Connie got Bob's attention and pointed to the doorway of the bar they were all sitting in--Stanley's in the East Village. Bob jumped up from his seat and moved briskly toward the entrance with his hand out.
Dobbs: Mr. Jiddu, I'm so happy you found our rendezvous!
The elegant, but serious face waited for Bob to direct him. Bob signaled to the bartender to turn the jukebox down as he escorted Krishnamurti to the long table of guests. Introductions were politely made and then Bob asked Krishnamurti to address the room.
Krishnamurti: I don't know why you are here, but this is not a lecture, nor a sermon, and the speaker is not a guru. You can disregard anything or everything the speaker says and you can leave any time you want to. The speaker is not trying to help you. Actually he refuses to help you. Imagine, however, you and the speaker are walking together by a river in the forest and are having a conversation as between friends. But it's a serious conversation, on serious concerns such as: what is death, how can human beings love, why do we suffer so much, or can humanity really change? But as we listen to each other, the speaker would prefer that you not agree or disagree with him, but just listen and be aware of the thoughts that our discussion gives rise to. You don't have to express them. Just observe them with all your attention. You will notice that thought is only capable of experiencing the known. It is not able to think about the unknown. This is more than a contradiction, it is a fact. It is a fact because all thought is based on memory, and memory can only be based on the known. The known is what has been experienced. Therefore, the known is the past, which brings in the concept of time, and if you go into the experience of time, you will observe that time is the known, that the unknown is not time, that it is something else, if it is anything. But the unknown evokes emotions of excitement, anxiety, or fear which are based on past experience or memories, the known. The known is the content of consciousness-- memory or time. Did you ever observe that when you are most involved in an action, you are not aware of yourself, you have no self-consciousness? The observer is the observed. But why does one lose this experience when one suddenly becomes aware of oneself doing the action? At that point have you entered time? Are you following what I'm saying? Don't nod in agreement or shake your head in disagreement! Go into it. The speaker is not presenting an argument to be believed in. The speaker may be talking nonsense. You have to investigate this for yourself. But do it now as you are listening. Don't say to yourself, “I will listen now and go away and think about it tomorrow.” Go into it now with the speaker, but not as something to argue with. Observe your thinking as we talk. Shall the speaker continue? Yes? Okay. Human beings have lived in conflict for thousands of years. This is a fact that has not changed. There have been attempts and claims to change human behaviour through many kinds of institutions, but none have stopped this conflict. Why is this the case? We say we want the “good,” and we don't want the “bad.” But the “good” is thought of in comparison with the “bad.” We use thought to make the distinction. That is, we use the known. If we actually stopped conflict, that would be a new condition in our experience. It is presently for us an unknown situation, but we use thought, which is based on the known, to attempt to create the unknown. The speaker is not talking about the daily use of thought for the practical concerns of life--for the maintenance of our survival, for inventing new technology. That is necessary. The speaker is asking if there is an experience that does not involve thought. When one sees an object that one desires, that desire creates an image, an image in the mind. That image then creates a thought, a thought that reacted to the desire.
