Choiceless Awareness - Jiddu Krishnamurti - US97EBM5 V ENG

Beyond Myth and Tradition - Choiceless Awareness - Jiddu Krishnamurti

Beyond Myth and Tradition

Choiceless Awareness

EB: What does it mean
to be aware,

to be fully, deeply alive
from moment to moment?

Most of us have a distinctive
awareness of our likes and dislikes,

there is a sharp division.

But is it possible
to just be aware?

To leave
like and dislike behind

and simply see things
as they are?

Those times
in which awareness

is far beyond
the mere focus of concentration,

Krishnamurti calls
choiceless awareness.

As he has said,
when you are very clear

there is no need for choice.

It is a subject he returned to
again and again over the years.

Krishnamurti
on choiceless awareness.

K: How do you look
at this marvellous sight,

the beauty of this place?

What does it mean to you?

Do you observe it,
aware of it without any choice,

without any desire,

just to observe the extraordinary
beauty of the land?

Or when we are aware
is there always a choice?

'I prefer this land
to another land,

I prefer this valley
to other valleys',

so there is always
memory and choice operating.

And can one be aware
without any choice at all,

just to be aware of the extraordinary
sense of the blue sky

- the blue sky
through the leaves,

and just move with it all?

You understand
what I am talking about?

So that there is no division
between the outer and the inner,

it's like a tide
going out and coming in.

That's an awareness of this world
outside of us

and an awareness of the world
deep inside of us,

conscious
as well as the unconscious.

When one is really,
deeply conscious or aware

there is no remnant or hidden
unconscious movement.

I don't know if you have gone
through all this,

if you have done it;

not merely listened
to a lot of words.

So, awareness is this movement
of the outer and the inner,

and discover for oneself
whether there is division

between the outer
and the inner.

What is concentration?

To concentrate upon a page,
upon a picture;

to concentrate all one's energy
on a particular point.

In concentration

there is always
one who tries to concentrate,

and in that concentration
there is an effort and control.

So there is a controller
and a controlled in concentration.

There is a division between
the controller and the controlled,

and so there is an effort,
a sense of division.

Where there is division
there must be conflict,

between the controller
and the controlled.

That is generally
what we call concentration.

Now, is there, in attention,
this division?

Are you listening
attentively now?

Listening to the speaker,
what he is saying about attention;

are you actually listening?

And when you really listen,
there is no centre as the 'me'

who is listening.
You are following this?

For beauty to come into being,

the mind must be choicelessly aware
of its own pettiness:

there must be an awareness

in which comparison
has wholly ceased.

K: We generally consider fear
as something outside us.

So there is this question
of the observer and the observed.

Now, is it possible to look at fear
without the observer,

so that you are completely
in contact with it all the time?

Being aware of fear
without choice, which means,

choice implies the observer,

choosing whether
I don't like this, I like this,

therefore when the observer
is absent

there is choiceless awareness
of fear.

HS: All right.
K: Right.

Therefore the word prevents

being completely
in contact with fear.

HS: Yes. Words can be
a screen, screening us.

K: Yes, that's
what we are saying.

HS: All right.
K: So the word mustn't interfere.

HS: True. All right.
We have to get beyond that.

K: Beyond the word.

But is that possible,
to be beyond the word?

Theoretically we say yes,
but we are a slave to words.

HS: Far too much so,
yes, it's true.

K: I mean, it is obvious
- we are slave to words.

So the mind has to become aware
of its own slavery to words,

realizing that the word
is never the thing.

HS: Right.

K: So, the mind is free
of the word, to look.

That is all implied.

Now, there is fear
at the conscious level,

which one can understand
fairly quickly.

But there are
the deeper layers of fear,

at the so-called
hidden parts of the mind.

To be aware of that.

HS: Now you talking about
whether we can be explicitly aware

of the full reach of mind.

K: Yes, full content,
reach of the mind,

which is both the conscious
as well as the deeper layers,

the totality
of consciousness.

HS: Yes. And can we be
explicitly aware of all of that?

I am not sure.
K: I say it is possible.

It is only possible when you are
aware during the day,

what you say,
the words you use, the gestures,

the way you talk, the way you walk,
what your thoughts are,

to be completely and totally
aware of all that.

HS: Do you think all of that can be
before you in total awareness?

K: Absolutely.

When there is no condemnation
and justification,

when you are directly
in contact with it.

During the day if you are aware
of your thoughts, of your feelings,

aware of your motives,

which demands a mind
that is highly sensitive.

HS: It seems to me you are saying
something like the key to doing this

is a radical reversal
in our point of view.

It's as though we were prisoners
straining at the bars for the light,

and looking for the glimpse of light
we see out there

and wondering how we could
get out towards it,

while actually the door of the cell
is open behind us.

If only we would turn around
we could walk out into freedom.

K: Surely, sir,

in this is involved
the everlasting struggle, conflict

- man caught
in his own conditioning,

and straining, struggling,
beating his head to be free.

HS: Yes.

K: And again we have accepted,
with the help of religions

and all the rest
of the group,

that effort is necessary,

that is part of life.

To me that is the highest
form of blindness,

of limiting man to say
you must everlastingly live

in effort.

HS: And you think
we don't have to.

K: Not 'I think' - sir,
it is not a question of thought.

Let's delete those two words
and just say 'we don't have to'.

K: But to live without effort
requires the greatest sensitivity

and the highest form
of intelligence.

You don't just say, 'Well, I won't
struggle' and become like a cow.

HS: Right, right.
K: But one has to understand

how conflict arises,
the duality in us.

I remember travelling once in a car
in India, with a group of people.

I was sitting
in the front with the driver.

There were three behind
who were talking about awareness,

wanting to discuss with me
what awareness is.

The car was going very fast.

A goat was in the road,
and the driver did not pay

much attention
and ran over the poor animal.

The gentlemen behind
who were discussing awareness,

they never knew what happened.

You laugh, but this is
what we are all doing.

We are intellectually concerned
with the idea of awareness,

the verbal, dialectical
investigation of opinion,

yet are not actually aware
of what is taking place.

K: So can one observe

quietly, without any choice,

observe
what is going on in ourselves?

The mirror
in which we see our faces,

how you comb your hair,
how you brush your teeth,

how you shave or do
your face up, and so on,

can we observe
as closely, as definitely,

as precisely as possible,
without any distortion?

That means

we have to understand
the movement of choice.

Please, ask yourself:

Why do we choose
psychologically, inwardly,

say I'll do this, I won't do that,
this is right, that is wrong,

I'm violent
but I must become non-violent,

I have pride but I'll become
humble - you understand? -

this inward choice
going on all the time?

Is there choice at all
when there is clarity?

So we are asking:
Why is there this choice in us,

apart from the choice of things?

Could we look at it
for a minute?

Human beings throughout
the world inherited probably,

from apes and so on,

they are violent people,

human beings are,
throughout the world.

And he realizes
what is happening through violence,

- not only in himself,
collectively -

he says, let us be non-violent,
let's practise non-violence,

let's talk
about non-violence,

let us use that instrument
politically, and so on.

This has been one of the things
that India has produced,

non-violence

- not only India, others
have talked about it long before.

So, we, I, you, are violent
- if I am violent at all.

We are violent, and then we say,
'I will become non-violent',

which is a choice, isn't it?

Where there is separation
in my thinking,

I can separate
thought from action.

I think one thing
and say another thing,

think one thing
and act another way.

That is separation.
That breeds conflict, hypocrisy.

So one can go into this question
of conflict very, very deeply,

and when you begin to understand
the nature and structure,

and the way of its subtlety,

as you watch it,
the very watching without any choice,

in that watching you will see
that conflict ends.

And that requires great attention
to every thought,

every action, every way
of inward feeling.

And if one wants
to end that conflict,

you have to give
tremendous attention to it

- not casual attention,

not one day or one week later,

but keeping that attention
moving all the time.

Awareness is the silent and
choiceless observation of what is.

In this awareness
the problem unrolls itself

and therefore
is completely understood.

K: Yes, sir, you tell me
'Be aware of it'.

I am blind.
I think that is an elephant.

How am I to...?
You follow my question, sir?

I am blind !

And I want to see light.

And you say,
'Be aware of that blindness'.

I say, 'Yes.
What does it mean?'

WR: Awareness,
mindfulness, attention,

how do you discriminate
these three?

K: I would say, sir...

WR: These three: awareness,
mindfulness, and attention.

K: I would say, awareness

in which there is no choice,

just to be aware.

The moment when choice enters
into awareness there is no awareness.

WR: Right.

K: And choice is measurement,
division and so on.

So awareness is without choice
- just to be aware -

'I don't like, I like this room'
- all that has ended.

WR: Yes, right.

K: Attention,

to attend,

in that attention
there is no division.

WR: Also that means
no choice.

K: Leave it for the moment.

Attention implies
no division: 'me attending'.

And so it has no division,

therefore no measurement
and therefore no border.

One can be aware
of what kind of dress you have.

One may say,
'I like it' or 'I don't like it'.

So choice doesn't exist
- you are wearing it, that's all.

But attention,

in that there is no 'attender'
- the one who attends -

and so no division.

WR: But the Buddha's teaching
of satipatthana is that,

in the satipatthana
practice of meditation

there is no discrimination,
there is no value-judgement,

there is no like or dislike,
but you only see.

K: If you totally attend,

with your ears,
with your eyes,

with your body, with your nerves,
with all your mind, with your heart,

in the sense, affection, love,
total attention, what takes place?

WR: Of course, what takes place
is an absolute revolution, internal,

a complete revolution.

K: No, what is the state
of such a mind

that is completely attentive?

You see, it has no quality,
no centre,

and having no centre,
no border.

And this is an actuality,
you can't just imagine this.

When one is
deeply conscious or aware,

there is no remnant or hidden
unconscious movement.

There is no division
between the inner and the outer.

K: If you are aware - aware,
not say, 'I am aware,

but I don't like that shirt,
it is too blue'.

So I was told this morning!

So, are we aware in that sense,

without choosing
- a choiceless awareness?

Then if you are
so choicelessly aware,

then you are attentive.

Choiceless awareness
means attention,

not cultivated,
say, 'I must attend!',

but becoming aware of the trees,
the birds, the balloons going up,

the mountains, the light
on the clouds, the evening,

the moonlight, and so on - watching,
watching, aware of all this,

and your reaction to all this,

and by not responding,
not choosing

- I like this, I don't like that,
it is mine, it is yours -

just to be aware.

From this choiceless awareness
there is attention

- right? - attending,
with your eyes, with your ears,

with your nerves,
with all your being.

So, the quality of attention,
and the quality of inattention,

not attending,
are two different things.

Where there is inattention
there is

choice, unawareness,

lack of attention,

then the recording process
goes on,

the old habit is established.

But when there is attention,
the old habit is broken.

Got it?
Will you do it?

That is fun,
not just listen to a lot of words.

But if one actually puts,
you know,

not into action
- see the truth of it!