THE VOID

A good writer wrote a great joke once. They take a guy in a rocket to the outer space and tell him: "Get out!" And he says: "Fine!", and he gets out. :) 

Void to void.

There exists an irrational form of thought process and it's essence is the perceptual distortion of reality, the horizontal conflict (the division of the thought process into the "subject" and "object"). 

But in reality what sees is all there is, what we are looking at is what looks! That is the undistorted (by thought) perception of reality.

There is only one undivided unitary movement of reality (the Universe). There is nothing that is separate, no "self". The self/the ego is an illusion produced by thought.

What are we clinging to then? What is there to be attached to? What is there to desire in the Void?

Do not try to avoid the Void, it's futile, impossible.

 I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING.

I don't know anything. If that is really so, that I don't know anything at all about anything, then what happens?

I don't know anything about anything, any definition, how anything happens or how it's possible. I don't know who I am, I don't have any goals, motives, preferences, choices, direction, no control, no effort, I don't know what I should or shouldn't do.

I don't know what to do at all. Then what happens? I can't do anything. I can't move. I stop. I'm in complete stillness and silence. That means watching, listening intently (the Universal energy working in the brain) without the observer in the observation, without the controller, the "me", which is all the knowledge.

Doing, pushing, exercising my will, involves time and the "me" (I do "it", subject -object). Purpose, goal, direction, definition..

Being happens all by itself. 

Just open your eyes and ears.

SILENCE

What is the silence? It's the absence of the product of thought that's called the I, the "me". What I want or what I don't want, my plans, my sorrows, frustrations and preferences, pleasures and fears, my knowledge, motives, effort, choices, control or time.

UP (Unitary Perception/ Universal Perception/ Unfocused Perception) is the realization that the Universal energy is all ready in the brain and working. Nothing else is required but this realization. 

At the instant of the realization, which is always "at the beginning" and never "at the end" that can be sought and reached, thought ceases producing the horizontal conflict (the split into the subject - object). 

You (thought) cannot sustain UP, you don't start it or make it constant. There is so little or no UP because there is so much "you". Occupation, work, pleasures and fears, hypnotic movies, TV, radio, music, "meditation", self-help, life coaching. All the false non-functional re-actions of thought, all the noise and chaos, must be dropped.

Just realize that the Universal energy is already in the brain. You don't have to make any effort or choice. It does not require control, effort or purpose. Let everything go, suspend all occupation, and listen in silence and stillness. Only the limited false illusory movement can leave you :) That's what's real is always all ready here. The only problem is the META Process (of thought), which re-acts as a blockage, always  something to "do", a new plan of re-action, effort, choice, control, motive, goal, purpose, time.

66 millions years later nature/evolution has done much better with the central banksters/politicians and billionaires scraping natural resources/metals off the earth, building rockets and ejaculating them into outer space (small penis syndrome*? ;) I won't mention of "heroic" ppl throwing bombs seemingly for some sick pleasure that is hard to fully grasp :) We have also been busy poisoning the rivers, seas, soil and air. 

What an abuse of intelligence and waste. But oh, we now have so called Artificial Intelligence telling us what to do, so no problemo! :)

* Small penis syndrome (SPS), also referred to as penile dysmorphic disorder, is a psychological condition. It is characterized by an obsessive preoccupation and extreme anxiety that one's penis is too small, even though it falls well within the normal, healthy size range.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snzW-lXRSII

 COMPLETE SECURITY IN NOTHINGNESS

The imaginary product of the META Process, the "thinker", the ego thinks (really it's thought of course) along these lines: "I live from the cradle to the grave, I will pop off at some point in the "future", I will get sick, I will lose everything." Thought (which produces this illusion of the "me"/the thinker) means a struggle, striving towards some lasting satisfaction (always in futility), duality, confusion, conflict, fear, sorrow, anger, choice, effort, control, purposes, goals, directions. Non-functional thought (thought that is not needed for survival of the organism is chaos, noise and unnecessary dispersion of energy.

In the Universe there is nothing that does not change, everything is a transformation and there IS only that one unitary undivided movement of transformation of matter and energy.

Only in contact with that holomovement, which is Unitary Perception is there true rest and freedom from the human condition. There is a complete security in nothingness - the void of the Universe.

 YOU ARE THAT.

"You are That" does not mean that the "you" (thought/ the thinker/ my self, I, me my "consciousness", the ego, the superego, etc :) that thinks it's somehow separate from everything "else", That - the Universe.. That's absurd!

It means that there IS only the unitary movement of the Universe, that it's a transformation of matter-energy, and it includes the brain and thought. Thought is also a little energy in the brain, that is not separate from the whole movement of the Universe. 

There is no "you" that is separate from the unitary undivided movement.

What sees is all there is, the Universe.

MADNESS

In this world of the human society the question is what is the level of "madness" that people exhibit. It can be higher or lower but it's always there (it can be hidden as a potential to erupt). To throw bombs on each other in hypnosis by thought (so called hatred) can be viewed as a pretty highly injurious level of madness, obviously :)

Moreover, most people do not even know WHY the world is (going) crazy. In fact there's evidence that people have been always going crazy, in the year -1000 they were fighting with some sticks probably :) and in the year +1000 they were killing themselves with metal swords (crazy! :) Now they've grown very "sophisticated" and they are shooting rockets and drones at each other from afar! :)

All the supposedly wise guys in suits on TV do not ever say why it is so that we must shoot rockets at each other. What a peculiar racket it all is! :) Who, what has producing, who is causing all this madness? How does it happen? Nobody asks! They only say (it is imperative) that we do MORE if it. All the serious noble eggheads seem to agree. Isn't it crazy? Like pretty high on the scale of crazy, no? :)

AM I DOING IT RIGHT?

"Before the donkey has left, the horse has already arrived."

If you're worrying if you are "doing it right" according to the "definition", "perceiving everything perceivable" or if it's "100FM", don't! It may be a mistake. In fact, the only problem may be you (thought) "trying" anything at all. "You" constantly making a problem out of something. Let go of everything. Allow yourself to not know. 

Just be still and silent, forget about everything, and the world will take care of itself. If you let go of  everything, the definitions, the goals, choice, control and effort, the world will find peace without any problem at all. The world is always exactly where is should be, which is where it is. And it will find itself, because it's never really lost.

 For the poor baboons being at the bottom of the baboon society means being depressed.

For the human monkey it doesn't have to be so! 

In fact for the human monkey it's best to be so far down in the society psychologically that one is completely out of it, so far out that nothing is left of him anywhere :) 

"I am what I am" simply means that what IS, that what is happening (vs "that what should be", what thought imagines should be happening, what I'm counting on in the future, what I want, what I choose and prefer to be).

 HOW DOES IT HAPPEN?

People say that Unitary Perception (UP)/ Zazen/ Yoga/ Dhjana, etc means doing this or that.. But what is it actually? How does it happen? Who does it?

UP is defined as the perception that is not directed towards any object (produced by thought), so without a motive (by thought), direction - concentration or hypnosis - (by thought), and effort (by thought).

Obviously, the "I" cannot "do" UP, because the I is an illusion produced by thought in the fragmentary perception, the distorted perception with the imaginary the horizontal conflict (the imaginary split into the subject - object).

So does thought do UP? Obviously not. Can thought "silence" itself? Obviously not. Thought can only understand that all it can do is to produce illusions and chaos (by thinking). Perhaps we could say that thought becoming silent is UP but it does not happen by thought. If it happened by thought, it would mean only more thought.

It is the unitary undivided movement that can be called the Universe that is in UP/ Zazen/ Dhjana. The Universe is in UP in the brain and at the same time (that is when) thought becomes silent.

That is what thought must understand. When it becomes silent in UP. It is important to understand because UP is not a mechanical activity, i.e. what happens in the horizontal conflict produced by thought. Thought reaching UP is just another action of thought, so an illusion, with a motive, direction, effort, control, direction, time, choice, knowledge, which is all thought. So this will never happen. Thought does not "DO" anything, it never does anything actually, it can only plan doing something. The only thing thought can DO is to become silent (by UP). It's a mistake, a misunderstanding (to think) that thought can DO anything. It cannot! 

Thought obviously cannot really say "I am the Universe" either, it's absurd. When thought becomes silent in UP, the Universe (and the perception of It) IS. When thought is operating in the fragmentary perception, as the "me", I, my self - with the illusion of the horizontal conflict (the duality of subject - object) - purpose, goal, motive, choice, control, effort, expectation, time, the perception of the Universe, the Universal Perception gets blocked.

But thought can perhaps be a tool of the Universe when it correctly reflects (by description) the Reality, i.e. That what is happening. Also it is useful and functional in the technical realm, to design a bridge, build a car, a house, organize healthcare and proper education, etc.

UP = the Universe. UP IS the one unitary movement of the Universe. UP is at the beginning (without time), and not at the end. The energy of the Universe (light - the electromagnetic energy, sound, gravitation) is already all ready in the brain (in the posterior brain).

So when you see you "slipped back" to hypnosis there is no "gently moving ban to perceiving.. whatever" - that is still thought, effort, duality, choice, motive, right? UP, the Reality, the Universe, the Void happens all at once by Itself (by the Universe), without effort, choice,motive, knowledge, definition(!) when there is the realization that there has been hypnosis (by thought)! It's waking up  (Second Awakening after sleep) or "awake"! Definition is not required for UP, in fact it is what's blocking it too (although UP can be correctly defined and described by thought). But in UP, in the actuality, its definition gets transcended. One LETS oneself to NOT KNOW.

In stillness and silence, hypnosis happens by itself and UP happens by itself. The Universe does it all, because in fact there is nothing else but the Universe. The best thought can do is to LET IT happen, complete letting go. This is the best thought can "do" - nothing. Stillness and silence without a motive, control, choice and time. 

UP means doing nothing, just not avoiding the Void (by thought).

 X: Why are you doing this?

Y: Because the best way to learn is to teach (your self). The best way to teach is to learn.

And I like it.

Sorri not sorri :) 

 Who am I?

Who am I, the thinker, a product of thought which seeks experiences, sensations and pleasures and tries to avert what it deems unpleasant? That product of thought that gathers the things it likes into the "me" and "mine" and wants to fix and control his domain closely so that  nothing ever changes unless it wants something to change :) 

 It imagines that it's divided from everything else (the "environment", the objects), lives in time, from here to there, from birth to death, from the cradle to the grave :) But in the meantime has these very important plans and extremely important attachments, that cannot be abandoned.

When it loses a part of its domain (action of "the world"/"what's not me" vs the "me" :), it suffers a nervous tantrum, a bout of sorrow or a so called "depression" Boo hoo :) - it is the sorrow and depression itself in fact. It clings to all its possessions for its shoddy dear life at all cost. 

It is that limited movement that is constantly (always only in imagination) striving away from that what is by hypnosis ("involuntary") or concentration ("voluntary"). A very funny invention of thought, tragicomical in fact. A perfect script of a jester's tear ;)

"Or can I hear the echo from the days of '39?"

Yeah, only back then we didn't have nukes.. 

Some folks just looove having a BLAST, so to speak..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9U6F7Ec9RA

 THOUGHTS AND CONSCIOUSNESS

X: There are thoughts that trouble me..

Y: Thoughts can trouble or torture you because you (thought) have divided yourself from them (thoughts) as the so called "subject"/controller/the "I"/the self, which is the horizontal conflict (subject - object), a basic distortion in observation, produced by you (thought). And now you're trying to control thoughts, overcome them, escape them, do something with them.

But that's an impossibility, you can only escape, grab a drink, but  they will return, for they are you. You don't realize that you are actually not divided from the supposed "your" thoughts.

Once you understand that consciousness is its content, i.e. there is no consciousness/"I", my self without the content ("my" thoughts), not intellectually but for a fact, that there are only thoughts and consciousness is a myth, the problem ends.

In the factual, undistorted perception of reality, the perception of what really is happening, there may (or not) be thoughts (together with the whole movement of reality) but there is no consciousness/me/I/my self.

That's the only solution. Otherwise you can get addicted to alcohol or drugs, go to a war, commit a suicide, pray, meditate or start to energetically tidy up the room every time :) Knock yourself out.

 CONSCIOUSNESS AND DEATH

To you who lies in bed at night, thinking about something, e.g. dying, etc. :)

Some say you should divert your attention somewhere "else" like.. to escape the 

fear.

But I'd like to ask: who are you that says he/she is afraid and why do you feel 

you have to escape the fear?

Maybe you should investigate what death is and who you are.. Who is afraid of 

death? It's the imaginary product of the brain called the "I" that is afraid, or 

in sorrow and it is itself fear and sorrow.

So you cannot escape fear, you are it, you are just sweeping the problem under the 

rug, but it will rear its ugly head again and again, and you will try to fight it 

in vain.

What you can do is to understand the whole issue. The product of thought called 

"you" does not really exist. That is a fact. There is no consciousness per se. 

Consciousness is produced by thought.

So why is there fear? Because this imaginary product of though persists and 

produces its imaginary projections and attachments.

When the content of consciousness, all of the attachments and illusions disappear 

in silence, there is no problem.

Only the silence through everything goes unobstructed is a solution, the silence 

is understanding of the problem, not an escape.

For fear to disappear you have to die ("psychologically"), without any effort, choice, control or self-pity. And it happens all of itself in stillness and silence when you have understood that what is, which means you are not attached to anything, which means you are nothing.

 THE HUMAN CONDITION

There seem to be two distinct approaches to freedom from the "human condition".

1) Attempt it, try to find it, do something to reach it ("the other shore"). 

But then there will be "freedom"/"my will", which I want AND that what I don't want (not my will), which is.. that what is (fear, sorrow, anger). So isn't it a conflict? The illusion of the horizontal conflict produced by thought (subject-object)?

2) Why do "you" even have look for "freedom"? Who are you, the seeker? Aren't "you" the self, your will, so the fear, the problem itself? 

You are looking for freedom because you cling to something, aren't you? You are attached to something that is transient, something in the world that you would like to be fixed, and it makes up your "self", what you want and what you don't want is what your self is, it is what you are.. But the world is a constant transformation, so it's constantly sleeping through your fingers.. You know you're losing (everything you hold will and must be lost, and you know it). 

So you are afraid, or to put it more simply, YOU are FEAR, sorrow and anger, because you don't want to let go, you don't want, or you want, does not matter, it's the same. Therefore the world is testing you, you are petrified whenever there is some sort of crisis in "your life", you live in fear.

But unfortunately or fortunately you can't be attached to anything in the world that is constantly changing. This cannot be done. It's a fact. You can "try" but it's just an illusion produced by thought. It can work for a short while (maybe!), until the next crisis. But that what's real, the truth, is always at the back of your head.

So for those monks who seek freedom from fear, is there a different solution then to be indifferent? Let go of everything that you love ("my will"), give it up without any self-pity. And don't mind that what you hate happening ("the will of the Universe")?

Do not cling to anything, do not be attached to anything, do not choose anything, do not have preferences. Completely negate the imaginary movement forward produced by thought, that is called "time" or the "future". If possible, be silent and still.

Fortunately or unfortunately there is no other way, and if you don't let everything go, you will always live in fear.

If you bump off yourself it's ok, same when you go help children in Africa. Problem is that peeps are doing the same thing when they strive to become presidents to escape from yourself, go to fight in a jungle somewhere, bombing cities, killing millions of civilians. It's all the same, an escape because you cannot bear your self.

 WU WEI

Ruben Feldman Gonzalez: The Unknown means, among other things, to stop seeking experiences and sensations.

The superproduct of thought called the "I" is always in search for some more futile entertainment :) and as man is probably just a natural fool ;), it may take a lot of "soul searching" to find out that you just don't know. I cannot know. All trying to find is in vain to find nothing.

Freedom cannot be sought. Why? Because "you" are the process (the META Process of thought) that is the denial it it. So freedom is where you are not.
"I am the Universe" - when thought is saying this, it's not actually true. Who is really saying this? You, me, my self and I :) The Universe does not say it's Universe. It's a game of language, a game of hope, delusion, more entertainment.

"You" are the disturbance (the horizontal conflict). All you striving has to be understood both in the "material" world and in the so called "spiritual" world. Not wanting anything means understanding what wanting is.

If there is a definition of freedom in the brain (that has to be adhered to) or any purpose to strive to, it's not actually freedom. Any control, effort or choice is the illusive horizontal conflict produced by thought (subject - object), the source of all distortion of perception.

Striving to be somewhere else means to lose peace and freedom. If you try to control too much you may not even be able to sleep at night. Let it go. Don't try to interfere in the flow, it doesn't need you, it flows all by itself.

It does not matter if "you" have a problem with that what is or try to intervene in what is (in vain) or not. All that can ever be is what is.

 HOW TO REST FROM TOO MUCH KNOWLEDGE :)

“Let us not call defense a rearmament that increases tensions and insecurity, deprives investment in education and health, undermines trust in diplomacy, and enriches elites who care nothing for the common good.” 🎯
- The guy called "Pope".

To know anything is a more subtle or more crude disturbance of the brain, an imbalance, a burden.
To know something can be functional for work but we are frequently occupied with non-functional knowledge, unnecessary burden which often touches on the Thymic level of the META Process of thought (triggering emotions of fear, sorrow, anger).

How to not know one could ask.. How can I take some rest from all the circus? First of all one can temporarily suspend all the noise, cut off the contact with the media, TV, radio, music, books, language, chatter, the Internet..

Then one can suspend all DOING. In the state of silence and stillness all the disturbance caused by thought may naturally decrease as thought has to react to less stimuli, it doesn't need to DO anything.

Don't do anything. Don't go in any direction. Let everything go as it wants to, whatever happens, do not interfere, do not try to choose or control the flow, do not make any effort on any purpose.

Though in spite of that thought may keep returning and hypnotizing you, it's OK, don't worry about that either. Why should you be afraid of any memories coming back? Let everything go without fighting it, without trying to change it. You are nothing.

You will keep waking up from the hypnosis too (the second awakening after night sleep), do not choose this over that. Just be silent and still. Let everything come and go through you, for you are really nothing, simply pure emptiness.

 DON'T MIND

Not knowing anything (The Unknown) is pretty good! :)

But what may be even better ;) is not minding anything, not being bothered by anything, not having any preferences, not choosing anything, not going in any direction, not trying to control anything, making no effort, having no purpose, not exercising any will, not wanting anything at all (I want, I don't want).

Once there was a guy who was worried that he would have nothing to do anymore. "Man! All that time and nothing to do? How is it possible to take THAT predicament?" :) Sooo depreeessing, so saaad.. Unbearable. Boohoo.. :)

But really he must have been clearly a fool.. Well.. well! Nothing to do! How about THAT!? :) Thanks for everything! I don't have any complaints whatsoever. :)

Nothing do do
On a cold rainy day
The passing cars sound almost like the sea
Doves cry
Drills the rocks.

Thanks Basho.

 PUSHING WITH EFFORT

In the physical world "pushing it" may be sensible, sometimes we need to use force, of the muscles, persistence, build tools, machines to build a dam or a bridge, transform the "environment" ("me"/subject vs the "objects).

BUT in the psychological world (the "internal" world of the subject/ "me"/the "I") pushing it is absurd, because there is nothing to transform, as the "me" is a fictitious product of thought!

Today's "I" has nothing to do with yesterday's "I", there is no "I" continuing through time, from a moment ago till now, this mysterious entity is simply a product of thinking and it probably evolved a long time ago to perform action on the "outside" world, using the functional horizontal conflict, the illusion of the split between the subject and object, produced by thought, like "We have to store some food for "tomorrow".

Really that was IS is only and always the full undivided unitary flow of the Universe and that is our direct experience and perception (Unitary Perception), which thought denies by inventing the horizontal conflict, with the subject/the centre of experience/ the Self/the "I".

But thought cannot really deny that what is real. Only that what is unreal, the illusory products of thought like the Self can be negated. All thought can do is to TRY to negate the truth, again and again, with effort, purpose, control, choice, etc., imagining the "me" by producing the split of the horizontal conflict.

It's easiest to be free of the illusion (all illusions) in stillness and silence, without any purpose as then the horizontal conflict is not required to be produced by thought to perform any action (on purpose).

That means not doing anything at all, letting everything go, not worrying about anything, no wanting anything, not trying to control anything or make any choice. not knowing anything, not trying to be anything. Where you are, it is not. If you are not, it is here.

 TIME

What is time, not the time on the clock but the psychological time? Is it time when a memory from 10 years ago appears when w're walking in a forest awoke? No, then the memory is just in the flow of the whole energy, there is no problem, it comes and goes away very fast.

For time to appear there must be a purpose, so the horizontal conflict (what is vs "what should be"/the ideal). I live in Berlin but I love Paris and want to move there, maybe I will be able to do that in 10 years when I save enough money (usually never happens of course). The gap from here to there is time. What's in between this conflict is effort, sorrow, fear, choice, control, expectation, etc. Another name for that is I, me, my will, my self, the ego.

So time is the ideal vs that what is. And time can also be something we call spiritual, something we strive for, make effort for, try to control like the idea of "God", "Yoga", "Unitary Perception", "Meditation". We want to reach the ideal, which is our own projection, so again it's in the domain of the self, it's actually pretty silly :) It's like the dog chasing its own tail.

Zen, the unitary movement of the Universe, UP, Yoga, the Void, etc. cannot be controlled, it is flowing or not. When we try to control it, we disrupt the flow and disperse energy in futility, no? So when hypnosis by thought happens do we have a choice? No. It just happens, perhaps because we work a lot, thought has a lot to think about, a lot of purposes, expectations, a lot to analyse, which is the hypnosis by the META Process of thought.

When we wake up from the hypnosis (the Second Awakening), it happens spontaneously too, it's not something that "I've done.", it's just how the Universe works, without any control. It's one Flow, one unitary movement, without a problem, if we/thought does not make problem out of it.

 THE FREEDOM

Freedom from the human condition (fear, sorrow, anguish, conflict, etc.) is the state of the brain in which there is no illusion of the Horizontal Conflict (subject-object), which is produced by thought.
The freedom is "That what is" (Sunya, the Universe, Void, UP, Dhjana, etc) without "That what should be". Ppl mostly spend their days in the state of striving towards "That what should be" ("concentration", "occupation", running after something, control, effort, my will, purpose, choice etc) and again, it is an illusion produced by thought.

Without that state of the brain, the human endeavours carried with lots of effort, like politics, fighting for democracy, activism, reforms, etc. are futile. They will never work. Nothing will ever work but the Freedom, which is the end of illusions and all psychological suffering.

We are quite urgently in need of coming to the realization there is not me, myself, my will or I, that is divided from the stream of "environment" or the one flow of everything, the Universe.
Otherwise we will go mad. We're going to commit suicide, "individually" by shooting ourselves, consuming poison, dying from anger in the rat race abusing our intelligence, or collectively courtesy of the nuclear bomb.

 

LET GO OR STOP IT.

Should one "let the mind go where it wants", which implies no control or choice, as Jiddu Krishnamurti suggests or should one "withdraw from "running into the multiplicity of things", which implies some control and choice, and which Meister Eckhart suggests?

This is the ultimate "spiritual fork in the road." At first glance, Jiddu
Krishnamurti and Meister Eckhart seem to be giving you opposite directions: one tells you to take your hands off the steering wheel, while the other tells you to put the car in the garage.

However, if we look closer, they are describing the same process from two different angles. They both want you to reach the same destination: a state where the "Self" (the "Me") is no longer the master of the house.

1. The Krishnamurti Way: "Let the Mind Run":

When JK says to let the mind go where it wants, he isn't advocating for "daydreaming" or "indulgence." He is advocating for Choiceless Awareness.

If you try to control your mind, who is the "controller"? It is just another fragment of your thought. You end up with one part of your brain trying to boss around another part, which creates conflict, friction and noise.

By letting the mind go where it wants while watching it intently, you see the "nature of the beast." You see that your thoughts are just mechanical reactions to the past. When you truly perceive that your thoughts are just repetitive noise, the mind naturally slows down and becomes silent. Not because it is forced, but because it sees its futility.

2. The Meister Eckhart Way: "Withdraw from Multiplicity":

Eckhart’s Abgeschiedenheit (Detachment or Disinterest) sounds like an act of will, but it’s actually a form of Negation.

Our minds are usually scattered among a thousand things (the "multiplicity"). We are worried about money, work, our social status, relive our memories or plan special experiences in the "future" ("that what should be"). This process (the META Process of thought acting in the fragmentary perception) prevents freedom, peace or the "Ground" from being present.

"Withdrawal" isn't about hiding in a cave or seeking special experiences and sensations, it's about not being attached to the transient images and forms in the world of Void. It’s refusing to let the circumstances effect the freedom and peace of being Nothingness.

By withdrawing from the many, you return to the one movement of the Universe. You become idle, creating an empty space where energy, space and freedom of that what IS, the Universe, can enter.

3. Reconciling the Two: The "Invisible Choice":

The conflict between "No Control" (JK) and "Withdrawal" (Eckhart) is largely a matter of semantics. They both describe letting go of the ego. You "withdraw" (Eckhart) from the world of transient illusions and objects produced by thought by "watching" (JK) how your mind tries to run toward it.

If you "let the mind go" but you aren't aware, you're just a leaf in the wind. If you "withdraw" by force, you're just a prisoner in a cell. The "sweet spot" is Choiceless Awareness (Unitary Percepiton) without effort or control.

4. 2026 Application:

The Krishnamurti approach would be to watch yourself scrolling through the news and noticing the exact moment a headline triggers fear, sorrow or greed. Now ask yourself: why does it happen? Why do I feel fear or sorrow? - It's because I want something, I am attached to something, something "that should be" instead of "that what is" (something that's already here!), right? That's clearly a conflict, which can never be resolved as long as I'm attached to something. By watching it all, the whole movement produced by the META Process in the psychological realm, the "spell" of the algorithm is broken.

The Eckhart approach would be to realize that running to the "multiplicity" of the transient world is a waste of energy that keeps you from the "Ground." You withdraw not out of "discipline" but out of a realization that the noise is valueless.

It’s like a browser with 100 tabs open. Krishnamurti says: "Look at all the tabs and realize they are all nonsense." Eckhart says: "Close the browser." Both leave you with a clean desktop.

You should let the mind go (JK) only to see that its "running into multiplicity" (Eckhart) is an exercise in futility. The "control" isn't a muscular effort to stop thoughts, it's the Intelligence that realizes that there is thought but there is no thinker and that what actually sees is the one unitary movement called the Universe.

Do you feel like your mind is "running" right now because it's looking for an answer, or can it sit idle with the fact that both teachers are essentially pointing at the same Stillness and Silence?

 THE RIVER AND THE WHIRLPOOLS

Thought divides reality into "objects" and "events" (for a functional reason - to process the "slices" of reality, record them and perform actions on them). Let's take our wars, we have had WW2, WW1, 30-year war, 10-year war, Vietnam War, Iran war, etc etc. but are there really separate events?
..Or could it be that life moves like a river and it's one flow of water
and each "event" is like a whirlpool in the stream of water but it's never the same whirlpool because the water is changing all the time? We could then say that all what happens in reality is a movement, a process, a verb (not a thing), and it's flow-ing.
In fact every so called "thing" or "object" to which we attach names can be viewed in this way, as a transformation, and one could certainly argue that it's the correct view of what's really happening!

So in case of our history, for example, there is a constant warring, there may be particularly violent outbursts of this, which thought divides from the whole movement and says, "from this date to that date it was WW2", but in fact warring has been going on in the course of the whole human history, only in the ancient history it was fought with sticks and now it's fought with AI drones and (potentially) nuclear weapons.

Similarly, in the process of photosynthesis, a "plant" converts the energy of the "Sun" to grow, then the plant is eaten by a "human being", in the brain of that person a carbon atom is exchanged with the carbon atom from the plant, then the person dies and the carbon atom is consumed by a so called "beetle".. One movement of transformation.

Reality then is not a collection of separate "events" or "objects" (rather misleadingly and deceptively assigned certain names by thought), but a constantly evolving and changing transformation of energy and matter in which there is no division.

"You" are not a "thing", an "object" either, you are a not a noun, "the me", "I",

myself, you are not the fixed limited entity that thought thinks you are. You are a verb, a constantly transforming unitary undivided movement of energy-matter that can be called the Universe. But let's be very careful here because only the Universe can say this, not the illusion produced by thought called the me, I, the thinker! That illusion, and all illusions, have to be thoroughly understood first and have to resolve, untangle themselves.

 THE HORIZONTAL CONFLICT.

The way I see it, the horizontal conflict (HC) evolved from/by thought to transform the "environment" (I/me - "environment"), to perform action on the "objects" in the fragmentary perception. Here it is (often) useful and functional.
The problem starts when the invention of the HC moves to the psychological field and tries to act there. Perhaps the most egregious attempt in this realm is for thought to try to transform the fictitious entity, the "I", which is itself produced by thought. Oh my.. the whole self-help industry, the army of the gurus!
This is of course absurd. The "I" is a product of thought, an illusion, so it cannot evolve, cannot change, it cannot be done. Yet, it's a non-functional disruption in the flow of energy, a waste of energy, a conflict (effort, choice, control and it actually SUSTAINS the whole process (the META Process of thought).

Without thought (the limited movement, the "I"the Self) attempting to change that what is in the psychological realm, the "I" ("I don't want to fear", etc.), where it shouldn't try to act, without the effort, choice, etc., the unitary movement of matter-energy (Reality/Universe) is not disrupted, is not disturbed, irrespective
if the brain is in hypnosis or in the state of the Second Awakening (second awakening after night sleep). The key is if there is the illusion of the HC present or not (effort, control, choice, direction, purpose, expectation, etc.).

Is freedom from fear and anguish possible then? Yes it is. Again, it is the state where there is no illusion of the HC, so no "Self". When everything is let go (let go means indifferent impassive, observation, not trying to push away), all knowledge, all attachments, all desires and worries, it is the natural state of the brain. It is easiest for the freedom to find us when we are still and silent, for then we are not acting upon any objects ("working" on something, being occupied), so there is no need for thought to produce its illusion of the HC. In this state there is no effort, choice, direction/concentration, purpose, control, expectation, etc.). This is awakening of intelligence and balancing the need to act in the world, work and earn money to pay the rent with the absolute need for freedom, peace and joy of complete energetic reconstitution of Reality in stillness and silence.

 The "I" is produced by thought.

J. Krishnamurti: Consciousness is it's content. There is no thinker, only thought.

1. What we call "I" (the Ego), my personal, individual, choosing "self", is not a sovereign entity, but a theatrical illusion generated by the brain. To use an analogy of a movie theater, the "I" is like a movie being projected on a screen. We are so absorbed in the movie that we believe we are the characters, forgetting that the reality is the light, the film, and the projector.

The brain has a "show" or a "display" function.

The Projection: Thought produces images, feelings, and a sense of "me".

The Error: The brain in the fragmentary perception makes a "category error." It treats these internal projections as if they were as real and independent as a solid wall.

The Illusion: "I" isn't a "thing"; it’s an activity. When thought is quiet (which does not mean it was made quiet by will or any force), the "I" (the show) simply stops. If you stop the projector, the movie characters don't "go" anywhere, they simply cease to be.

2. "Thought is Matter". Thought is a purely physical, electrochemical process in the brain cells.

The Material Loop: Because thought is material, it is limited by time and memory.

The Fake Center: Thought creates a "center" ("I") to give itself continuity in absolute "time". It then pretends this center is "spiritual" or "transcendent."

The Verdict: This "spiritual mind" is a fraud. It is just matter talking to itself, creating a sophisticated illusion of a soul to avoid the fact of its own material nature.

3. The Fragmentation of the Whole. The "individual I" is a fragmentation. Reality is an undivided unitary movement. When we say "my mind" or "my opinion," we imagining we're cutting a piece out of the whole and pretending it stands alone. This is the
illusion (the illusory horizontal conflict of subject-object produced by thought). In fact it's just thought blocking the complete perceptual contact with Reality, which is the undivided unitary movement.

4. The Brain vs. "my mind" is a crucial distinction which may help clarify the illusion.

The Brain: A physical organ, a biological "computer" that is real and necessary for survival.

"My mind": The psychological "content", the horizontal conflict (subject-object), attachments, fears, knowledge, choices, all of which constitute the illusive product of thought that is the "me".

My mind is the illusion, the Brain is the reality. If the brain could see through the illusion of the "I", it could function with a different kind of "Intelligence" that isn't trapped in the personal "vortex" of the self, with all it's psychological suffering and tragedy.

Time is not a path to psychological progress, it's a mental construct to delay facing That What Is, the unitary movement of transformation of matter-energy, which can be called the Universe. "The Mind"/"my consciousness"/"I"/"the me is not a sacred
internal space, it's an illusory show produced by the brain.

There can never be stability and security in hope or illusion. There is total security only in negation of all the false products of thought. When the illusions are understood, the real is. The most important thing for the "I", the horizontal conflict produced by thought (when it's not f u n c t i o n a l l y needed) is to be what it is - nothing.

 The most ;) enlightened being on the planet is AI now? ;)

Btw, I don't agree that who speaks about something does not have to walk the walk.. It's funny actually, happens everywhere all the time: I will tell you what to do, but myself I won't do it :)

Watched a bit of it because I'm a sucker. Watts was troubled that he was drinking, smoking and talking too much or something but maybe it was what he was and there was nothing else to attain and it was peace if he loved it, i.e. that he was a drunkard? ;)

No, clearly that's stupid because there was nothing stopping him from quitting booze, doing toxic things to the body must be a tell tell sign that even someone like Watts somehow doesn't have it. Even if he knew a lot of "theory" from books, genuine understanding still didn't permeate his neurons or something..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO9yFkW4Hz0

“I am what I wanted and I want what I am.” ― Meister Eckhart

When a guy lights a smoke, it's HIS decision, it's HIS WILL so there's no conflict here, right?
But when he has a wife who is a non-smoker and they have 2 kids and she can't find work (so kind of can't leave him, she's stuck with him for good) and hates cigarettes, then what happens? It often means a conflict, thought says "Why do I have to breathe a toxic cancerous smoke because he is a (expletive) moron?", something like that. The smoke cannot be avoided, yet the conflict is still be there. IF she cannot change the situation, this conflict is pretty absurd, no? Is it helpful or is just wastage of energy? It can be said it is hating that what already is, right? But hating that what is is pretty insane if you look at this, no? Trying to force things that cannot be forced, because they already are here and nothing can be "done".

Another example would be working in a supermarket or some other job and hating it, losing a job, losing a wife (died or left, "SHE'S GONE", as J. Krishnamurti said to someone), what my partner does or doesn't, somebody is talking incessantly, there is a radio playing, music, losing a kid, falling ill, losing money, hating bugs, mosquitoes, flies buzzing, noise of loud motorcycles, politics, war, (I don't mean going to war when you're drafted, that is stupid too, but having an ideal that something "should not be" or "should be") etc. etc. We regularly hate lots of things that we cannot change at all! Isn't it interesting?

1) hating of "THAT WHAT IS" happens, it's an imaginary but energy wasting ("suffering") conflict in the unitary movement of energy-matter. It is the imagined "my will" (the ego, me, I, my preferences, my choices, etc. which is a product of thought and the horizontal conflict (subject-object).

2) THAT what is, the unitary movement is already here, it cannot be argued about, fought or changed, transformed, etc.

The only transformation that can happen is to understand the FUTILITY of the limited movement (1), my will, I, me.. etc.

What follows I think is that all positive action, like "Let's oppose war", (political) activism, create and organization, write articles, etc is a phony limited movement, bc there is still the same conflict in it (the horizontal conflict), "my will", I, me, the ego. The struggle, the opposition means that the conflict hasn't resolved itself. In other words, the limited movement only increases the conflict while pretending it's trying to solve it..

Peace is not the opposite of war , the force that opposes war. Peace is not a positive direction, a force. Peace is a negation of the whole limited illusory false movement of "I", me, the self, the product of thought that is the horizontal conflict (subject-object), because the movement has been understood "from the ground up" (not only intellectually as a conclusion of a second-hand knowledge, repeating someone else's conclusion in a book).

Thought plays very strange games with itself! "I want to be like Paul Newman in that movie I watched" or "I want to be like the great investor who was just interviewed.." But you're not! Are you? :) The fact is that you're a lousy investor and you're definitely don't look Paul Newman! :) Why can't the brain completely reflect the reality as it is? Why can't That What Is just be as It is (because It always is and will be ANYWAY)?

 What I would say depression is is the brain invents an image of "what should be" (in the "future") - which is "the self". For example "I will be a successful entrepreneur with an attractive partner and 2 or 3 kids, will have a house in a warm green area", or something like that and at some point life says, no you can't have those, that image you've built is false, bro.. One falls ill or the wife leaves or a kid dies and all the startup companies go bankrupt. So that precious image of "what should be" that the brain has built does not reflect reality, there is a conflict in the brain between those two, and the structure of "what should be" in the brain means a strong attachment/ it was a source of pleasure for thought. But the image HAS to correlate with Reality (otherwise one goes completely insane), so the Thymic and Autonomic aspects of the META get activated, intense sorrow, anger, loss, apathy, loss of energy.. That may be what is diagnosed as "depression". But perhaps it does not necessarily needs to be escaped from, "cured" or medicated right away. Perhaps one should instead observe the whole movement of thought that is actually happening, without any choice, control, effort or opposition. Perhaps there simply should be an observation that completely correlates with Reality, reflects Reality. The old structure of the self has to dissolve and that alone would naturally and inevitably bring peace and order.

The modern therapies of depression may often completely miss the point. They offer various escapes and fast medication without understanding what the central issue seems to be.
*************************

When thought gets dissatisfied in the pursuits of the "material world", it often starts to chase so called "spiritual" goals, like finding "God" or "nirvana" or something along these lines. This seems to be a completely different direction than the previous one but in fact it is the same movement of the self as before only seeking different kind of experiences, pleasures and sensations, and ultimately different kind of illusions.

If people understood that the horizontal conflict (the split into the subject- object) produced by thought is an illusion, and the "I" is useless the "psychological" sphere, it would mean a radical change.

Thought is perfect for calculating something, creating a new algorithm or navigating the streets of London. Or in the magnificent world of technology, to build a bridge, it is functional there.
But in the psychological sphere, the I cannot evolve, grow, transform or change, because it simply does not exist per se, it's a product of thought, which is always old and limited. The whole imaginary problem disentangles if this is completely understood.

It's not enough to understand it intellectually, as as an intellectual conclusion. It has to be a direct understanding, an insight into the whole issue of how thought operates (including the horizontal conflict). There must be a complete understanding of the operation of the META Process of thought.
When this happens, the problem disentangles by itself because thought sees its limitation and realizes that it's completely useless in the psychological realm. Thought cannot voluntarily negate itself, but it can negate itself by seeing its own inherent limitation and falseness.

 Alan Watts: The deepest you is the Nothing side, Don't be afraid of Nothing.

Nothing is More Powerful Than Something. The shock is realizing what moves everything is what can’t be grasped or named.

“Nothing” isn’t empty — it’s the space where everything becomes possible.

This quote captures Alan Watts’ core teaching that the ultimate reality (the Tao 

or "void") is not a "thing" to be grasped, but the unnameable, creative space of 

absolute freedom. He argues that "nothingness" is not empty void but the 

necessary background that makes all existence possible.

J.Krishnamurti: The most important thing is to be absolutely nothing.

There is absolute security in Nothingness, Emptiness. That is the highest Yoga/Dhjana/UP/Zazen/Nirvana, etc.

 If there is only a unitary movement/The Universe, then what can be tried/attempted (effort, direction, knowledge, definition, purpose etc) and who makes the attempt?

If your answer is: "What is attempted is the unitary movement". Then my question would be: Then the unitary movement which is everything that IS has to TRY/ATTEMPT to be Itself? 

Doesn't it sound rather strange?

 Sermon 86

Beautiful Sermon. The extraordinary giant M.Eckhart makes up his story as usual :) using the Biblical story of Mary Magdalene at the tomb. He makes it a story of a psychological transformation (because maybe all what he was really writing was about THAT! - I don't know bc I've read rather little of his work). Notice the change of the capital letters, him (Jesus the man) and Him (God the Universe, one unitary movement, etc.

So what is the story that M.Eckhart conceived about? Mary Magdalene loved Jesus so much that when he died, she died psychologically with him too. That means she became totally empty. That was when the God/ Universe/ joyous extraordinary Energy or whatever you want to call It was revealed/restored in her. The Gardener was the Truth, the unitary movement of matter-energy transformation. Beautiful and true explanation of the psychological transformation using the old catholic imagery and terms (also worth noticing is a great translation).

The last part is immensely important to understand:
For the soul to find God she needs six things: First, what was sweet to her before must become bitter to her. Second, that the soul becomes too cramped for herself, so that she cannot remain within herself.8 Third, she must desire nothing but God. Fourth, that none can comfort her but God. Fifth, that she never returns to transient things. Sixth, that she has no inner peace till He is restored to her.


SERMON EIGHTY-SIX
(Q 56, Par. an. 26, Evans II, 32)1
"Mary stood at the sepulcher weeping" (John 20 : 1 1 ). It was a wonder that in such sore distress she could weep at all. 'Love was the reason of her standing, sorrow of her weeping.' She stepped forward and looked into the tomb. She sought a dead man, and found two living angels. Origen says, 'she stood.' Why did she stay when the apostles had fled? She had nothing to lose: all she had she had lost with him. When he died she died with him. When they buried him they buried her soul with him. Therefore she had nothing to lose.
She went on. Then he met her. "She thought he was the gardener,
and said, 'Where have you laid him?' " (John 20 :15). She was so
anxious about him that she only took in one word that he said.
"Where have you laid him? " that was what she said to him. Then he
revealed himself gradually to her. If he had revealed himself all at
once, while she was in the throes of longing, she would have died of joy. If the soul knew when God was coming into her, she would die of joy; and if she knew when He was leaving her, she would die of grief. She does not know when He comes or when He goes, though she can sense when He is with her. A master says His coming and His going are hidden. His presence is not concealed, for He is a light, and light is by nature revelation.
Mary sought God and God alone: that is why she found Him, and
she desired nothing but God. To the soul that seeks God, all creatures must be a pain. It was a pain for her to see the angels. Thus for the soul in quest of God, all things must be as nothing. For the soul to find God she needs six things: First, what was sweet to her before must become bitter to her. Second, that the soul becomes too cramped
for herself, so that she cannot remain within herself.8 Third, she must desire nothing but God. Fourth, that none can comfort her but God. Fifth, that she never returns to transient things. Sixth, that she has no inner peace till He is restored to her.
Let us pray, etc.

 Meister Eckhart - Unresigned People, Who are Full of Own-Will

Quitting Thyself 

‘Alas, Sir,’ people say, ‘I wish I stood as well with God, had as much devotion, were as much at peace with God as other people are. If only I could be like this, or as poor as that,’ or, ‘ It is not a bit of good unless I can be here or there or do so and so. I must live away from home, in a convent or a cell.’ - Believe me, the fault is in thyself and nowhere else. It is nothing but own will. Thou mayst not know it and it may not seem so to thee, but the only source of restlessness in thee is thy personal will, whether this is realized or not. We think we ought to flee this thing or follow that—places, people, methods, purposes, or acts—but ways and things are not to blame for hindering thee, it is thou thyself in things that is standing in thy way, cleaving to things as thou dost inordinately. Starting with thyself then, rise up and quit thyself. An thou flee not first thyself it is certain that wherever else thou mayest flee thou wilt find thou art disturbed and hindered, be it where it may. For people to seek peace in outward things—in places, persons, ways or works, in poverty or exile or despisery or anything else however important it may be - is all in vain, it will not bring peace. Those who seek in this way are looking in the wrong direction: the further out they go the less are they likely to find what they are seeking. They go like one who has missed his way: the further he walks the wider he strays. But what ought he to do? He must leave himself first; he will then have left all things. A man may give up a kingdom or the whole world but if he still clings to himself he has given up nothing.

 Ruben Feldman Gonzalez: "If you want to bring the Silence to the world , it's already gone" WHY? 

Purpose.. effort.. the illusion of the split of Reality (into subject-object) produced by thought, the horizontal conflict. It's a distortion of perception. But it's necessary to perform any action, to do something. That's why it (this mechanism of the horizontal split) evolved in the brain (by/with thought). 

So work/action has to be BALANCED with complete non-action in complete unobstructed Freedom/Peace, silence and stillness without any choice or effort. If not, the META Process with its horizontal split can drive one "crazy" bit by bit (e.g. fear, obsessions, stress, lack of sleep, desires, addictions, etc).

All of this, the very simple mechanism how the META process of thought produces this illusion of the horizontal conflict/split (so has to multiply division), is re-learned, re-discovered, has to be re-discovered in the brain, from the ground up. NOT in the books (only). Re-discovered over and over again, maybe from different points of view. But it happens all by itself for a monk (some one vitally interested in this) and this is correct, the best what can happen to any one.

WHO cares? The Universe in all those brains that have awakened is the same one intelligence, because there is no division.. And the intelligence wants intelligent solutions (not like wars and the rat race).

So that is also the "Will of God".. So the whole issue if the world will be destroyed by the fools is not yet completely determined. Yes there are wars, bc of thought and it's imaginary products. BUT thought has also created magnificent technology.. It is limited and it creates deadly problems but it wasn't ALL bad from the Universe to allow for the mechanism of the horizontal conflict to develop in the brain...

.. Not only intelligent solutions for "problems" but they already are living in the undivided way so they don't create the problems in the first place.

Stillness and Silence is the Ground of that living, it's being one with the Void, Nothingness, complete boundless Peace, complete Ecstasy that is the Universe, the kernel of the Universe.

UP/Yoga/Zazen/Dhjana, etc. = letting everything go as the Universe wants (so called "God's will" :). Let  everything go completely as It wants!

Complete denial/ negation of the Self (everything that it wants). The negation includes "UP" (the idea of it)!

That means it is best "done" by silence and stillness. 

In (functional or non-functional) work it may not be possible. It's because the horizontal conflict  (the illusory product of thought that is the split into the subject and object) may be necessary  to perform it (operate on the so called objects of the "environment"). That is why whatever "we" "do" is so often the cause of so much stress, fear, effort, conflict, anguish, etc. The horizontal conflict is the root of it, the root of stress.

Meister Eckhart was a great Giant! (you can substitute "The Universe", "Void" or "Sunya" for "God" and "the world of the human society - all products of thought" for "creatures" in the passage):

"If therefore you want to have and find full joy and consolation in God, see to it that you are stripped of all creatures, of all consolation from creatures. For certainly, as long as creatures comfort you, you will never find true comfort. But if nothing can comfort you save God, truly God will console you, and with him and in him all that is delight. If you are consoled by what is not God, you will have comfort neither here nor there. If however creatures do not console you and you don't enjoy them, you will find comfort both here and there"

Regarding the so called "Will of God" :), the so called "religious" people might have not understood that war is also "the will of God" (the will of the Universe). Very simply because war is obviously currently happening, that is all the "reason" behind it why it's the "Will of God" currently. The thought of the people has obviously always have thought that "God" is some "being" somewhere (in "Heavens" :) who can choose and control what's going on in the world (what a funtastic product of thought! :) because of their catholic upbringing and all the conditioning in the society. But "God" (The Universe, Sunyata, Void, etc.) is simply THAT what IS (all of It, the whole unitary movement) that is happening. It does not mean that we - the monks.. should participate in war, it's an activity of the fools.. The task of the monks is stillness and silence. 

Suffering is the expression of the imaginary product of thought called the Self. Stillness and silence is the expression of understanding.

 Let me ask you a question, OK?

If there is only one unitary undivided movement ("THAT"), what can be tried or attempted? Who attempts it? What can be achieved?

Attempt is a rather unfortunate word to use in this context, of B.

UP is not a positive thing! It's a negation (negative!) of all illusions, including the "UP" (the Idol).

An "attempt" can only be made in C, where there is an ILLUSION of a limited movement (the me/ the Self/ the horizontal conflict). So ALL attempts are things of C, can only "take place" in the illusion of C (sometimes functional, like work, etc.)

 UP/Yoga/Dhjana/Zazen/the Universe fills an empty brain immediately, without time. It's seamless, so to speak, it can be said that it's the same, one movement..

In fact the energy of the Universe IS already in the brain, in the Posterior brain. But thought in the Anterior brain blocks it when it invents the horizontal conflict, so the purpose, direction, and the self.

UP cannot be initiated, tried, attempted bc to initiate it, there would have to be knowledge and image (a definition) of what to pursue, so.. a purpose/ a goal, so we're in the same old circle of thought..