Over half a year ago now, I read a booked called ‘Can the mind be quiet? - Living, Learning and Meditation’ by J. Krishnamurti. The book explores whether the mind can be quiet, and if it is possible to find lasting peace in daily life, as well as delving into how the next generation can be empowered to make the world a better place. Exploration of what it means to be aware is also included. Some things from the book have stuck with me and given that the book is split into three sections, I thought I would write a separate blog post about what I learned from each. This is the first of three posts, about living. It may be a little disjointed, but here are some reflections from this first part of the book.

Conflict = destruction of energy

Whilst reading the book, I learnt that one should aim to minimise any form of conflict as it saps your energy and only leads to feelings of discontentment. Often conflict arises from the projection of one’s feelings onto someone else.

I found the way that Krishnamurti explains that the desire to control is also “another form of wastage” due to the fact that the controller is always separated from the controlled. In a sense, there is a duality present here - fragmentation of thoughts causes this. A conflict or opposition between what is and what we’re illusioned into thinking. However, one should not introduce additional conflict by viewing this duality as something stupid. Instead, one should simply observe the presence of this conflict. To notice that something is stupid, bad or good, involves duality - past experiences shape our present way of thinking, with something only viewed as bad in a context relative to something else.

From this, I took away that one should simply observe any feelings that arise in such situations and not sit, act, nor dwell on them. It is easier said that done but, instead, meditation - silence being the opposite of noise - can be used to decrease this source of energy reduction. Practicing mindfulness and taking up a meditation practice is the first step to doing this.

The mind as a slave to words

Moving on, the last point somewhat relates to the sense of making the mind a slave to words. We’re taught that words are the way (or a way) to express oneself and to describe a situation. However, words often fail to capture the situation without introducing conflict. For example, one might one day say that they can or cannot do something. But this labels things in an almost black and white, absolute manner. Instead, one should listen to what the mind is saying and what one is vocalising and realise that this can hinder oneself. The use of words can often lead to such feelings of discontentment.

For me, I noticed some relationship between this and the act of procrastinating. Often, we like to label things or view things objectively - I either can or cannot do a given thing. But to arrive at this conclusion, we’ve undergone a series of ‘junctions’, lets say, where we’ve used words, presumably logic, to convince oneself that this is the truth. Instead, one should aim to not put words to everything that we do or experience. There’s no such thing as I can or cannot. OK, physically there might be, but mentally, I believe that the introduction of this barrier is often just a symptom of procrastination.

Pleasure ≠ joy

“pleasure by itself is very destructive, and when one seeks it, one lives in the shadow of fear.”

This resonated with me a lot. Over the past few years, I have often been chasing big goals - likely partly due to the pursuit of pleasure. Hoewever, over the last few months, I’ve noticed the bondage associated with pleasure - almost a dependency. I suspect that many others could resonante with this. Without it, I begin to feel lost and empty, and I sometimes start to go down some spirals in my own head. I think this is what happens if one pursues pleasure. Like the use of words, pleasure is derived from things of the intellect. However, as the author says, joy is vastly different. It cannot be pursued, nor can it be held or stored - for once one remembers it, it transitions into a pleasure.

I’ve realised that the pursuit of pleasure often derives from a deeper fear - perhaps the fear of not being accepted, of not being true to the ‘identity’ that one’s constructed of oneself. But also the fear of the unknown. For if one forsees a pleasurable experience, one has something to look forward to. However, this is where the distinction lies between joy and pleasure. Pleasure derives from the I, the ego. Like a lot of people, I’d be lying if I said that a part of me doesn’t undertakes some things to amplify and inflate the ego - but once one sees and observes this, the feeling of pleasure dissolves. Pleasure involves delusion - one pursues pleasure, but this pleasure is divided from the thing that gives pleasure. Again, separation is present, creating conflict.

From this, I’ve learnt that one shouldn’t chase pleasure. Instead, one should trust that joy, which itself creates a different sense of pleasure, will arise at some point. By not pursuing pleasure, I believe that a greater sense of contentment can be reached.

Comparison breeds discontentment

Related to the pursuit of pleasure in the modern world is the pursit of pleasure due to comparison against others. I’ve become aware for some time now that comparison is the thief of joy and, since joy is something that we cannot pursue, perhaps we should reduce or aim to remove comparison such that there is more space for joy. I think that the root cause of comparison is perhaps the pursuit of pleasure - for one feels pleasure in comparing themselves to others or themselves, using words derived from the intellect to do so. Do you see the connections present here? The issue is, comparison, in my view, is not a choice most of the time. It happens subconsciously. But even so, if the motive behind the comparison is the pursuit of pleasure, then it’s surely a lose lose situation. All in all, subconscious comparison never seems to have a positive effect on ones energies.

More practically, personally, I’ve realised that comparison breeds discontentment most of the time. This comparison arisies from societal conditioning to want more and better - again, words that the intellect has decided to use. We’re conditioned during school and university to compare ourselves to others. Yes, it’s easy to say that a student should not compare oneself to others, but the system is constructed around the idea of a ranking system - a hierarchy in a way. Students achieve grades representing different levels of so called ‘achievement’, introducing a concrete comparison metric, be it intentional or not. Interestingly, I’ve been an advocate of only comparing yourself to your yesterdays self. However, the author describes how the comparative mind thinks as follows: “I have been, and will be something more”. This measurement leads to deception and hypocricy and the desire to strive for more. This means that it does not matter to be ‘yourself’ but instead, we should live without comparison. For me, this makes sense - I see the becoming of oneself a byproduct of a non-comparative mind.

To not to love anyone is to take the wrong turn

Taking a little change in tone, the author explains that to not to love anyone is the thing that destroys

“Without (love), you drink at a fountain whose waters never quench your thirst.”

By not loving others, be it an individual or a group of people, family or not, one is living in a world full of illusion. A clouded world that doesn’t give us anything. I really do agree with this - I do not believe that a life is worth living without the presence of some form of love. One can exercise their knowlegde, develop to great lenghts, and use the intellect to construct their own view of the world; but this room that one constructs is meaningless if life never touches one’s heart. This made me question the pursuit of knowledge and expertise as, the more niche one becomes in their profession, then the less one can sheir their ‘knwolegde’ with others. When I graduated from university, I didn’t feel as excited and proud as perhaps I should have been, with many asking why this was the case. The reason relates to the fact that the intellect is very limited - I believe that the fruits of life are to be experienced outside of things requiring intellect. I’ve found it hard to be convinced that going to a top uni to land a top job is the right path for me. I think the process destroys a lot of people.

I thought that this passage summed this up quite well:

“Was it the desire for power that destroyed them and distorted life? Was it this respect for the superior? Was it the obedience to a dedicated principle, concept, or formula? Was it the deep rooted egostism covered over by the glossy words of nobility? Was it ‘the better’ in the progress of becoming, the self-improvement, the time-binding quality of improvement? Was it the dedication to an ideal, personified or not? Was it the desire to forget oneself that strengthened the self? Or was it the psychological evolution of one’s own thought and the shoddiness of one’s own being supposedly evolving into something marvellous; the pride of progress?”

Don’t just be good - also work on the evil

“You can identify yourself with the good and put away the evil, but this division and the wall of decision spoils your entire life.”

One of my personal goals is to be of service to others. I think it’s easy to tell ourselves that we are good because we are doing no harm; nothing evil. But the ignorance to ignore societal and environmental issues stemming from evil only leads to a less rich life. For me, it’s about working with both the good and the evil to bring equality to the world. For example, one may think that they’re good, but then when the see someone homeless on the street, they might think of evil and not act to help. I am guilty of this, however, for me, I wish to be better at working on helping to iron away the evils present in this world. That is, to work from both sides - towards good and away from evil.

Denying all systems and methods that promise freedom is freedom

This is the last reflection that I would like to make from the first section of this book. It’s important to see for ourselves and not to follow in someone else’s footsteps hoping that we’ll achieve some higher state. If we do this - follow others instead of seeing for ourselves - then awareness and love are no longer present. To be aware and to love is to see for oneself the beauty and complexity of life and to have freedom to percieve.

I found what the author was saying interesting as it suggestes that putting away all knowledge and book-reading as this merely repeats the sayings of another human (ironic given that I’m reflecting on what someone else has said). I’m a big fan of reading, but I see this side of the argument too - in that we risk paraphrasing things that we’ve read and heard if we simply constantly consume. This is why I believe in the power of creating - of expressing oneself. However, it’s fascinating, as isn’t everything that we come up with the product of what we’ve experienced - be it hearing or seeing or reading - in the past? Perhaps the subtlety lies in understanding that, in consuming content in any form, there’s a danger of losing authenticity and of living life through someone else’s lens. I believe that what must be done is to not take any one person’s words and opinions as absolute truths. Instead, one should observe and, perhaps, form their own view given this additional knowledge?

That’s it from me for now. There will be two more posts to follow this discussing my reflections from the learning and meditation sections in the book. In the meantime, I hope that the above reflections provide some food for thought.