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<\/p>\n
\n Meeting <\/span>K<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n <\/tr>\n
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<\/p>\n
\nReaders are requested to
\nsend us their personal meetings, experiences and inspirations with K.<\/font><\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\nMy First Impression of K<\/font><\/b>\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/font>\u00a0 by Pieter Langedijk <\/font>
\n\u00d3 <\/font>
\nThe Quest<\/font><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nWhen I was a student
\nstudying psychology at the university, I became member of\u00a0 a group who practised
\nmeditation. In that group I met a man, who<\/span>
\nused to <\/span>
\ntalk about<\/span>
\n<\/span>Krishnamurti and
\ntold me that Krishnamurti was giving talks all over the world<\/span>
\n<\/span>and that every
\nyear he was in Switzerland in the last weeks of July and the first<\/span>
\n<\/span>week of August. I
\nheard there was a camping near the conference tent. I decided to go that place.
\nThe camping was next to a small river with clear water and surrounded by
\nbeautiful mountains full of trees. Near the camping was a small city of wooden
\nhouses with balconies and some small restaurants with nice terraces.\u00a0 There I
\nmet many young and old people who also were there for Krishnamurti. <\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nThe tent in which
\nKrishnamurti was giving his lectures looked like a circus tent and it stood on a
\nvery quiet place outside the town at the bottom of a mountain. The insides of
\nthe tent looked like an amphitheatre. Thousands of people were sitting on chairs
\nin a semicircle.\u00a0 In front of those chairs was a platform, which was totally
\nempty. The only thing which was there was a simple wooden chair and a microphone
\nin front of that chair. The tent held some 2000 or more people. The talks
\nstarted exactly at eleven o\u0092clock, but many people came there two hours earlier
\nin order to find the best places. Everyone was talking very softly. In front of
\nthe first rows many young people were sitting on the grass. People entered the
\nbig tent through several entrances of the tent. At about one minute to eleven
\nall the people stopped talking and it was absolutely quiet. At exactly eleven o’
\nclock Krishnamurti entered the tent. At that moment he was about 70 years, with
\nwhite hair, blue trousers and a\u00a0 light blue shirt. His dress looked as if
\neverything was new; the shoes looked very polished. He walked over the grass
\ninside the tent, climbed the stairs with three steps to the podium and walked
\nover the stage and sat down on the chair.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nHe had no paper in his
\nhand. He was sitting on the chair, his hands on his legs<\/span>
\n<\/span>and looked
\ntowards the audience, moving his head from left to the right, and from front to
\nthe back as if he was observing every person separately and with great
\nattention. Then he started talking, saying something like: ‘I would like to
\ntalk, as with a friend, about ‘thought\u0092 in relation with the past (or feeling;
\nintuition, death, communication, relationship, meditation, God, etc)<\/span>
\n<\/span>He talked for
\nexactly one hour. One minute before the hour was over, he took a watch out of
\nthe pocket in his shirt, looked at it and finished his sentence. After that
\npeople asked him questions for 15-30 minutes. <\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\nA totally different
\napproach<\/span><\/b><\/font><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nI cannot remember what
\nhe talked about during the first lecture, but I remember that the second time he
\ntalked about ‘really listening’. By this he means that one<\/span>
\n<\/span>must listen
\nwithout prejudice, with an empty mind, without saying\u00a0 “I agree”‘ or “I
\ndisagree”, which we normally do. According to him, we must be very sensitive and
\ntry to listen ‘behind’ the words. <\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nI remember that one of
\nmy professors also used to talk about communication. He said that the purpose of
\nverbal communication is to express in words what one thinks, feels or wants, but
\nthat many people, like politicians or parents, use words and language to ‘hide’
\nwhat they really think, feel or want. Was K talking about that? <\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nHe was talking about
\nconditioning \u0096 that we are brainwashed from the very first moment that we are
\nborn, with thousands and millions of ideas. These ideas include everything \u0096
\nwhat to believe, what to think, about education, about what is important on this
\nearth, such as money, power, sex and what is not important, what to eat and what
\nnot to eat, etc. He explained that every culture bas different ideas about all
\nthese different things. Through that screen of ideas we look, listen and
\ninterpret what we see and experience and select what we think is important and
\nwhat is not important, and we call this ‘learning’. K calls this \u0091accumulation
\nof second-hand knowledge\u0092, which means that most knowledge is based on what
\nother people say and not on our own experience and unconditioned thinking.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nIf someone says
\nsomething similar to what l think, (even if it is wrong or partly wrong) then I
\nhave the inclination to say \u0093yes, I agree \u0096 that is how I also see it\u0094. When it
\nis different, then I say \u0093no, I disagree\u0094 or even \u0093you are crazy,<\/span>
\n<\/span>stupid, etc\u0094. The
\nmore we are conditioned, the quicker we agree or disagree or<\/span>
\n<\/span>become angry or
\neven kill the other. In some authoritarian countries<\/span>
\n<\/span>one can even be
\nkilled when one has a different opinion, for instance about<\/span>
\n<\/span>religious or
\npolitical ideas. One sees this conditioning in most families and in almost every
\nschool and workplace.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nWhen one studies the
\nhistory of humanity, one hears and reads that millions were killed because they
\nhad different ideas about God, heaven, the political system, etc. Krishnamurti
\nmany times talked about the thousands of wars between the members of different
\nreligions, but he is convinced that one can free oneself from all this
\nindoctrination and conditioning, but not by following a leader, guru or system.
\nThe first step is to see and to become aware of ones’ own conditioning and see
\nthat in every aspect of life, in the way we talk, eat, listen, think, feel, what
\nwe want, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nAfter the first talk, I
\nheard two other talks. The years after that first year I<\/span>
\n<\/span>went several
\ntimes to Saanen. I bought many books of Krishnamurti and became<\/span>
\n<\/span>more and more
\nfascinated by his ideas. It was totally different from what I learned in the
\nuniversity. There I had to read many books by heart, not having my own idea
\nabout what I read. Now K asked me to think for myself, not being a parrot, not
\nto learn books by heart, but to look around in the world, observe people,
\norganizations, religions and see for myself and receive what he called \u0091first
\nhand knowledge\u0092.<\/span><\/p>\n
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