September 20th ~ What do we mean by learning? Is there learning when you are accumulating knowledge, gathering information? That is one kind of learning, is it not? As a student of engineering, you study mathematics, and so on; you are learning, informing yourself about the subject. You are accumulating knowledge in order to use that knowledge in practical ways. Your learning is accumulative, additive. Now, when the mind is merely taking on, adding, acquiring, is it learning? Or is learning something entirely different? I say the additive process that we now call learning is not learning at all. It is merely a cultivation of memory, which becomes mechanical; and a mind that functions mechanically, like a machine, is not capable of learning. A machine is never capable of learning, except in the additive sense. Learning is something quite different, as I shall try to show you.
A mind that is learning never says, “I know,” because knowledge is always partial, whereas learning is complete all the time. Learning does not mean starting with a certain amount of knowledge, and adding to it further knowledge. That is not learning at all; it is a purely mechanistic process. To me, learning is something entirely different. I am learning about myself from moment to moment, and the myself is extraordinarily vital; it is living, moving; it has no beginning and no end. When I say, “I know myself,” learning has come to an end in accumulated knowledge. Learning is never cumulative; it is a movement of knowing which has no beginning and no end.
October 18th, 2019 ~ This concept becomes clearer to me when I read the following: “I am learning about myself from moment to moment, and the myself is extraordinarily vital; it is living, moving; it has no beginning and no end.” When we are in the present moment, we aren’t thinking of the past which is memory. Our interactions would be so different if we are not thinking of the past so much. “Vital”, he says. He uses the word “mechanical” to describe how we use our memory, like a machine. When we slow it down, it does seem quite mechanical. We put a lot of credence to people who are “mechanical.” Those people who have mastered a skill such as a sport, due to their repetitive brain. Krishnamurti talks about repetitive behavior dulling the brain. I wonder about how so-called great meditators or spiritual masters who repeat mantras over and over. Is this dulling their brain?