THE NATURE OF THE MIND No. 1: Roots of Psychological Disorder What is psychological disorder and what is required for fundamental psychological change? Isn't self-centred activity the origin, the beginning of all disorder? Is disorder the very nature of the self? Have the psychologists tackled that problem, that the self is the origin, the beginning of all contradiction, divisive activity? Human conditioning is to struggle, to suffer. Are we saying that it is natural in nature and in human beings to suffer, to go through agonies, to live in disorder? I am society, I am the world, I am the result of all these influences, conditioning. And also my own individualistic activity has created this society. I am conditioned that way. Do we accept the condition that we are in? Is it not possible to be free of my conditioning? |
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THE NATURE OF THE MIND No. 2: Psychological Suffering Q: Is it possible to live a life free from disorder? Q: What is security? We are hurt by parents, school, university. Is it possible not to be hurt and not to hurt? A lot of ideas, emotions, reactions, all that is me. Is it possible not to have images at all? I identify with my nation because that gives me a certain strength, status, security. Why do we want to identify with something? And why do we want to become? Avoidance, of "what is" is an escape, but to say, look, this is what I am, let's look at it, is not. If I see the fact that responsibility is order, I am responsible for keeping this house clean, as we all live on this earth it is our earth, not the British , or French or German earth. And we have divided ourselves because in this division we think there is security. In isolation there is neither security nor order. |
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THE NATURE OF THE MIND No. 3: The Need For Security Q: Is there such a thing as absolute psychological security? Why do I want psychological security? So that I feel completely content, without fear, anxiety, agony? Is it that unconsciously we know that the self, the me, the ego is really unstable? Is that why human beings, want security, God, the saviour? If the content of our consciousness can be changed would there be any need for security? The whole content of one's consciousness is unclear, messy. The difficulty is that we don't recognize deeply that this messy consciousness is me. Does one realize this and empty the content of consciousness? Are you willing to do that so that actually the self is not? |
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THE NATURE OF THE MIND No. 4: What is a Healthy Mind? Q: What is the importance of attention? Q: Is there anything sacred in life? Attention implies a great deal of care, affection, love. Not just mental, but attention with all your being. Perhaps you have established a very profound relationship, where there is love. I may reject you, but you have that responsibility of love. And not only to a particular person, but to humanity. Thought thinks that what it has created is holy. Can we reject this and understand that there is nothing holy about thought? If I want to find out if there is anything sacred I must start very near and the very near is me. Can I free myself from fear and agony, sorrow and despair? When there is freedom I can move, I can climb mountains. Is attention an act of will? In attention is the mind silent? Has the mind stopped thinking? When there is a great silence, then that which is eternal is. |
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Q1: Our children are aware of the threatening world they live in. The violence of crime, wars, nuclear danger. How do we help them face this? Q2: Great leaders have been on earth: Buddha, Jesus. Will there be less conflict, more understanding when you depart, or is the world moving in an unalterable direction? Q3: My behaviour indicates that I am afraid. Yet the actual perception of fear is elusive. How do I reach and deal with this deep-rooted but unconscious emotion? |
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Q1: The act of attention is difficult to maintain. Only a small part of one is willing, interested seriously. What can one do to nourish this attention? Q2: What is an action and state of being that is completely pure? Q3: Can we truly be enlightened through words? Can symbols undo the damage done by symbols, or are we being seduced by illusions of enlightenment? Q4: Why do we not change? Q5: Can you speak more deeply about the meaning of holiness and especially its place in the modern world? |
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Q1: How do you feel about one million dollars going to educate a small, somewhat select group of children that do not appear to be from the suffering or destitute? Q2: Why do we claim personal functions, such as teaching, work, as attributes of ourselves, thereby introducing power and consequently harm? Q3: Is not political action necessary to bring about total change? Q4: Won't we find the truth you speak of through loving service to humanity, through acts of love and compassion? Q5: Do levels of spirituality or consciousness exist? Can psychic healing, astral projection, the ability to see auras interfere with our ability to see clearly? Q6: What is it in humanity that has always moved towards something called religion? Is it only a result of fear and suffering or something real, necessary, intelligent? |
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Q1: Though one sees the necessity of much deeper fundamental human change, could the speaker comment on the issue of active political involvement. Q2: You say that out of the negative comes the positive. How does one negate the"'I" without suppression or denial or without conflict? Who does the negating? Q3: How does one not become a victim while not becoming a predator? Q4: What is humility and modesty? |
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Are We Concerned with Total Human Existence? Is the crisis outside or in us? What is our relation to others and the world? Isn't what is happening outside a measure by which we can understand ourselves? Isn't the external world a result of our psychological world? Is your consciousness complex, contradictory, with such extraordinary vitality yours, or is it common to all mankind? How shall we know the intricacies and contradictions the whole movement of consciousness? Isn't hurt part of our consciousness? What is hurt? What are its consequences? Can we live in freedom without image or belief? When there is attention there is no centre to react. |
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What Is the Place of Knowledge in Our Lives? Instead of trying to change society is it possible to transform our conditioning deeply and understand our consciousness, what we are? Why has knowledge not protected us from sorrow? Isn't the approach as important as the problem? If I approach with fear isn't the solution conditioned and so the problem is not resolved? What place has knowledge in the mutation or in the ending of conditioning? Can the content of consciousness end? Have we been educated to think that we are separate individuals? Do we create the world and get trapped by it? When you discover something for yourself psychologically you have immense energy. |
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Can Our Minds Being in Disorder Create Order? Are we aware of the psychological movements that are born out of disorder? Is the structure of thought itself disorder? Is not desire born out of sensation? Why does thought interfere with sensation? Isn't desire itself the observer who wishes to change what he observes? Like many small streams that make a river are there streams that bring about fear? Are comparison, conformity, imitation the contributory causes of fear? Are time and thought factors of fear? Is accumulation of knowledge about the psyche and thinking from that knowledge necessary? Is it possible not to record psychologically? |
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Can the Mind Be Free from Error? Is the analyser different from the analysed can he find the cause merely verbally and dissipate it? The analyser separates himself to examine but doesn't the very division create conflict? Does pleasure exist now or only later, in memory? What are the consequences of attachment? When the mind is free from error is that love? When you are whole you are completely safe. Does conflict deny the sense of being whole? Isn't truth the denial of all that is false? To deny all illusion is to live in reality. Where there is love and beauty life is an extraordinary movement. |
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Who Is the I That Says "Suffer"? Why is there no end to individualistic, competitive drive that is destroying the world? Has love continuity in pleasure and desire? Search for security and fulfilment in relationship, is that love? Can attachment, desire to be fulfilled, end? If I give this up, what will I have? Has knowledge brought about deep change in us so we have an extraordinary capacity to love? Can we end all that prevents change? Who is it that goes through despair, loneliness, agony when you lose someone you think you love? Is the "I" something permanent? Can we be with death all the time and while living end everything day by day? |
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Are We Serious Enough To Resolve Our Problems? Culture is acting from freedom from the known. What is thought, is it love, is it sacred, what is its origin? Thought is a material process. It is born out of memory. Can one be free of psychological conditioning, all the things that bring about confusion which is the very nature of the self which is thought? Is there anything sacred in life so immense that thought cannot come to it? What is meditation? |
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