Fear: Time is the Root
February 8, 2011 Comments Off
FEAR: Time is the Root By J. Krishnamurti
”Fear exists not only at the conscious level but deep down at the unconscious level. There is the fear with which we are familiar and to which we have become accustomed. There is also the fear deep down,
hidden, concealed. Is it possible to be free of all fear? To understand
that, one must understand the whole content of consciousness. Now, you
have to understand the fact, not what consciousness is according to
somebody…you have to observe.”
This whole consciousness is of time – time being thought, thought being the response of memory, memory being the past, the past moving through the
present to the future in a limited way or in an expansive way. The whole
structure of the conscious as well as the unconscious is in the
framework of time – time being not only chronological time but also
psychological time. We have divided this consciousness as the
superficial and the hidden. The superficial is the educated mind, the
modern mind. And then there is the hidden mind. The hidden mind is all
the latent factors of the past; certain parts of it are awake, other
parts of it are asleep.
To become conscious, to know all the contents of our mind, requires an attention, an observation
which is attentive – not in terms of condemnation or justification, but
merely attentive.
Attention is necessary in order to find out the whole content of the unconscious.
I mean by ATTENTION a mind that is attentive without any subjective or
objective condemnation, a mind which is merely attentive. I must go into
the meaning of the word “attentive.” Because most of us do not know
what it means; we know only what it is to be concentrated, to focus the
attention, to focus the thought on a particular thing. And in that
focusing of the thought on a particular thing, which is called
concentration, there is an exclusive process – you are putting
everything aside.
Therefore, concentration is a form of RESISTANCE. Concentration is not attention because in attention there is no resistance. Attention
can concentrate; even then, it is not exclusive. One must be very clear
between these two facts: the implication of concentration, and the
implication of attention. In attention,
there is complete emptiness; otherwise, you can’t attend. Now,
if you are attentive, you listen to the noise of the train on the
bridge, you listen to the hoot of the train, you listen to the speaker.
But if you are concentrated, you cannot be aware of all this
extraordinary movement.
So, you need attention to observe the unconscious; otherwise, you cannot observe it. This means that the conscious mind must not see any
result, it must not wish to transform what it sees, it must not try to
interpret what it sees according to its likes and dislikes.
So the conscious mind must be attentively aware, which
means ‘aware without any preoccupation.’ The conscious mind must be in a
non-interpretative, non-condemnative state; this means it must be quiet
- quiet, not forced, not compelled. And that is only possible when
there is no ambition, when the conscious mind is psychologically free
from society – then the conscious mind can be quiet because there is no
resistance.
When the conscious mind is quiet – which means when the conscious mind is
attentive – it has no thought, it is empty but aware; then it can
observe.
This observation is not analytical or interpretative. This attention has no introspective or analytical
quality; the conscious mind merely observes.
Thought is the origin of fear; time gives soil to fear. So one has to
understand fear and be free of fear – not the fear of the snake, but the
deep down fear which gives sorrow, the fear which prevents affection,
the fear which clouds the mind, the fear which creates conflict, the
fear which brings about darkness. Most of us live in darkness and die in
darkness. If one would really understand that fear, one must understand
this whole process of consciousness which is time.”
From the collected works of Jiddu Krishnamurti
tags: attention, awareness, consciousness, fear, quiet, resistance, thought, time
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