first perception—that the mind must be completely quiet. The perception, the
truth of it, and seeing the truth of it is the first and last step. And then that
perception must be ended; otherwise, you carry it over. Therefore the mind must
observe, must be aware choicelessly of every perception and end that perception
instantly—seeing and ending. Then the mind is not living with thought, which is
the response of the past, and is not giving to thought a continuity into the future,
which may be the next minute, the next second.
Thought is the response of memory, which is in the very structure of the brain
cells themselves. If you have observed yourself, you will see that in the brain
cells themselves is the material of memory and that memory responds as thought.
To bring about a total mutation in the quality of the cells themselves, there must
be an ending of every perception—understanding, seeing, acting, and moving
away from it—so that the mind is always perceiving and dying, perceiving the
false or the true and ending it, and moving on without carrying the memory.
You know, all this demands tremendous perception, tremendous vitality,
energy. To go into this step by step as we have been doing, not missing a thing,
requires tremendous energy. Now let’s find out how this energy comes into
being. We need energy. For you to sit for a whole hour and listen demands
energy. Unless of course you go to sleep—that is also a form of energy. To do
anything requires energy. And this energy can be dissipated, used in all kinds of
ways. So the question is, Can this ordinary, everyday energy—going to the
office, quarreling, nagging, fighting, sex—be heightened? Can this energy be
completely held without any form of distortion?
You see, our energy is dissipated in conflict—conflict between two nations,
conflict between two beliefs, conflict between two opinions, conflict politically,
religiously, conflict between the husband and the wife and the children. Trying to
see God and suppressing all your instincts is also conflict. That is distortion. How
does one have this complete energy without distortion? Now let’s find out by
investigating what distraction is, what dissipation of energy is. We said that
conflict in every form is a distraction, is a dissipation of energy—conflict
between the observer and the observed, between the ideal and the fact, between
the what is and the what should be. Conforming to what has been and trying to
carry out what has been in the present or in the future is part of conflict. That is a
distortion of energy. Every form of conflict dissipates energy. And religious
people throughout the world, the monks, the sannyasis, the yogis, all say that you
must control, you must be a celibate, you must take a vow of poverty—you know
the game they play. What does that imply? More and more and more conflict,
suppression, conformity. And they think that conformity, suppression, every
form of infantile battle with yourself will lead you to some kind of tremendous
experience.
So when you see the truth, when you perceive the truth, that every form of
conflict is a distortion, the very perception is the ending of conflict—at that
moment. Then forget it; begin again. Don’t say, “Well, I have seen it once and I
am going to hold on.” That means you give continuity to thought, which is the
memory of what you have perceived a few minutes ago, and so you strengthen
the brain cells themselves to carry on with this memory of the past, and therefore
michael s
(Michael S)
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