“Listening has importance only when one is not projecting one's own desires through which one listens.
Can one put aside all these screens through which we listen, and really listen?”
{Book of Life Daily Meditations, Putting aside screens, Jan 2, 2008}
Can one put aside all these screens through which we listen, and really listen?”
{Book of Life Daily Meditations, Putting aside screens, Jan 2, 2008}
{From The Link #23 2003-2004, pp. 28-9 - Letters to the Schools, Vol. 1, pp. 79-81}
"We live by our senses. One of them is usually dominant; the listening, the seeing, the tasting seem to be separate from each other, but is this a fact? Or is it that we have given to one or other a greater importance — or rather that thought has given the greater importance? One may hear great music and delight in it, and yet be insensitive to other things. One may have a sensitive taste and be wholly insensitive to delicate colour. This is fragmentation.
When each fragment is aware only of itself then fragmentation is maintained. In this way energy is broken up. If this is so, as it appears to be, is there a non-fragmentary awareness by all the senses? And thought is part of the senses.
This implies — can the body be aware of itself? Not you being aware of your own body, but the body itself being aware. This is very important to find out. It cannot be taught by another; then it is secondhand information which thought is imposing upon itself. You must discover for yourself whether the whole organism, the physical entity, can be aware of itself. You may be aware of the movement of an arm, a leg or the head, and through that movement sense that you are becoming aware of the whole, but what we are asking is: can the body be aware of itself without any movement?
This is essential to find out because thought has imposed its pattern on the body, what it thinks is the right exercise, right food and so on. So there is the domination of thought over the organism; there is consciously or unconsciously a struggle between thought and the organism. In this way thought is destroying the natural intelligence of the body itself.
Does the body, the physical organism, have its own intelligence? It has when all the senses are acting together in harmony so that there is no straining, no emotional or sensory demands of desire.
When one is hungry one eats but usually taste, formed by habit, dictates what one eats. So fragmentation takes place. A healthy body can be brought about only through the harmony of all the senses which is the intelligence of the body itself. What we are asking is: does not disharmony bring about the wastage of energy? Can the organism's own intelligence, which has been suppressed or destroyed by thought, be awakened?
... The remembrance of yesterday's pleasure makes thought master of the body. The body then becomes a slave to the master, and intelligence is denied.... When the body has its own intelligence freed from thought, though thought is part of it, this intelligence will guard its own well-being.
Pleasure dominates our life in its crudest or most educated forms. And pleasure essentially is a remembrance - that which has been or that which is anticipated. Pleasure is never at the moment. When pleasure is denied, suppressed or blocked, out of this frustration neurotic acts, such as violence or hatred, take place. ...
When the body is aware of itself, then we can ask a further and perhaps more difficult question: can thought, which has put together this whole consciousness, be aware of itself? Most of the time thought dominates the body and so the body loses its vitality, intelligence, its own intrinsic energy, and hence has neurotic reactions.
Is the intelligence of the body different from total intelligence which can come about only when thought, realizing its own limitation, finds its right place?"
~~~~~&~~~~~
Commentary: Can thought be aware of itself? This question is not answered as you have to discover this for yourself. No-one can tell you the answer. There is something very important to understand here, is there not?
Thought has suppressed/destroyed the natural intelligence of the body. What this is clearly saying is that it is only with the complete cessation of thought that a new and intelligent way of living can come about. Remembrance of past pleasure, which is the activity of thought - one can see this in the thought process going on in one's mind - is why thought dominates the entire brain and body. Thought thus is a corruption of life energy and the natural intelligence of the body. It blocks insight. It prevents seeing.
This occupation of the mind with thought as pleasure brings with it fear - thus: "Pleasure and fear are two sides of the same coin." (The Catchphrases)
Again, all this confirms that the ending of thought is the central point of all understanding, does it not?
#~~~~~~~#~~~~~~~#
"We live by our senses. One of them is usually dominant; the listening, the seeing, the tasting seem to be separate from each other, but is this a fact? Or is it that we have given to one or other a greater importance — or rather that thought has given the greater importance? One may hear great music and delight in it, and yet be insensitive to other things. One may have a sensitive taste and be wholly insensitive to delicate colour. This is fragmentation.
When each fragment is aware only of itself then fragmentation is maintained. In this way energy is broken up. If this is so, as it appears to be, is there a non-fragmentary awareness by all the senses? And thought is part of the senses.
This implies — can the body be aware of itself? Not you being aware of your own body, but the body itself being aware. This is very important to find out. It cannot be taught by another; then it is secondhand information which thought is imposing upon itself. You must discover for yourself whether the whole organism, the physical entity, can be aware of itself. You may be aware of the movement of an arm, a leg or the head, and through that movement sense that you are becoming aware of the whole, but what we are asking is: can the body be aware of itself without any movement?
This is essential to find out because thought has imposed its pattern on the body, what it thinks is the right exercise, right food and so on. So there is the domination of thought over the organism; there is consciously or unconsciously a struggle between thought and the organism. In this way thought is destroying the natural intelligence of the body itself.
Does the body, the physical organism, have its own intelligence? It has when all the senses are acting together in harmony so that there is no straining, no emotional or sensory demands of desire.
When one is hungry one eats but usually taste, formed by habit, dictates what one eats. So fragmentation takes place. A healthy body can be brought about only through the harmony of all the senses which is the intelligence of the body itself. What we are asking is: does not disharmony bring about the wastage of energy? Can the organism's own intelligence, which has been suppressed or destroyed by thought, be awakened?
... The remembrance of yesterday's pleasure makes thought master of the body. The body then becomes a slave to the master, and intelligence is denied.... When the body has its own intelligence freed from thought, though thought is part of it, this intelligence will guard its own well-being.
Pleasure dominates our life in its crudest or most educated forms. And pleasure essentially is a remembrance - that which has been or that which is anticipated. Pleasure is never at the moment. When pleasure is denied, suppressed or blocked, out of this frustration neurotic acts, such as violence or hatred, take place. ...
When the body is aware of itself, then we can ask a further and perhaps more difficult question: can thought, which has put together this whole consciousness, be aware of itself? Most of the time thought dominates the body and so the body loses its vitality, intelligence, its own intrinsic energy, and hence has neurotic reactions.
Is the intelligence of the body different from total intelligence which can come about only when thought, realizing its own limitation, finds its right place?"
~~~~~&~~~~~
Commentary: Can thought be aware of itself? This question is not answered as you have to discover this for yourself. No-one can tell you the answer. There is something very important to understand here, is there not?
Thought has suppressed/destroyed the natural intelligence of the body. What this is clearly saying is that it is only with the complete cessation of thought that a new and intelligent way of living can come about. Remembrance of past pleasure, which is the activity of thought - one can see this in the thought process going on in one's mind - is why thought dominates the entire brain and body. Thought thus is a corruption of life energy and the natural intelligence of the body. It blocks insight. It prevents seeing.
This occupation of the mind with thought as pleasure brings with it fear - thus: "Pleasure and fear are two sides of the same coin." (The Catchphrases)
Again, all this confirms that the ending of thought is the central point of all understanding, does it not?
#~~~~~~~#~~~~~~~#
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The End of the Thinking Process
{Page last updated July 20, 2008}
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"To open the door to the eternal, the journey into the self is the only way"
{Jayakar, A Biography, Chapter 20, "Through Negation there is Creation", page 234}
{Jayakar, A Biography, Chapter 20, "Through Negation there is Creation", page 234}
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