Saanen 1984

Q1: How do we tell the difference between observing ourselves in the sense you mean, and merely thinking about ourselves?

Q2: What is the action of not letting memory intrude in our relationship with another? Is it to see its presence as it arises? Or is it a state to be in?

Q3: I understand that inner silence cannot be achieved, cannot be practised or sought after, but what is the ground in which it may come about?

Q4: How can one reconcile the demands of society with a life of total freedom?

Q1: Your statement that art is merely the product of thought and therefore not creation has troubled many. Cannot creation include the activity of thought?

Q2: I would like to cry out for help, but how can one be helped to freedom?

Q3: How can we educate our children to be intelligent and both free and responsible human beings in today's world?

Q4: What is the relationship of the speaker to those attending the talks?

Q1: How can one come to this tent without a motive, a desire to come here to listen to you? How does one live without motives?

Q2: To begin with most of us must consciously be attentive, but does this attention become a constant, spontaneous state of action?

Q3: Could you tell us something more about this vast intelligence of which you speak? Is it an untapped capacity within the brain, or is it some disembodied force?

Q4: Why do the teachings you put forth have so little effect on us?

If All Time Is Now, What Is Action?

Perception is denied when you have problems.

If I don't fundamentally change is not the future what I am now?

Doesn't the psyche the essence of the self think in terms of becoming? If I understand that all time is now what then is action?

The past is so formidable that it controls, shapes our action or you have a future ideal, theory and act according to that. Is there an action which is so complete now that it is not fragmentary?

Is everything put together by thought limited?

The Relationship of Health to Freedom

Is freedom choice? Is it there in becoming? Does it lie in expressing ambition trying to fulfil desires?

Does language encourage the limited activity of the brain?

Does the constant conflict in which human beings live contribute to health?

Has our brain evolved through conflict? Is there an energy uncontaminated by conflict?

Is the brain itself a problem? Does being free of problems imply an enquiry into time?

Thought and the Divisive Process

Inwardly why are we so limited so concerned with ourselves?

Does the brain seek security while creating division? Is thought creating division in relationship?

Can there ever be complete experience? Surely the experiencer is accumulated memories.

Is love thought, time, pleasure, or desire?

When thought shapes sensation through image at that moment desire is born. Can thought slow down and not capture sensation?

Ending Disorder Now

Each of us lives in disorder. What is the cause? Will time solve that disorder?

Is it futile to exercise time which is thought to change what I am now? If there is perception that all time is contained in the now then what takes place?

Isn't the activity of self-centredness producing loneliness?

As long as you think time and thought are necessary in the world of the self, of the psyche you will be perpetually in fear.

Why Do We Live with Unresolved Problems?

Is it because our brain is conditioned to the resolution of problems? Only a free brain can end problems.

Do you ever listen completely to your wife or husband? So can we learn together the art of listening?

Our consciousness is perpetually in conflict with its own reactions. It is shared by all human beings. Can this consciousness cease entirely?

One has never said "I will live with suffering and find out why I suffer." If you are suffering, not only physically but inwardly how can you love another? With the ending of sorrow there is passion, energy, love, intelligence.

Living with Death and Life Together

Why is it, after all these thousands of years, has not found tranquillity, a sense of quietness, peace?

Why am I hurt? Is it possible to end all hurts, and never to be hurt again?

Why is it that human beings have put death as far away as possible from their life?

When we are seeking security in continuity, then there must be real fear of death, which is the ending. Which means can your life every day be living with ending which is death?

What is the religious mind, brain? What is meditation in relation to religion, to our daily existence?

Religion and meditation are free of knowledge and therefore the religious brain is in a state of creation.