MIND THE MIND

"Science may be described as the art of systematic oversimplification"   
                                                                                    Sir Karl Popper


MIND THE MIND
We look at things, we look at people, we consider something “objectively” and, in this modern, scientific age we feel we are facing the “truth”. Unfortunately, whatever we, as individuals do, which is mediated by the mind cannot be truly “real” since our mind is not objective. The mind cannot help but judge, compare, make assumptions, about the object in question because it is rooted in time and thus filters everything through memory. Since truth and reality are not things of time but of the moment, they cannot be accessed via the mind.
Hence, and here I think we have the nub of the problem for humans, we have to see the world without the lens of the mind. This explains the notion, for instance, of two types of “seeing” in Carlos Castaneda’s books¹ about traditional Mexican Indian culture.
Krishnamurti emphasises the importance of going beyond books, gurus and acquired “wisdom” because these are all matters routed in peoples’ minds. Education, he states must free individuals to really learn for themselves and not just be trained to absorb facts. Education has failed. It has failed because “educated” people launch wars, they set nation against nation etc. The nation state in itself leads to conflict because it artificially separates people- we need to see ourselves as members of the earth with shared responsibilities and values.

SEEKING IS NOT THE ANSWER
One could argue that we should seek wisdom, seek love, become wise individuals. Krishnamurti argues that the process of seeking itself, ambition, are facets of the mind and hinder the journey to enlightenment. Rather, humans have all the accumulated wisdom of the ages within themselves and do not need to seek further or look to the outside. This once again reflects an observation of life that humans are forever searching externally for things, understanding, wisdom, experience which they already have but do not recognise it.
Travel has become the latest obsession of the materialistic world- once we have acquired all the trappings of comfort and consumerism, we focus on “consuming” experiences. The irony is, as in all seeking, the process itself ensures failure to gain the object of our desires. Seeking love has the same result- it can only distance us further from love.
The travel analogy can be extended to say that it’s the process of getting somewhere which is important, not the arriving. The same observation is often made of achievements in sport- what is important is the participation, not who wins the trophy, although in modern society, as predominantly throughout history, the winner is everything.

Of course, the search for “enlightenment” itself has fallen victim to the same process. Once we have a comfortable lifestyle, with enough food and other gratifications in general, and we note that we are still not happy, we seek spiritual “gratification”. However, reading the works of sages and gurus etc can become just as much a distraction as the materialistic traps.