August 9th ~ A mind that gives an opinion about a fact is a narrow, limited, destructive mind. . . . You can translate the fact in one way, and I can translate it in another way. The translation of the fact is a curse that prevents us from seeing the actual fact and doing …
August 10th ~ We are trying to find out if there is, or is not, a permanent state–not what we would like, but the actual fact, the truth of the matter. Everything about us, within as well as without–our relationships, our thoughts, our feelings–is impermanent, in a constant state of flux. Being aware of this, …
August 11th ~ You want me to tell you what reality is. Can the indescribable be put into words? Can you measure something immeasurable? Can you catch the wind in your fist? If you do, is that the wind? If you measure that which is immeasurable, is that the real? If you formulate it, is …
August 12th ~ Is suffering merely a word, or an actuality? If it is an actuality and not just a word, then the word has no meaning now, so there is merely the feeling of intense pain. With regard to what? With regard to an image, to an experience, to something that you have or …
August 13th ~ You are nothing. You may have your name and title, your property and bank account, you may have power and be famous; but in spite of all these safeguards, you are as nothing. You may be totally unaware of this emptiness, this nothingness, or you may simply not want to be aware …
August 14th ~ We are discussing something that needs your attention, not your agreement or disagreement. We are looking at life most rigorously, objectively, clearly–not according to your sentiment, your fancy, what you like or don’t like. It’s what we like and don’t like that has created this misery. All that we are saying is …
August 15th ~ As you watch anything–a tree, your wife, your children, your neighbor, the stars of a night, the light on the water, the bird in the sky, anything–there is always the observer–the censor, the thinker, the experiencer, the seeker–and the thing s/he is observing; the observer and the observed; the thinker and the …
August 16th ~ Thought is verbalized sensation; thought is the response of memory, the word, the experience, the image. Thought is transient, changing, impermanent, and it is seeking permanency. So thought creates the thinker, who then becomes the permanent; he assumes the role of the censor, the guide, the controller, the molder of thought. This …
August 17th ~ How can there be a fusion of the thinker with his thoughts? Not through the action of will, nor through discipline, nor through any form of effort, control, or concentration, nor through any other means. The use of a means implies an agent who is acting, does it not? As long as …
August 18th ~ Space is necessary. Without space there is no freedom. We are talking psychologically. . . . It is only when one is in contact, when there is no space between the observer and the observed that one is in total relationship–with a tree for instance. One is not identified with the tree, …