The Collected Works of J. Krishnamurti, Volume 04 (1945-1948): The Observer Is the Observed by Krishnamurti

Author:Krishnamurti [Krishnamurti]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2017-04-15T04:00:00+00:00

Sixth Talk in Madras

There is an art in listening. Most of us are accustomed to translate what is being said or interpret it according to our conditioning, background, tradition, and so on. Is it not possible to listen to what is being said as though we were listening to music, to a song? Are you interpreting music when you are listening to it? You are listening to the silence between two notes; you are attentive yet sufficiently relaxed, sufficiently focused to follow the swift movement of music.

Right communion exists only when there is love; there is understanding at the same time, on the same level, without translation and interpretation, when there is love; it is rare to find such complete understanding, for such love is equally rare. But we meet on different levels, at different times, and so communication becomes extremely difficult. Here, what we are trying to do is not only to listen rightly, but also to be creative. To listen not merely to the words, but, without denying, to experiment with what is being said as though you were following alertly and yet silently. But we do not know how to listen, how to observe the new, and what we hear we put in the old forms. We put new wine in old bottles, and the old bottles burst. By putting the new into old terminologies, the flavor of the new is destroyed. We do not approach experiences anew; we come to it with the burden of the past, which only strengthens the past. Love is ever new, ever renewing itself. There is a renewal, a newness for a man of understanding, for he is not caught in a pattern of thought, in interpretation. It would be greatly worthwhile if we could listen with that peculiar quality of creative attention, meeting the new without the burden of the past. As I said, a truth that is repeated ceases to be the truth; if you merely hear it, it is a repetition and so ceases to be the truth, even though you guide it along the familiar channels of thought. If you listen with creative understanding, which is not interpretation, then it is truth which you understand, and it is truth that gives freedom, that gives happiness. We shall miss that happiness, that creative joy, if we translate the new according to old formulas. There can be happiness only when the mind is capable of receiving the new; as the mind is the result of the past, it is extremely arduous to be rid of the old. You must have listened to the song of the bird at early dawn; it is new, incomparable, lovely; your mind is fresh, untroubled by the day’s activities, and so is capable of receiving the new, though the song is as old as the hills.

Please listen to what is being said as though you were hearing it for the first time, and you will perceive a curious thing taking place in you; happiness is not something that is old, but it is a constant renewal of itself.

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