20. The Impossible Question

Published in July 1972, The Impossible Question is a collection of Krishnamurti's talks and discussions held at Saanen during the summer of 1970. Topics include fundamental human issues such as fear, liberation, anxiety, love, jealousy, a sense of authority, the difference between pleasure and joy, religion, consciousness, and awareness.

The 'impossible question' is whether it is possible to free the mind from the known and observe oneself and one's surroundings with an open mind.

The motto of the book is summed up on the opening page: "We are always putting the question of what is possible. If you put an impossible question, your mind has to find the answer in terms of the impossible - not of what is possible."

A Record Playing in Your Brain

K begins the first talk by pointing out that, there is violence under the banner of peace in every country and in every clime. Facing this, it is only natural to want to know what to do, how to think, what part to play.

The difficulty is that our brains function in old habits, playing the same tune over and over again like a gramophone record. A talk recorded on the tape can be erased, but the recording in the brain has been impressed upon it for so long that it is very difficult to erase.

However, K assures us that it is possible if we pay close attention.

"One has to be serious when confronted with the chaos in the world, the uncertainty, warfare and destruction. There is only one way, that is: through negation to come to the positive; through understanding what it is not, to find out what it is. To see what one actually is and go beyond that."

Start looking at the world and what is going on. See your relation to it. Then you will see everything happening as one unitary process, a total movement.

"If you are really serious, the old momentum comes to an end. It is vitally important to find out for yourself how you look at this problem of existence. Look at this whole movement of life as one thing. There is great beauty in that and immense possibility."

One must have patience to enquire. Young people want instant results: instant coffee, instant tea, instant meditation. We must also have a sensitive brain and body, and a mind that does not fall into peculiar habits or pursue its own particular pleasures.

Being Free to Love

The theme of the second talk is freedom.

"Freedom implies the complete abnegation and denial of all inward psychological authority. Dependence on any form of subjective imagination, fantasy, or knowledge breeds fear and destroys freedom.

When we follow, imitate or conform, "we become second-hand, absurd human beings". This is one aspect of the destructive nature of authority.

There is also the authority of tradition and immediate experience. Through the noise of repetition, one is unable to listen to the new.

Freedom implies the complete cessation of all internal authority. From that quality of mind comes an outward freedom that is entirely different from the reaction of opposing or resisting.

The discipline imposed by parents, society, and religions means conformity. We try to live by these rules, yet also rebel against them.

Conformity implies comparing oneself with others, measuring what I am or think I should be, against a hero or saint. From childhood, we are conditioned to compare ourselves to others. We don't know what it means to live without comparison and competition.

Comparing is a form of aggression that can lead to violence, though we are only vaguely aware of this connection. To end violence, we must learn to live our daily life without comparing, and to never say the words 'I will be'.

According to K, violence is not only about killing or hitting someone; it is in about this comparative spirit. The desire to be better may sound like a decent intention, but it involves a certain amount of coercion and escape from reality.

In order to be aware of this internal conditioning, the mind must be extremely sensitive and honest. We must see how authority, role models, traditions, propaganda, and our own experiences together influence our minds and how they destroy freedom.

Clear perception requires the mind to be free from dependence, fear, and confusion. This may sound like an excessive demand, but K promises that if you understand the truth of this, you will know what it means to love and what true meditation is.

Without love, we cannot be whole human beings. Once we see how the mind divides the world and what follows from that, we want to stop this process. This begins when we give up the desire to receive instructions or help from anyone. This is the first step to freedom.

Analysis Is Paralysis

In the third talk, K discusses analysis. This implies a division between the analyser and the analysed. One part of the mind assumes authority and evaluates what is good or bad, right or wrong.

Whether you analyse yourself, or allow a specialist do it for you, there is a division, which means conflict.

There is also a division between the ideal and the action. The ideal is what is imagined, while action is what actually happens.

Once the mind has seen the futility and meaninglessness of analysis, it will never touch it again. It becomes very sharp, sensitive, and alive. The division between the observer and the object disappears.

While it is quite easy to observe external objects without the noise of the self, looking at ourselves causes our background to get in the way. Once you realise this, a change takes place in the mind. It no longer jumps to conclusions, but simply observes what is happening.

It is important not to view the inward and outward as two separate things. They are one movement, divided by the mind and causing both inner and outer chaos. Analysis is the division of the world, and its cessation is instant action.

One by One or All at Once?

The fourth talk is about fragmentation. We are inclined to try to solve our innumerable problems one by one. We tackle one problem at a time, looking for a solution.

However, this approach is flawed because all problems are interrelated and stem from the same source. Take violence, for example, it is a complex problem for which there is no simple solution. It is part of our animal inheritance and cannot be eradicated through mind games or illusory concepts.

Many people see love as the solution to all their problems, but for most, it is just another problem in the cycle of life. No problem can be solved in isolation. If we try to look for solutions one by one, we become bogged down in a quagmire from which you never get out.

A better and faster way is to identify the root cause and eliminate it. The solution is closer than we think.

Thought divides life into fragments and breeds misery by creating the concepts of 'me'and 'not-me'. Thought is born of the past and reacts to everything new by translating it into its own familiar terms, and thereby creating division. Therefore, thought is not the way out.

The centre of these fragments is the 'me'. It has no inherent reality; it is the product of thought.

The question is now: Can the mind, the brain and the heart look without the 'me'?

"It can, completely, utterly, when you have fundamentally understood the nature of thinking. All problems will come to an end when man lives a different life altogether, when the mind can look at the world as a total movement."

However, we can never live in isolation, because we are always in relationship with the past and with the things around us.

"To live in isolation is mere escape, self-deception."

A Self-inflicted Danger

In the fifth talk, K discusses fear and pleasure, as well as sorrow. He hopes that "when you leave this tent this morning, your mind is literally free of fear".

For this to happen, one needs to be both persistent and sensitive. Liberation must not be seen as a problem or impossible.

Fear causes physical and psychological reactions. The brain and nervous system react automatically to danger. However, they do not always distinguish between the real and imagined danger.

While we are rarely in actual physical danger, psychological fears are common and persistent. We worry about what might happen to us. This assumption may or may not be based on facts.

The mind tries to distinguish between real and imagined fears. It cannot, and it does not need to. You just have to see how your mind creates and maintains fear.

K says that to understand fear, you must also understand pleasure because the two are closely related – in fact, they are inseparable.

When we experience pleasure, the mind stores the memory, making us want more of it. We can also enjoy things in advance by imagining them.

This is what thought does all the time. It imagines things that either no longer exist or don't yet exist. At this very moment, thinking is only needed for expression, remembrance and planning.

Fear and pleasure operate in the psychological realm of imaginary time. They occur in the present, but are based on memories of the past and the imaginings of the future.

All of this takes place inside our heads, in our brains. What happens when the mind realises that it creates and sustains all the fears and pleasures? We are not asking what to do about it. We don't have to
do anything; the burden of fear drops away by itself.

"If you have really followed this merely by observing, your mind has become sensitive and therefore very intelligent. Next time fear arises, intelligence will respond to it, but not in terms of pleasure,
of suppressing or escaping."

Thought has created nationalism, racial prejudice, and certain moral values, but thought does not see the danger of that. If it did, the response would be intelligent, rather than of fear. It would be
the same as meeting the snake. Our natural reaction is to protect ourselves. When we meet nationalism, thought does not see the danger in that.

Cut the Crab

The sixth talk deals with the mechanical activity of thought and also discusses how thinking limits our actions.

Society and education encourage us to live mechanically, but every human being is also guilty of it because it is the easiest way to live.

As thought is a mechanical, repetitive pursuit, it accepts any form of conditioning, enabling it to continue its mechanical activity. The mind wants to follow a groove and be safe, undisturbed.

In Christian culture, animals have no soul; they were put on earth by God for us to eat; that is Christian conditioning. In certain parts of India, killing a living thing is considered wrong, and this belief is taken to the extreme of exaggeration. That is their conditioning.

Thinking creates boundaries that we cling to, regardless of whether our thoughts make sense or have destructive consequences.

There is an area where thoughts do not reach. Love and compassion are not based on thinking.

Love for an object is essentially selfish. Thought can imagine love, but such love is possessive and prone to hate and jealousy.

K then moves on to deal with death; the psychological ending of the known. That is what death is.

People are afraid of ending, so they invent an afterlife.

We are bundles of words and opinions, clinging to our possessions with all our might. The idea that the self ends is frightening, so we like to believe what we are told about the possibility of a next life.

K suggests to his listeners that they can incarnate, be reborn today by emptying their minds of all knowledge now, rather than waiting until tomorrow. A free mind is extraordinarily quiet, absolutely silent. That silence is the beginning of something new.

Where Does the Holy Hides?

In the last talk, K discusses religion and asks whether there is anything that is truly sacred and true, something that is not put together by desire, hope, fear or longing.

"Perhaps this morning we can spend some time in trying to find out whether there is a vastness, an ecstasy, a life that is unquenchable. Without finding that life has very little meaning."

We need a clear and sharp mind to understand the beauty of reality. A dull mind, stupefied by practice, reflects the world from within itself. This distorted image is based on duality: the experiencer and the thing experienced, whether trivial or mystical.

The brain is conditioned to respond to the stored memories. When it is quiet, its movement in time stops. It functions, but not in time. It is like a big dynamo that barely makes any sound. It is only when there is friction that there is noise.

When you look at a cloud, a tree, or another person with a quiet brain, the sense of separation disappears. However, if you name the object, the direct connection disappears and the sense of self emerges.

We need a mind that is not distorted or blunted, and that is no longer pursuing a particular direction or purpose.

Observe how your brain operates. It directs and shapes our life every minute of every day. It generates thoughts and the sense of 'me'.

Meditation is about finding out whether the brain can be absolutely quiet, not through force, practice, or medicine.

"Once one has laid this foundation of freedom, there is a sensitivity which is supreme intelligence, and the whole of the life one leads becomes entirely different."

The 'I' Is Quick

The second part of the book consists of seven dialogues from Saanen in 1970. Everyone was allowed to ask questions and participate in the discussion. However, K wanted everyone to think about all issues for themselves, rather than expecting answers from him.

In the first dialogue, eight people suggested topics that interested them. K then suggested combining these into one question about self-knowledge.

You can observe yourself either on your own or with the guidance of others. In the former case, the mind must be free.

The first step is to understand the nature of awareness. While we are aware of our environment to some extent, what actually constitutes self-awareness? What is the process? What should we investigate about ourselves?

The 'me' is not a static object, but a living thing, an active entity that moves in different directions. Although it is easy to draw conclusions and offer explanations, it is difficult to keep up with a living and ever-changing entity. You have to learn from it, but not by accumulating knowledge.

K instructs his listeners to find out for themselves what happens when you cannot escape. If you don't expect an answer, you must really watch and learn.

"What happens to the mind when it is confronted with fear and there is no question of running away from it? Please find out, give your mind to it", K concludes.

When the Monkey Takes Over

The second dialogue was about attachment and escape, and the third discusses levels of attachment and creativity. At the end of the fourth dialogue, which was about fragmentation, K poses what he calls an 'impossible question': Can the mind empty itself of the known? How could one answer that?

It is not that you empty your mind. If you dare to put this question to yourself, you might find the answer. If you say it is not possible, then you are stuck.

The fifth dialogue was about what lies beyond the conscious. We only know what is inside consciousness, which we divide into the conscious and the unconscious. How can we know if there is anything beyond them, and why should we try to bring it into the realm of knowledge?

If we see the movement of consciousness as a whole, these questions do not arise. The neurotic mind is not content with not knowing.

A person is neurotic if he puts undue emphasis on one part and neglects other parts. Believing, conforming and even comparing oneself with others are all forms of neurosis.

However, neurosis is always only a symptom. The cause could be in the unconscious, which divides the whole movement into parts and keeps them separate. The essential movement of consciousness is expressed as a desire to become something.

"Disorder is a neurotic state of the brain and ends up by producing a mental case. Order implies the ending of the problem as it arises."

There is fragmentation when we pay close attention to one fragment like the intellect, a belief, or our own body. All fragments cause contradiction and misery.

When you see this, you may want to put these fragments together. Don't. Open this box from the other end.

The space created by consciousness is always within the limits defined by the centre. This centre is the core of the problem. It cannot be made still; it can only be revealed. Attention is the key.

"When you watch something that is really amusing and makes you laugh, is there a centre?"

K refers to the centre as a monkey that sometimes takes over. How do you get it out of your mind? Simply by realising that the centre is a monkey! The monkey appears when we want something, but disappears when we observe.

What happens in the mind when the monkey is silent? The brain wakes up.

This theme will continue in the final dialogue. How does the mind work when it has no centre?

"It has become sensitive, not only mentally but physically. It has given up smoking, drinking, drugs. The mind is no longer seeking anything or asserting anything. Out of that stability and sensitivity it can act without breaking life and energy up into fragments. So there is a state which is timeless and incredibly vast."