Understanding Ourselves and Others
with the Enneagram of Personality Types
Time is the
Root
By J. Krishnamurti
So, you need attention to observe the unconscious;
otherwise, you cannot observe it. This means that the conscious
mind must not see any result, it must not wish to transform what it
sees, it must not try to interpret what it sees according to its
likes and dislikes."
This whole consciousness is of time - time being thought, thought
being the response of memory, memory being the past, the past
moving through the present to the future in a limited way or in an
expansive way. The whole structure of the conscious as well as the
unconscious is in the framework of time - time being not only
chronological time but also psychological time. We have divided
this consciousness as the superficial and the hidden. The
superficial is the educated mind, the modern mind. And then there
is the hidden mind. The hidden mind is all the latent factors of
the past; certain parts of it are awake, other parts of it are
asleep.
To become conscious, to know all the contents of our mind, requires
an attention, an observation which is attentive - not in terms of
condemnation or justification, but merely attentive.
Attention is necessary in order to find out the whole
content of the unconscious. I mean by ATTENTION a mind
that is attentive without any subjective or objective condemnation,
a mind which is merely attentive. I must go into the meaning of the
word "attentive." Because most of us do not know what it means; we
know only what it is to be concentrated, to focus the attention, to
focus the thought on a particular thing. And in that focusing of
the thought on a particular thing, which is called concentration,
there is an exclusive process - you are putting everything
aside.
Therefore, concentration is a form of RESISTANCE.
Concentration is not attention because in attention there is no
resistance. Attention can concentrate; even then, it is not
exclusive. One must be very clear between these two facts: the
implication of concentration, and the implication of attention.
In attention, there is complete emptiness; otherwise, you
can't attend. Now, if you are attentive, you listen to the
noise of the train on the bridge, you listen to the hoot of the
train, you listen to the speaker. But if you are concentrated, you
cannot be aware of all this extraordinary movement.
So, you need attention to observe the unconscious;
otherwise, you cannot observe it. This means that the conscious
mind must not see any result, it must not wish to transform what it
sees, it must not try to interpret what it sees according to its
likes and dislikes.
So the conscious mind must be attentively aware, which means 'aware
without any preoccupation.' The conscious mind must be in a
non-interpretative, non-condemnative state; this means it must be
quiet - quiet, not forced, not compelled. And that is only possible
when there is no ambition, when the conscious mind is
psychologically free from society - then the conscious mind can be
quiet because there is no resistance.
When the conscious mind is quiet - which means when the
conscious mind is attentive - it has no thought, it is empty but
aware; then it can observe.
This observation is not analytical or interpretative. This
attention has no introspective or analytical quality; the conscious
mind merely observes.
Thought is the origin of fear; time gives soil to fear. So one has
to understand fear and be free of fear - not the fear of the snake,
but the deep down fear which gives sorrow, the fear which prevents
affection, the fear which clouds the mind, the fear which creates
conflict, the fear which brings about darkness. Most of us live in
darkness and die in darkness. If one would really understand that
fear, one must understand this whole process of consciousness which
is time."
From the collected works of J. Krishnamurti