VOM and Krishnamurti, I thought this would interest the group.

["sokan108" <carpediem108@...>]

A Brief Introduction To The Work Of Krishnamurti 
BY PROFESSOR DAVID BOHM 

My first acquaintance with Krishnamurti's work was in 1959 when I 
read his book "First and Last Freedom." What particularly aroused my 
interest was his deep insight into the question of the observer and 
the observed. This question had long been close to the centre of my 
own work, as a theoretical physicist, who was primarily interested in 
the meaning of the quantum theory. In this theory, for the first time 
in the development of physics, the notion that these two cannot be 
separated has been put forth as necessary for the understanding of 
the fundamental laws of matter in general. Because of this, as well 
as because the book contained many other deep insights I felt that it 
was urgent for me to talk with Krishnamurti directly and personally 
as soon as possible. And when I first met him on one of his visits to 
London, I was struck by the great ease of communication with him, 
which was made possible by the intense energy with which he listened 
and by the freedom from self-protective reservations and barriers 
with which he responded to what I had to say. As a person who works 
in science I felt completely at home with this sort of response, 
because it was in essence of the same quality as that which I had met 
in these contacts with other scientists with whom there had been a 
very close meeting of minds. And here, I think especially of Einstein 
who showed a similar intensity and absence of barrier in a number of 
discussions that took place between him and me. After this, I began 
to meet Krishnamurti regularly and to discuss with him whenever he 
came to London. 

We began an association which has since then become closer as I 
became interested in the schools, which were set up through his 
initiative. In these discussions, we went quite deeply into many 
questions which concerned me in my scientific work. We probed into 
the nature of space and time, and of the universal, both with regard 
to external nature and with regard to mind. But then, we went on to 
consider the general disorder and confusion that pervades the 
consciousness of mankind. It is here that I encountered what I feel 
to be Krishnamurti's major discovery. What he was seriously proposing 
is that all this disorder, which is the root cause of such widespread 
sorrow and misery, and which prevents human beings from properly 
working together, has its root in the fact that we are ignorant of 
the general nature of our own processes of thought. Or to put it 
differently it may be said that we do not see what is actually 
happening, when we are engaged in the activity of thinking. Through 
close attention to and observation of this activity of thought, 
Krishnamurti feels that he directly perceives that thought is a 
material process, which is going on inside of the human being in the 
brain and nervous system as a whole. 

Ordinarily, we tend to be aware mainly of the content of this thought 
rather than of how it actually takes place. One can illustrate this 
point by considering what happens when one is reading a book. 
Usually, one is attentive almost entirely to the meaning of what is 
being read. However, one can also be aware of the book itself, of its 
constitution as made up out of pages that can be turned, of the 
printed words and of the ink, of the fabric of the paper, etc. 
Similarly, we may be aware of the actual structure and function of 
the process of thought, and not merely of its content. 

How can such as awareness come about? Krishnamurti proposes that this 
requires what he calls meditation. Now the word meditation has been 
given a wide range of different and even contradictory meanings, many 
of them involving rather superficial kinds of mysticism. Krishnamurti 
has in mind a definite and clear notion when he uses this word. One 
can obtain a valuable indication of this meaning by considering the 
derivation of the word. (The roots of words, in conjunction with 
their present generally accepted meanings often yield surprising 
insight into their deeper meanings.) The English word meditation is 
based on the Latin root "med" which is, "to measure." The present 
meaning of this word is "to reflect," "to ponder" (i.e. to weigh or 
measure), and "to give close attention." Similarly the Sanskrit word 
for meditation, which is dhyana, is closely related to "dhyati," 
meaning "to reflect." So, at this rate, to meditate would be, "to 
ponder, to reflect, while giving close attention to what is actually 
going on as one does so." 

This is perhaps what Krishnamurti means by the beginning of 
meditation. That is to say, one gives close attention to all that is 
happening in conjunction with the actual activity of thought, which 
is the underlying source of the general disorder. One does this 
without choice, without criticism, without acceptance or rejection of 
what is going on. And all of this takes place along with reflections 
on the meaning of what one is learning about the activity of thought. 
(It is perhaps rather like reading a book in which the pages have 
been scrambled up, and being intensely aware of this disorder, rather 
than just "trying to make sense" of the confused content that arises 
when one just accepts the pages as they happen to come.) 

Krishnamurti has observed that the very act of meditation will, in 
itself, bring order to the activity of thought without the 
intervention of will, choice, decision, or any other action of 
the "thinker." As such order comes, the noise and chaos which are the 
usual background of our consciousness die out, and the mind becomes 
generally silent. (Thought arises only when needed for some genuinely 
valid purpose, and then stops, until needed again.) 

In this silence, Krishnamurti says that something new and creative 
happens, something that cannot be conveyed in words, but that is of 
extraordinary significance for the whole of life. So he does not 
attempt to communicate this verbally, but rather, he asks of those 
who are interested that they explore the question of meditation 
directly for themselves, through actual attention to the nature of 
thought. 

Without attempting to probe into this deeper meaning of meditation, 
one can however say that meditation, in Krishnamurti's sense of the 
word, can bring order to our overall mental activity, and this may be 
a key factor in bringing about an end to the sorrow, the misery, the 
chaos and confusion, that have, over the ages, been the lot of 
mankind, and that are still generally continuing, without visible 
prospect of fundamental change, for the forseeable future. 

Krishnamurti's work is permeated by what may be called the essence of 
the scientific approach, when this is considered in its very highest 
and purest form. Thus, he begins from a fact, this fact about the 
nature of our thought processes. This fact is established through 
close attention, involving careful listening to the process of 
consciousness, and observing it assiduously. In this, one is 
constantly learning, and out of this learning comes insight, into the 
overall or general nature of the process of thought. This insight is 
then tested. First, one sees whether it holds together in a rational 
order. And then one sees whether it leads to order and coherence, on 
what flows out of it in life as a whole. 

Krishnamurti constantly emphasizes that he is in no sense an 
authority. He has made certain discoveries, and he is simply doing 
his best to make these discoveries accessible to all those who are 
able to listen. His work does not contain a body of doctrine, nor 
does he offer techniques or methods, for obtaining a silent mind. He 
is not aiming to set up any new system of religious belief. Rather, 
it is up to each human being to see if he can discover for himself 
that to which Krishnamurti is calling attention, and to go on from 
there to make new discoveries on his own. 

It is clear then that an introduction, such as this, can at best show 
how Krishnamurti's work has been seen by a particular person, a 
scientist, such as myself. To see in full what Krishnamurti means, it 
is necessary, of course, to go on and to read what he actually says, 
with that quality of attention to the totality of one's responses, 
inward and outward, which we have been discussing here. 


Copyright © Krishnamurti Foundation of America P.O. Box 1560, Ojai, 
CA 93023 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON DAVID BOHM 

David Bohm was for over twenty years Professor of Theoretical Physics 
at Birkbeck College, University of London. Since receiving this 
doctorate at the University of California Berkeley, he has taught and 
done research at U.C., Princeton University, University de Sao Paulo, 
Haifa and Bristol University. 

His publications include: Quantum Theory; Causality and Chance in 
Modern Physics; one chapter in Observation and Interpretation; 
Special Theory of Realitivity; and Wholeness and the Implicate Order; 
Unfolding Meaning; and various papers in Theoretical Physics, British 
Journal for Philosophy of Science, and others. 

Several of David Bohm's discussions with Krishnamurti appear in the 
following books published by Harper and Row: Truth and Actuality; The 
Wholeness of Life; The Ending of Time; The Future of Humanity. In 
addition there are audio and video tapes of some discussions.