Fourteen
Can you hold the Earth in your hand,
the sea in your fist?
We have touched upon various problems of our life, and in talking over those
problems together, I hope that at least some have seen how to observe their own
intimate problems, and not only personal problems but also world issues. Now
we are going to talk, if we may, about an issue that, if we really understood it
deeply, would cover the many problems and bring about not only a psychological
change but also a change outwardly. It may also perhaps bring about a
perception, a seeing, that is not mere verbal or sensory perception.
We said we were going to talk about meditation. That word, like love,
discipline, is heavily loaded. All of you understand verbally what is implied in
meditation. Some of you have probably practiced it; some of you have probably
followed a system, a method, a discipline, day after day, and so you more or less
know what is implied in that word, the meaning of that word. It’s rather
unfortunate that you seem to know all about it. I wish you didn’t, because then
we could both investigate what it means and find out for ourselves what the
implications of it are. But if you already know, there is nothing more to be said.
But I doubt very much whether you really know what meditation means. You
have been told what to do; you have followed various systems unfortunately, so
your mind is not free to observe, to investigate, to go into this extraordinary
question. You have already filled your minds and your hearts with other people’s
experiences, other people’s conclusions, other people’s assertions.
As with everything else, most unfortunately, we accept because in ourselves
we don’t know. We are uncertain, unhappy, confused, and somebody comes
along and tells us that if we do certain things, meditate, shut our eyes, breathe a
certain way, then we will have peaceful minds. By accepting all this, we are not
free to investigate, to find out for ourselves about meditation which has nothing
whatsoever to do with any system, which has nothing whatsoever to do with any
movement of will. And it certainly has nothing whatsoever to do with
conformity, because method, system, implies a practice leading you to a certain
fixed conclusion or state. System, method, implies a mechanical practicing of a
certain formula, repeating it over and over and over again, hoping thereby to
experience what your gurus, your teachers, your books have told you. When you
practice something over and over again, you not only become mechanical,
insensitive, but, if you observe it, your mind becomes dull. This is obvious,
rational, logical, and yet you insist on having a method. You are always asking
how. How am I to meditate? One of the cheapest things you can do about