Jiddhu Krishnamurti (1895 - 1986)

EXPLORATION INTO INSIGHT - 'ACTION IN ATTENTION'

M: Action invariably means change.

K: I want to find out the meaning of the words `to act', `to do', not `having done' or `will do', either in the past or in the future. Acting is always in the active present, not as past action or future action, but action which is now.

P: Can there be action now?

K: I want to find out, Pupul, whether there is an action which is continuous and, therefore, always a movement without a causation. i am exploring, just move with me.

P: What do you mean by action?

K: Must action always have a cause, a motive, a direction?

P: Is it not a problem of the mind? Action is `to do'. It is related to something. What is the movement of action?

K: The past, the present and the future. We know that. What do we mean by action? To do, the physical doing, the going from here to there, intellectually or emotionally working out a problem? So, action to us means `operating on', `operating through', or `operating from'. I am just exploring. Is there an action without producing conflict - outside or inside? Is there an action which is whole, not fragmented? Is there an action which is a movement unrelated to environment, unrelated to me or to the community? Is there an action which is a movement out of time? All that to me is action. But to us action is in relationship to another. Action is related to the community we live in. Our action is dictated by the economic, climatic, personal, environmental condition. It is based on beliefs, ideals and so on. That is the action we know. Now, I want to find out if there is an action, which is not the result of environmental pressure.

M: Action is not a separate movement. To be here or to be is to act.

K: I want to see what is action. You are not helping me. What is action, moving from here to there, snatching a child from the road when a car is coming? Thinking about something and acting?

M: It is the motivation that matters.

K: Motivation is part of action. I want something and I get it. I don't like you and I act, or I like you and act. We know that. We are trying to find out what is action?

P: If it is obvious, then, what is the fact which propels that movement?

K: Pupulji, I think we have to eliminate causation in action. Is that possible?

P: We have started something which is a movement in a direction. In attention there is also movement. It is not that one goes to sleep with it. I am speaking to you now or Maurice is speaking to you and we are listening to you and there is no other movement within us. The question is: In this state, which has nothing except seeing you, what is it that motivates, moves?

K: I want to get at something much deeper. What is the action which is self-energizing? An action which is infinite movement with infinite energy? Am I making something clear? I think that is action. I am feeling my way into something. I feel all our actions are fragmented. All our actions are destructive: all our actions breed division and out of that division arises conflict. Our actions are always within the field of the known and, therefore, bound to time and therefore not free. That is so. Now I want to find out if there is any other action. We know action in the field of the known. We know technological action, the action of thought, the action of behaviour. Is there any other action? P: How is this stream, the `other action', contacted by or related to the brain cells? If it is not related to the brain cells and consciousness, then it would be synonymous with God.

K: I am asking what is action? Within the field of consciousness, we know action very well. It is all within the field of the known. I feel that such action must lead to various forms of frustration, sorrow, disintegration. Now, let us go slowly. I ask myself: Is there any other action which does not belong to this consciousness with its frustration, failures, sorrows, misery, confusion? Is there any action which is not of time? Is that a legitimate question? One has acted always within the field of the known. I want to find out if there is an action which is without friction. That is all. I know every action breeds some kind of friction. I want to find out an action which is non-contradictory, which does not bring conflict.

A: You would not be here if the motive was not there.

K: This does not mean that action is consistent, follows a set pattern. Following a pattern leads to a complete destruction of the brain. Such action is a mere mechanical repetition. I want to find out an action which is not repetitive, which is not conflicting which is not imitative, conforming and therefore corrupt.

M: To live means to act on environment.

K: Therefore, I don't depend on environment. I want to live a life without conflict, which means life is action. And I see that life always has conflict in it. And I want to find a way of living which is action in which there is no conflict. Conflict means imitation, conformity and following a pattern in order not to have conflict, which is a mechanical way of living. Can we find a way of living in which there is not a breath of imitation, conformity, suppression? First of all, it is not a question of `finding', let us remove the word `finding'. It is a living now, today, in which there is no conflict.

M: Such action may be disastrous?

K: It won't be disastrous. My intelligence, looking at all the actions in the field of the known, observing them, paying attention to them, my intelligence asks this question. Intelligence is in operation now.

A: My intelligence tells me that I cannot hurt another without hurting myself much more. In the world, there is no such thing as doing evil to another without doing a greater evil to yourself.

K: The word `intelligence' means not only to have a very alert mind, but to read between the lines. I read between the lines of the known activity. Having read that, my intelligence says that in the field of the known, action will be contradictory.

P: We appear to be totally blocked here. You say something and there is no way to find out, there is no way to talk about it.

K: I said I am going to investigate.

M: When intelligence searches for something, what happens?

P: What is the difference between the words `investigate' and `search'?

K: There is a great difference. Investigate means to `trace out'. Search means `seeking something to find'.

P: How will you investigate this?

M: In science, investigation means finding the unknown.

K: I take the word `investigate', not what science means or what I mean. According to the dictionary, investigation means `to trace out'. I see that any action with a motive must inevitably bring about a diversion, contradiction. I see that, not as an idea, but as a fact. So, I say, is there in my mind any contradiction when I am investigating it. I want to see what happens. I see, in paying attention, that an action based on a belief is contradictory. So, I say to myself: Is there a belief which is living, acting and therefore contradictory? If there is, I go after that belief and wipe it out.

P: Who is it who goes after that?

K: In that attention there is no going after, there is no wiping away. From that attention, observation, belief ends in me, not in you. It ends. In that attention, I see that any form of conformity breeds fear, suppression, obedience. So, in that very attention, I wipe that away in me, and any action based on reward or punishment is out, finished. So, what has happened? I see that any action in relationship, based on an image, divides people. In paying attention to the known, all the factors of the known, their structure and their nature, end. And then attention becomes very important. Attention says: `Is there any action which has none of these things?'

M: Would you say that attention it self has none of these things?

A: Would you say that attention itself is action?

K: That is it. Therefore, attention is perception in action and therefore in that there is no conflict. It is infinite. The action of a belief is wastage of energy. Action in attention is producing its own energy and it is endless. The brain has functioned always in the field of conflict, belief, imitation, conformity, obedience, suppression; it has always functioned that way and when the brain begins to know that, then attention begins to work. The brain cells themselves become attentive.

M: From what I have now understood, you seem to say that attention calls for energy and then energy directs.

K: Attention is action. We also said, consciousness is its content.

P: In a state of attention, do the brain cells themselves undergo change?

M: Biologically, every cell is individual, able to recharge energy and, therefore, to function. Every cell also functions because awareness is built into the cells.

K: I think so. I would like to start from a different point. The brain cells have gone through wastage of energy which is conflict, imitation, all the rest of it.. They are accustomed to that. The brain cells now have stopped that. They are out of that field, and the brain is no longer the residue of all that. It may function technologically and so on, but the brain that sees life is action and is without conflict, is in a state of attention. When there is complete attention, right inside, not imposed, not directed, not willed, then the whole structure is alive; not in the usual sense, but in a different sense. I think there is a physical transformation. I think it is a direction of death and death is that. So, there is an action which is non-repetitive and therefore freedom from the known is attention in the unknown.

P: Freedom from the known is also within the brain cells. The brain cells are the known but the freedom from the known is also within the brain cells.

K: Therefore, there is a definite transformation coming into being.

M: The brain is clear of engrams; that is a physical transformation.

K: This logically is so in the sense that as long as the mind is functioning within the field of the known, it is functioning in a groove and the brain cells have been functioning in grooves. Now when those grooves are non-existent, the total brain acts, not in grooves, but in freedom, which is attention.