Dialogue Titles and Content
Dialogue 1: Is there an action not touched by thought?
Q: What is the future of man? All the problems that humanity has now, psychologically and in other ways, are the result of thought. We are pursuing the same pattern of thought, and thought will never solve any of these problems. The whole structure of the me is put together by thought. The me is my consciousness, which is my name, form, all the various experiences. Is consciousness individual, or is there one inseparable consciousness of mankind? Whatever action is born of limited thought must inevitably breed conflict. Dividing humanity geographically, religiously, and so on, has created havoc in the world. The me is a divisive entity. Why is there this division? Am I concerned with my very limited self or with the future of mankind?
Dialogue 2: Is there evolution of consciousness?
Can the consciousness of mankind be changed through time? Is not the brain conditioned physically, chemically? Isn’t psychological conditioning centred in the self? The conditioning which determines the self is creating great damage. Can conditioned brain cells change? As long as the brain is conditioned its relationship to the mind is limited. When it is not conditioned, is the brain the instrument of the mind? If the brain is quiet, is it related to the mind? Is intelligence different from perception? Isn’t the action of perception itself intelligence?
Dialogue 3: When the mind is completely quiet, how can there be time?
What does time mean to you, as a human being? Is there such thing as existence? Quietness has come because I have understood the nature of time, function, thought and pleasure. What takes place when there is great intensity? Thought has a movement in function. Here there is no movement which thought can recognise, because thought is not coming into this at all. When time comes to an end, is there distance and space? If you look at the mountain without the layer of thought as function, as the experiencer, what is space? When there is no experiencer, no thinker, in that stillness is there time? Time exists only when there is an observer.
Dialogue 4: The Awakening of Intelligence
Q: Thought is a material process. What is the relationship between that and intelligence? Thought is mechanical, measurable, a movement in time. Is intelligence mechanical, in time? Does intelligence use thought? Thought is a pointer. Without intelligence the pointer has no value. Politically, religiously and psychologically thought has created a world of tremendous contradiction and fragmentation. Can life be guided by intelligence and lived in harmony? The desire for intelligence has created the image of God. Thought must be completely still for the awakening of intelligence. You come upon it when you see the whole. The quality of a mind that sees the whole is not touched by thought. Therefore there is perception and insight.
The purpose of this study workshop is to explore and study the 4 dialogues between J. Krishnamurti and Prof. David Bohm. The first two dialogues took place in 1983, the third dialogue took place in 1965 and the fourth dialogue took place in 1972. Dialogues 1, 2 and 4 took place at Brockwood Park, UK and the dialogue 3 took place as a small group discussion at Gstaad, Switzerland. Dialogues 1 and 2 are published as a book: The Future of Humanity. Dialogue 3 is unpublished and the dialogue 4 is published as the last chapter of the book: The Awakening of Intelligence. The topics and the content of these dialogues are as given above. The study will not be just of academic nature but will involve the application to our daily life situations. Our intention will be to enquire into ourselves in the context of these dialogues and see whether they lead to different understanding of our life. It will be our endeavour to begin with scientific enquiry first and then pursue it to its logical end to enter into religious enquiry through which alone the deeper and subtler aspects of our existence can be explored. Through various interactive sessions, this will be attempted. Participants will be provided with the text of these four dialogues between K and DB. They will also be provided with the links to the video recordings of these dialogues so that they can listen to the original unedited version of these dialogues.