Please check out my Substack article, The Cycle Must End, which gives insight into the origins of this poem, and provides a brief outline of the book on empathy that I am writing.
We live too much in our head and not enough in our heart. Just recently I was accused of being 'too sensitive'. I think that being sensitive or 'too sensitive' is not my issue but rather the issue of the people who are insensitive.
Sensitivity is as much to do with our conditioning as our intellect has. That said, I think many people can miss two quarters of their half a world in pursuit of temporal ambitions that will not in the end satisfy them. Life is a sensual experience and once you have fulfilled the need for material survival, it is wise to slow down and appreciate the sensuality of life.
Here we are as a nation and the world at a tipping point that could rival our two world wars or create a gilded age of progress and prosperity for most. Instead of the concentration of great wealth into the hands of the few including megalomaniac dictators that would wipe out whole nations for their own personal gains. An old mindset of power, greed, and control. Or the enlightenment of new technologies of clean energy, biometrics, medicine, artificial intelligence, and more for the good of all humanity. Each person has their own choice in this matter even though most see the billions of people and think how can I as one person affect anything. You hold in your hands access to the greatest amount of information ever compiled and/or a desktop computer that can be used for research to try and understand objectively the world around us. Or use it subjectively to confirm your biases, prejudices, and separating yourself from humanity as a whole to your own color, class, and beliefs motivated by the forces of division. It all gets down to individual choice. Either we live together on this tiny blue dot or not.
Technology is a form of power, and as with all forms of power, (money, guns, land-ownership, controlling politicians, etc), Technology will be accrued by the already-powerful (not hard to see) and will be used by them against the common good.
New 'technological fixes' will not fix problems created by the previous generation of technologies. And it's not only because technology is 'in the wrong hands', it is because technology itself (like money) ultimately enslaves, rather than fulfils its promise to 'save you time for higher pursuits'.
We've known for over 100 years (quantum physics) that there is no such thing as objectivity - the observer and the observed always both change together - they are "one-interactive-thing", and all in the context of the greater 'tiny-blue-dot'. The current political paradigm of 'top-down-control' of people and planet will eventually fail because it is not in line with the deeper reality of 'one people, one planet' - but unfortunately when it crashes is likely to cause massive immiseration of ordinary folk. We already see it in certain parts of the world.
So I agree "Either we live together on this tiny blue dot or not."
Intellectualism is a mind trap, it separates us from each other and nature and God the creator. It is ego, building us up to tear us down, one argument after another.
this is so alrmingly accurate as to how the earth has been sectioned off for profit and greed by the gilded ones...sensitizing has been blown away and devalued in favor of "just the facts, ma'am". sit on a park bench for 5 minutes without naming, evaluating, or fixing what appears...then go and voice your concerns and provide action for a more equitable. inclusive, and diverse world. thank you for this reminder
"The Stoic Emperor Marcus Aurelius was to express satisfaction that when he took to philosophy, he did not waste time on history, syllogism, or astronomy, while Seneca declared that recent inventions such as transparent windows, central heating, and shorthand were of no interest since they could not help to strengthen or calm the soul."
Krishnamurti is, to me personally, the most important writer of the 20th Century. And there is no artifice, no technique, just the man talking with other humans trying to find their way.
Intellect draws the maps, but sensitivity is the passport nobody can fake.
Agreed, most of us can out-argue a philosopher but can’t remember the last time we actually watched a blade of grass. Maybe our brains are crowded because we forgot to look outside our own heads.
📌 Sometimes the smartest move is putting down the argument and picking up a little wonder.
⬖ Frequency of Reason, making room for curiosity in a crowded mind: bit.ly/4jTVv69
“Intellect is the result of conditioning.” So true. We have been conditioned since birth to “belong” in this world humans made. Pay attention to Nature. It is indifferent to humans and will continue without us if we don’t destroy it from our own greed. Travel. Have adventures, and sometimes, tell no one. Live fully in the moment. Uncondition yourself!
I used to go to Ojai, near Santa Barbara to hear him speak. There was a clarity in his thinking that was unsurpassed in those times. I love to see him quoted anytime!
A great passage - many thanks. I am currently struggling - part time and sporadically - through Ian McGilchrist’s “The Master and His Emissary”, which illuminates his work on right/left brain function. It’s fascinating and compelling. And also long! But his schema maps quite directly onto the Krishnamurti passage. We tend to overestimate our left-brain-based rationalit capacity. The other side, which perceives and conceives more holistically, deserves an equal - or, in McGilchrist’s view, greater - place at our mental table. It’s the part more inclined toward truly value-free (or temporarily suspended) observation.
I spent a week with J. Krishnamurti in Switzerland many years ago.
At a time in my life when I really needed it. Read Krishnamurti's "Think On These Things".
So beautiful and so true. Thanks for sharing!
I love your non materialistic, holistic approach.
This poem of mine makes similar points Jiddu?!
What do you think.
True Relation
True relation
Needs no messiah
Just millions of people
Learning together
They’ll build no temples
But they do have a shrine
This beautiful planet Earth
Home to humans kind
Blind ambition
A thing of the past
New community created
Designed to last
There’ll be no popes
There’ll be no kings
With mutual understanding
No need for these things
There will be great teachers
But no need for a throne
The leaders of this movement
Content to work from home
The answers are all around us
They’re just not obvious
The great majority
Kept oblivious
Yet slowly there’s awakening
Slowly all can learn
That life’s great triumphs
Are never what we own
They’re how we raise our families
Connect with our peers
How we treat the weakest souls
Who’ve known little more than tears
Revert to the Stone Age??
I hear the cynics say
To create such utopia
Give everything away!!
Not sure what it would look like
Nothing important needs to go
Just hatred and greed
And untamed ego
Kindness the main mantra
Compassion and empathy
As we let go of the hold
Grief’s had on you and me
We’ll tread easy on the planet
Food and most goods locally
Keep waste to minimum
End consumerist folly
I’m sure it won’t be easy
I’m sure many will resist
Contentment of early responders
An inspiration to the rest
There won’t be other chances
We don’t really have a choice
There is no planet next
So let’s hear your voice
Raised up and overwhelming
A clarion of love
For every living thing
The mighty peace dove
Stephen Treloar May,2023.
Stephen, my comment 'So beautiful and so true 'was addressed to you. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you Yvonne.
Please check out my Substack article, The Cycle Must End, which gives insight into the origins of this poem, and provides a brief outline of the book on empathy that I am writing.
Please let me know what you think?
☯️ 🌼🙏🌼☯️
We live too much in our head and not enough in our heart. Just recently I was accused of being 'too sensitive'. I think that being sensitive or 'too sensitive' is not my issue but rather the issue of the people who are insensitive.
I agree with you totally. We cannot let let the insensitive carry the day.
https://drawstrength.substack.com/p/modern-disobedience?r=1ulfu
Sensitivity is as much to do with our conditioning as our intellect has. That said, I think many people can miss two quarters of their half a world in pursuit of temporal ambitions that will not in the end satisfy them. Life is a sensual experience and once you have fulfilled the need for material survival, it is wise to slow down and appreciate the sensuality of life.
Here we are as a nation and the world at a tipping point that could rival our two world wars or create a gilded age of progress and prosperity for most. Instead of the concentration of great wealth into the hands of the few including megalomaniac dictators that would wipe out whole nations for their own personal gains. An old mindset of power, greed, and control. Or the enlightenment of new technologies of clean energy, biometrics, medicine, artificial intelligence, and more for the good of all humanity. Each person has their own choice in this matter even though most see the billions of people and think how can I as one person affect anything. You hold in your hands access to the greatest amount of information ever compiled and/or a desktop computer that can be used for research to try and understand objectively the world around us. Or use it subjectively to confirm your biases, prejudices, and separating yourself from humanity as a whole to your own color, class, and beliefs motivated by the forces of division. It all gets down to individual choice. Either we live together on this tiny blue dot or not.
Technology is a form of power, and as with all forms of power, (money, guns, land-ownership, controlling politicians, etc), Technology will be accrued by the already-powerful (not hard to see) and will be used by them against the common good.
New 'technological fixes' will not fix problems created by the previous generation of technologies. And it's not only because technology is 'in the wrong hands', it is because technology itself (like money) ultimately enslaves, rather than fulfils its promise to 'save you time for higher pursuits'.
We've known for over 100 years (quantum physics) that there is no such thing as objectivity - the observer and the observed always both change together - they are "one-interactive-thing", and all in the context of the greater 'tiny-blue-dot'. The current political paradigm of 'top-down-control' of people and planet will eventually fail because it is not in line with the deeper reality of 'one people, one planet' - but unfortunately when it crashes is likely to cause massive immiseration of ordinary folk. We already see it in certain parts of the world.
So I agree "Either we live together on this tiny blue dot or not."
Intellectualism is a mind trap, it separates us from each other and nature and God the creator. It is ego, building us up to tear us down, one argument after another.
"What is explained can be denied but what is felt cannot be forgotten."
Charles Bowden
this is so alrmingly accurate as to how the earth has been sectioned off for profit and greed by the gilded ones...sensitizing has been blown away and devalued in favor of "just the facts, ma'am". sit on a park bench for 5 minutes without naming, evaluating, or fixing what appears...then go and voice your concerns and provide action for a more equitable. inclusive, and diverse world. thank you for this reminder
"The Stoic Emperor Marcus Aurelius was to express satisfaction that when he took to philosophy, he did not waste time on history, syllogism, or astronomy, while Seneca declared that recent inventions such as transparent windows, central heating, and shorthand were of no interest since they could not help to strengthen or calm the soul."
Krishnamurti is, to me personally, the most important writer of the 20th Century. And there is no artifice, no technique, just the man talking with other humans trying to find their way.
We do need intellect, if I may disagree. It's just that, without love, it becomes harmful. So we need both.
Intellect the greatest function of the mind in the West, but not in the East. That’s why the West is so screwed up.
Intellect draws the maps, but sensitivity is the passport nobody can fake.
Agreed, most of us can out-argue a philosopher but can’t remember the last time we actually watched a blade of grass. Maybe our brains are crowded because we forgot to look outside our own heads.
📌 Sometimes the smartest move is putting down the argument and picking up a little wonder.
⬖ Frequency of Reason, making room for curiosity in a crowded mind: bit.ly/4jTVv69
“Intellect is the result of conditioning.” So true. We have been conditioned since birth to “belong” in this world humans made. Pay attention to Nature. It is indifferent to humans and will continue without us if we don’t destroy it from our own greed. Travel. Have adventures, and sometimes, tell no one. Live fully in the moment. Uncondition yourself!
I used to go to Ojai, near Santa Barbara to hear him speak. There was a clarity in his thinking that was unsurpassed in those times. I love to see him quoted anytime!
A great passage - many thanks. I am currently struggling - part time and sporadically - through Ian McGilchrist’s “The Master and His Emissary”, which illuminates his work on right/left brain function. It’s fascinating and compelling. And also long! But his schema maps quite directly onto the Krishnamurti passage. We tend to overestimate our left-brain-based rationalit capacity. The other side, which perceives and conceives more holistically, deserves an equal - or, in McGilchrist’s view, greater - place at our mental table. It’s the part more inclined toward truly value-free (or temporarily suspended) observation.