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.The state of a mind that is really silent issomething extraordinary.It is not the silence of negation.On thecontrary, a silent mind is a very intense mind.But for such a mindto come into being, we must inquire into the whole process ofthinking.And thinking, for most of us, is the response of memory.All our education, all our upbringing, encourages the continuanceof memory identified as the `me', and on that basis we set the ballof thought rolling.So it is impossible to have a really still mind, a mind that iscompletely quiet, as long as you do not understand what thinkingis, and the whole structure of the thinker.Is there a thinker when there is no thought based on memory? To find out, you have totrace your thought, inquire into every thought that you have, notjust verbally or casually, but very persistently, slowly, hesitantly,without condemning or justifying any thought.At present there is adivision between the thinker and the thought, and it is this divisionthat creates conflict.Most of us are caught in conflict - perhaps notoutwardly, but inwardly we are seething.We are in a continuousturmoil of wanting and not-wanting, of ambition, jealousy, anger.violence; and to have a really still, quiet mind, we must understandall that.September 9, 1956 HAMBURG, GERMANY 4TH PUBLIC TALK14TH SEPTEMBER 1956To understand what it is another is trying to convey, one must givea certain attention - not enforced attention or tremendousconcentration, but that attention which comes with natural interest.After all, we have many problems in life - problems arising out ofour relationship with society, the problems of war, of sex, of death,of whether or not there is God, and the problem of what thiseverlasting struggle is all about.We all have these problems.And Ithink we might begin to understand them deeply if we did not clingto one particular problem of our own, which is perhaps so close tous that it absorbs all our attention, all our effort, all our thinkingbut tried instead to approach the problem of living as a whole.Inunderstanding the problem of living as a whole, I think we shall beable to understand our personal problems.That is what I want to deal with, if I can, this evening.Each oneof us has a problem, and unfortunately that problem generallyconsumes most of our thought and energy.We are constantlygroping, searching, trying to find an answer to our problem, and wewant somebody else to supply that answer.It is probably for thisvery reason that you are here.But I do not think we will understandthe totality of our existence if we merely look for an answer to asingle problem.Because all problems are related; there is noisolated problem.So we have to look at life, not as something to bebroken up into parts, made fractional, but as something to beunderstood as a whole.If we can realize this, get the feeling of it,then I think we shall have a totally different approach to our individual problems, which are also the world problems.What is happening now is that we are all so concerned with ourown problems, with earning a livelihood, with getting ahead, withour personal virtue, and all the rest of it, that we do not have ageneral comprehension of the complete picture.And it seems to methat unless we get the feeling of the totality of our life, with all itsexperiences, miseries and struggles, unless we comprehend it as awhole, merely dealing with a particular problem, howeverapparently vital, will only create further problems, further misery.I hope this is clear between us - that we are not considering oneisolated problem, but we are trying to understand together thetotality of the problem of our existence.So, whatever may be ourimmediate problem, can we, through that problem, look at our lifeas a whole? If we can, then I think the immediate problem whichwe have will undergo quite a change; and perhaps we shall be ableto understand it and be free of it entirely.Now, how does one set about to have this integrated outlook,this comprehensive view of life which reveals the significance ofevery relationship, every thought, every action? Surely, before wecan see the whole picture, we must first be aware that we arealways trying to solve our immediate problem in a very limitedfield.We want a particular answer, a satisfactory answer, ananswer which will give us certainty.That is what we are seeking, isit not? And I think we must begin by being conscious of that,otherwise we shall not be able to grasp the significance of thiswhole problem.All this may at first seem very difficult, it may even soundrather absurd to those of you who are hearing it for the first time; and what we hear for the first time we naturally tend to reject.Butif one wants to understand, one must neither reject nor accept whatis being said [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.The state of a mind that is really silent issomething extraordinary.It is not the silence of negation.On thecontrary, a silent mind is a very intense mind.But for such a mindto come into being, we must inquire into the whole process ofthinking.And thinking, for most of us, is the response of memory.All our education, all our upbringing, encourages the continuanceof memory identified as the `me', and on that basis we set the ballof thought rolling.So it is impossible to have a really still mind, a mind that iscompletely quiet, as long as you do not understand what thinkingis, and the whole structure of the thinker.Is there a thinker when there is no thought based on memory? To find out, you have totrace your thought, inquire into every thought that you have, notjust verbally or casually, but very persistently, slowly, hesitantly,without condemning or justifying any thought.At present there is adivision between the thinker and the thought, and it is this divisionthat creates conflict.Most of us are caught in conflict - perhaps notoutwardly, but inwardly we are seething.We are in a continuousturmoil of wanting and not-wanting, of ambition, jealousy, anger.violence; and to have a really still, quiet mind, we must understandall that.September 9, 1956 HAMBURG, GERMANY 4TH PUBLIC TALK14TH SEPTEMBER 1956To understand what it is another is trying to convey, one must givea certain attention - not enforced attention or tremendousconcentration, but that attention which comes with natural interest.After all, we have many problems in life - problems arising out ofour relationship with society, the problems of war, of sex, of death,of whether or not there is God, and the problem of what thiseverlasting struggle is all about.We all have these problems.And Ithink we might begin to understand them deeply if we did not clingto one particular problem of our own, which is perhaps so close tous that it absorbs all our attention, all our effort, all our thinkingbut tried instead to approach the problem of living as a whole.Inunderstanding the problem of living as a whole, I think we shall beable to understand our personal problems.That is what I want to deal with, if I can, this evening.Each oneof us has a problem, and unfortunately that problem generallyconsumes most of our thought and energy.We are constantlygroping, searching, trying to find an answer to our problem, and wewant somebody else to supply that answer.It is probably for thisvery reason that you are here.But I do not think we will understandthe totality of our existence if we merely look for an answer to asingle problem.Because all problems are related; there is noisolated problem.So we have to look at life, not as something to bebroken up into parts, made fractional, but as something to beunderstood as a whole.If we can realize this, get the feeling of it,then I think we shall have a totally different approach to our individual problems, which are also the world problems.What is happening now is that we are all so concerned with ourown problems, with earning a livelihood, with getting ahead, withour personal virtue, and all the rest of it, that we do not have ageneral comprehension of the complete picture.And it seems to methat unless we get the feeling of the totality of our life, with all itsexperiences, miseries and struggles, unless we comprehend it as awhole, merely dealing with a particular problem, howeverapparently vital, will only create further problems, further misery.I hope this is clear between us - that we are not considering oneisolated problem, but we are trying to understand together thetotality of the problem of our existence.So, whatever may be ourimmediate problem, can we, through that problem, look at our lifeas a whole? If we can, then I think the immediate problem whichwe have will undergo quite a change; and perhaps we shall be ableto understand it and be free of it entirely.Now, how does one set about to have this integrated outlook,this comprehensive view of life which reveals the significance ofevery relationship, every thought, every action? Surely, before wecan see the whole picture, we must first be aware that we arealways trying to solve our immediate problem in a very limitedfield.We want a particular answer, a satisfactory answer, ananswer which will give us certainty.That is what we are seeking, isit not? And I think we must begin by being conscious of that,otherwise we shall not be able to grasp the significance of thiswhole problem.All this may at first seem very difficult, it may even soundrather absurd to those of you who are hearing it for the first time; and what we hear for the first time we naturally tend to reject.Butif one wants to understand, one must neither reject nor accept whatis being said [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]