what the quality of the mind is that sees the truth that any function of thought,
apart from when it is necessary, does not bring about harmony of living. You
find out because you have passion, you have an intensity, you have energy.
Then also you have to find out for yourself whether fear can come to an end,
not only the fear of physical pain but also the psychological, inward fears that
you have. Find out the truth of it, not just a verbal explanation but find out for
yourself, passionately and therefore seriously to the very end, so that the mind is
free of fear. So one has to ask what fear is. Is it the product of thought?
Obviously it is the product of thought. That is, you think about something that
has given you pain, physical or otherwise, that happened last year or yesterday.
You think about it, and the very thought sustains and continues that fear. And
thought also projects fear into the future: I may lose my job; I may lose my
position, my prestige; I may lose my fame. Thinking about the past or about the
future breeds fear. So one asks if thought can come to an end. (I am doing all the
work. Too bad!)
You can also see how thought sustains pleasure. You think about a marvelous
sunset that happened yesterday; it was so beautiful, so lovely, so exciting, so
sensual, so sexual, and thought sustains that pleasure. So there is sorrow, fear,
pleasure, and joy. Is joy totally different from pleasure? I do not know if it has
happened to you. It happens. Joy comes suddenly. You don’t know why, but
thought picks it up, thinks about it, reduces it to pleasure, and says, “I’d like to
have that joy again.” Thought sustains and nourishes pleasure and fear; and the
very avoidance of sorrow is the continuity of sorrow; not only the superficial
fears but the deep unconscious fears that are embedded in the recesses of your
own mind, of which you are not aware. Then there is the fear of death, which is
the ultimate fear that humanity has. We’ll deal with that presently. How is one to
bring all that out so that one is totally, completely empty of all fear?
Now, after putting these questions, what is the quality of the mind that sees
the truth of all this, the truth that thought perpetuates fear and pleasure—the
truth, not the explanation—the truth that the avoidance of fear through various
forms of escapes does distort the mind and that it is therefore incapable of
comprehending fear totally, completely? What is the quality of that mind? And
what is the quality of the mind that doesn’t invite joy, and, when joy happens,
leaves it alone? What is the quality of the mind that is aware that when thought is
necessary it must be employed logically, objectively, sanely, and that sees that
thought, which is the response of knowledge, which is the past, becomes a
hindrance and blocks a way of living that is noncontradictory? When you say you
understand something not intellectually or verbally, what is that quality? Your
mind is completely empty and silent, isn’t it? You can only see something very
clearly when there is no choice. When there is choice, there is confusion. It’s
only the confused person who chooses, who discriminates between the essential
and the nonessential; the person who sees very clearly has no choice—there it is.
So there is an action that comes when the mind is completely empty of any
movement of thought, except the movement of thought which is necessary when
it has to function. Now, can such a mind deal with everyday facts of life? Can it
function if you are a Muslim, a Sikh, a Hindu, a Buddhist? Can it ever function
michael s
(Michael S)
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