excerpts

Society is not transformed through any revolution, economic or social. We have seen this through the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution. The everlasting hope of man that by altering the outward things the inward nature of man can be transformed, has never been fulfilled, and it will never be. The outward change, the economic change, which is bound to come to this country which is so poor - that is not going to change man's attitude, the ways of life, his misery, his confusion….

And, as we said, you must learn about yourself - not what you have been told about yourself, not what your sacred books have told you about yourself, because they are irrelevant, they have no meaning. You have to learn anew about yourself. Therefore, you have to learn how to observe yourself. As you observe that tree, so you have to observe yourself. As you observe that tree without distortion, so you have to observe yourself without distortion - and that is the greatest difficulty.

Because we do not observe the fact, but we rather know what gives us pleasure or pain and therefore avoid the fact…

And, as we said, you must learn about yourself - not what you have been told about yourself, not what your sacred books have told you about yourself, because they are irrelevant, they have no meaning. You have to learn anew about yourself. Therefore, you have to learn how to observe yourself. As you observe that tree, so you have to observe yourself. As you observe that tree without distortion, so you have to observe yourself without distortion - and that is the greatest difficulty. Because we do not observe the fact, but we rather know what gives us pleasure or pain and therefore avoid the fact.

You know, if I want to know about myself to learn about myself, I have to watch every movement of my mind, every feeling I have - not say that it should not exist or must exist; not deny it or try to modify it, but just to observe what I am. And that demands a certain discipline. Because, to observe the fact is in itself a discipline. Please do look at it. Look at a flower and see how difficult it is to look at it, without naming it, without bringing all your reactions upon it, without saying you like or dislike: just to observe. Then you will see how extraordinarily difficult it is to look at something which is totally outside objectively.

And then, when you turn inwards, it is much more difficult, because you have opinions about yourself, what you should be, or what you should not be; what you are, that you are the highest self, the Atman, the God, or what you think you are - all the fantastic ideas and memories about yourself. It is these memories, these fancies, these illusions, these experiences - this acquired knowledge - that prevent you from looking at yourself. And to be aware of these - knowledge and the various forms of knowledge - and not allow them to interfere with your observation of yourself brings about a discipline in itself.

You know, for most of us, change implies a bargaining process. I would like to change; and so I begin to bargain with myself whether it is profitable or not, whether it is worthwhile or not; so change implies a bargaining. Please think about it and feel how extraordinarily our mind works with regard to change. We change if it is profitable, if it is pleasurable; or we change when it is painful. But any change, with bargaining, is no change at all. So our mind that wishes to find the reality, must begin with itself.

And there is something that is not measurable by the mind or by the instruments invented by man. There is truth, there is benediction. But we must come upon it, not through prayers, not through hope, but by becoming totally responsible for every action, every day and every minute of the day. Then out of that responsibility comes the flower of understanding, and that understanding is the way of life. And there has to be that discovery, for each one, of the way of living; and it is only that way that can bring about reality, clarity and the great depth of the mind.

 

Editor's review and summary

Consider K's statement:

"... we do not observe the fact, but we rather know what gives us pleasure or pain and therefore avoid the fact."

"... for most of us, change implies a bargaining process. I would like to change; and so I begin to bargain with myself whether it is profitable or not, whether it is worthwhile or not; so change implies a bargaining... We change if it is profitable, if it is pleasurable; or we change when it is painful. But any change, with bargaining, is no change at all."

He says that we are not really accessing "the fact" but a negotiated substitute for the fact in terms of pleasure and pain.

What is “the fact” that K refers to? See the Nov 25 1965 lecture for more discussion, but essentially it is this:

The fact is the thing in itself. It is not information about the fact, but a direct accessing of the fact itself.

The fact is anything important in life that you want to be in relationship with; it is your sanity on any subject. It could be the fact of God, the universe, reality and life itself, another person, one’s true lover, the future, the past, a dog, a bird, a tree, and all of creation – anything that we want to authentically interact with, that is, without the interference of the ego's insanity.

When we access the fact directly, we are in contact with its underlying essential energies. Our union with the fact is a union with these energies, not the outward form manifested in the world. This is the

"something that is not measurable by the mind or by the instruments invented by man."

When we enter into this kind of union, it is the communion itself which changes us – automatically. We don’t have to try very hard to achieve real, authentic, and deep change.

It’s like a surfer riding a wave. The wave of real union, real communion, takes us for a ride and change occurs without human effort, of any kind.

We do not, and cannot, supply the wave's power of authentic change. And don't need to. It's already deep inside us, waiting to be unleashed. And once this "rogue wave" of burgeoning consciousness begins to unfurl itself, there's no stopping it, and it will authentically change its recipient at the deepest levels of being. Actually, this isn't quite accurate. It isn't change so much but simply accessing what we've always been, and have been given, from the "soul nursury."

I have discussed these issues on hundreds of pages scattered on WG. See some of the discourse, for example, here and here.