K: Is that so? Is this constant preoccupation not putting the mind to sleep?
A: Then why does not the mind slacken when it is not occupied?
K: On the contrary, the moment we begin to inquire why there is this necessity
for constant occupation, the mind is already alive.
A: Mere absence of occupation is not sufficient to keep the mind alive.
K: Of course. There are many who get duller day by day without any occupation.
But the question is: Why does your mind want to be constantly occupied? Is it
because it will go to sleep if it is not? Or, is it the fear of emptiness that makes
the mind want to be occupied?
I am inquiring. It is only the mind which is not occupied that can inquire. In
inquiring, the mind is awake. Most of us fall into habits which prevent looking: I
am a Hindu, and for the rest of my life I remain a Hindu; you are a Muslim, and
for the rest of your life you are a Muslim. But if I ask myself why I am a Hindu, I
open the door to the inquiry. Naming may be part of this fear of not knowing
what to do.
A: Fear of not leaving the shore of the known.
K: So, can the mind observe the reaction called anger, not name it, and so be
finished with it? If the mind does that, then there is no carrying over of the anger.
When the reaction which I have named ‘anger’ arises next, it has quite a different
meaning, a different quality.
A: Our difficulty is that we meet anger with ideas.
K: Why do we have ideas and formulas? Let us begin again. We know the
conditioned response, the naming and so on. Now we see that naming is a factor
which gives continuity to anger. I see the truth of that. So I do not name. Just as I
see the danger of the snake and do not touch it, I do not touch this either. So
naming is finished, and anger undergoes a change.
R: It seems as if during the moment when we are capable of observing anger,
anger disappears. Anger exists in the moment when we are not capable of
observing.
K: No. You call me a fool, and I get angry because I do not like your calling me
a fool. I see that. I see the falsity of naming. So where is the response? Instead of
naming, this happens instantly. Therefore there is no hurt at all. We first have
ideas and then we perceive and act.