PrevNextTop85-05-26Letter from Jim - Krishnamurti
5-26-85
(or there-abouts)
Dear Jon,
I received and enjoyed your letter.
Regarding your program, I entered it and called it nvowels.c.
I executed it with the command line:
nvowels why try, my fly?
It said the total number of vowels was 0.
I think something's wrong. That's the trouble with you
theoretic mathematicians turned programmers - you try to simplify
the world with sweeping generalities. I understand,
you are out of practice. When is 'y' a vowel anyway?
I can't help but to give you this quote by John Steinbeck:
My own journey started long before I left, and was over before I
returned. I know exactly where and when it was over.
Near Abingdan, in the dogleg of Virginia, at 4:00 of a windy afternoon,
without warning or good-by or kiss my foot, my journey went
away and left me stranded far from home. I tried to call it back,
to catch it up - a foolish and hopeless matter, because it was
definitely and permanently over and finished. The road became
an endless stone ribbon, the hills obstructions, the trees green blurs,
the people simply moving figures with heads but no faces.
All the food along the way tasted like soup, even the soup.
I thought of that passage when you said “those two weeks after school
may be tough ones.” We are time-binders, and when we become goal
oriented we lose the preciousness of the present. I hope you can retain
your focus - nothing's happening in America that wasn't happening
before you left. Your openness and watchfulness was reflected
in those photographs you sent me. You see things the rest of the world
passes by. The picture of the three Mexican girls is superb,
one of the best photographs I have seen.
Composition, content, - exquisite; you must have got lucky.
[[These girls were in Cairo, Egypt.]]
Well, I will be looking forward to seeing you on the 27th.
We can ride the Tijuana Trolley into San Diego. I probably
won't get to my parents until 9:00 on thursday (26th) evening.
Their number is 1 (619) 753-2964. I'll let them know you'll be
calling. I'm sorry I couldn't arrange to have a little more time
off, but Mr. Manager is busier now than he wants to be.
I know I'm not the only one eagerly awaiting your return; your parents,
family, Karen and Norman are too. I will be visiting Karen and
Norman next weekend. We might go to Point Reyes.
Two weeks have passed now since my visit to Ojai, California to hear
Krishnamurti speak. I was there for only two days,
but what a beautiful experience! Krishnamurti is a powerful
thinker, a small man, with a humility that makes him lovable.
Having read a couple of his books, I was familiar with what he
had to say and his style of delivery, but the environment, the
context and the added dimensionality given by the senses made it
a more moving experience. His audience likes to tease him.
Krishnamurti will often interrupt himself and ask of the audience,
Are you following the speaker? Are you thinking?, or are you bored?
Tell me, the speaker wants to know.
A person in one corner yelled out “Bored”, another “Boring”, and another
responded “Listening” while another said “Thinking over here”!
Krishnamurti laughed and then continued - urging everyone to not
accept what he says but to try to think along with him.
Krishnamurti refers to himself as “the speaker”. The reason for
using the third person is not to avoid responsibility, but to
remove detach the ego from his thoughts - to detach his ideas
from any personality so as to not persuade or propagandize.
But once, in telling an anecdote, he slipped up and said “I”.
His students in the front let him know and he chuckled
a laugh that revealed a love this man has for people.
Krishnamurti is an intense man who has thought (perhaps too much)
very deeply and clearly about many topics. He is now 90 years old
and has spent most of his life trying to get people to think for
themselves, to free themselves from suffering by not accepting
authority of any kind, by not releasing responsibility to any person,
religion, or ideology.
He has spoken all around the world, to religious people, to scientists,
to the United Nations, and he has done this for many years - like
for 70 years or more! And yet, the disorder, the chaos, the suffering
has only gotten worse. The frustration he must feel leaked out
in a statement he made while talking about time and thinking.
He was intensely saying how important it iwas to see the truth
in this, not to just accept it or toss it aside but to feel its
truth... and then he started laughing almost uncontrollably.
For just an instant, he must have heard himself for the 4 millionth time,
and he couldn't help but laugh. He regained composure and said,
“No, it's not funny...” and I think he may have felt a tinge of
embarassment.
He talked about disorder:
“Disorder arises from our pursuit of an
ideology that we create out of confusion. Beliefs create division,
and where there is division, there must be conflict and disorder.”
He spoke about the familiar experience of having a pleasant sensation
and then mind grabs the experience and wants to own it.
“Oh what a beautiful lawn, ... I wish I had it in my backyard.”
“What a nice woman ... I wish she were my wife” etc. etc.
He asked “Is it possible to still the mind so that we can have
just the sensation without the desire? Can we be free from desire?
It is important for you to go into this! Or don't you want
to be free?”
He goes on to talk about the relationship between desire and self interest
and how these have to give rise to cruelty and exploitation.
Perhaps Krishnamurti is a free man, but whether he is or not,
he certainly inspires me. I disagree with his saying that a teacher
can offer nothing to a pupil. There is one gift that can be given
to another - that is inspiration.
Well, I could go on for hours; I just wanted to get something
on paper so as to not forget.
Woops, had to go on to another sheet.
But, before I close, I wish to offer you a suggestion for your
last 2 weeks after your class is over. Befriend a Mexican señorita.
Introduce yourself with some of your newly learned language.
Your deficiencies with the language will be an attraction - a revealed
vulnerability that will capture the interest if not the heart
of a gentle soul. Besides, you may acquire some lewd, licentious,
lustful tales that will hold the attention of one George Mathers.
¡Ojalá que se mejore, pronto!
Adios para ahora,
Jaime
PrevNextTop85-05-26Letter from Jim - Krishnamurti