘SELF’ AND SERENITY

PIERCING THE MOMENT WITH MINDFULNESS

MINDFULNESS, PSYCHOLOGICAL MUTATION AND HEALING

KNOW THYSELF! UNCHAIN THYSELF! RIGHT NOW! RIGHT NOW!

SLAVES OF THE 'I'---EVEN UNTO DEATH

THE MINDFUL ART OF KNOWING ONESELF

IMPORTANT NOTICE: See the Terms of Use and Disclaimer. The information provided on this blogspot 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 have read on this blogspot. For immediate advice or support call Lifeline on 13 1 1 14 or Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800. For information, advice and referral on mental illness contact the SANE Helpline on 1800 18 SANE (7263) go online via sane.org

CONTINUOUS MINDFULNESS AND AWARENESS OF REALITY

Mindfulness takes meditation ... and applies it to one’s whole life.

All very good, but how does one meditate every moment of each day?

Now, when I use the word meditation I am not referring to those types of meditation where one goes into an almost trance-like state as a result of highly focused attention on some object, sound or whatever. I am referring to simply the presence of a choiceless awareness of, and bare yet curious attention to, whatever presents itself before you as your reality ... from moment to moment.

The essence of Mindfulness is to be always in the present moment. So, how does one actually go about living mindfully on a continuous moment-to-moment basis?

Well, a good starting point is to breathe consciously … slowly … and deeply as you go about your daily life.

Next, observe everything inside and outside of you. Feel the “life” all around you. Be fully present ... here and now ... in the present moment.

Here is a must. In order to know what is real you need to disidentify with your so-called “ego-self” as well as the various “me’s” within your mind ... indeed, all your “mental noise”, chatter and “movies”. Those things are not the person which, in truth, you are.

Here are some other tips ...

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 or emotions. Don’t suppress or deny them. Step back with dissociation from the “activating event”. “See” and feel the emotion instead.

Practise willingness … and acceptance.

Finally, observe, and be constantly aware .. only to understand ... for awareness is insight.