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Sensations
- The Root of Misery and Sorrow and the Key to Insight and Freedom
K'S
TEACHINGS: What
is sensation? If one may go into it now. The actual meaning of that
word is "the activity of the senses" Right? - touching,
tasting, seeing, smelling, hearing, mind is part of the senses. Sensation
like... pain....tears, laughter, having humour, it's all part of sensation.
Intellectual, theoretical philosophical sensation. Art or music....
sensation. Good taste bad taste and so on. Fear is a sensation. The
sensation of drugs, alcohol.... the sensation of sexuality. The sensation
of achieving something. We live by sensation. Be clear on that. Sensations are going on-inside.... If
there was no sensation both biologically and psychologically we would
be dead human beings. Right? we live by sensation. That crow calling
that is acting on the ear drum - nerves - and translating the noise
into the cry of a crow. That is a sensation. You see a nice sari and
shirt. You see it, touch it and there is the sensation of touching
it, you say "By Jove, what a lovely material that is". There
is perception, contact, sensation and desire. My mind is always experiencing
in term of sensation. It is the instrument of sensation. Being bored
with a particular sensation, I seek a new sensation, which may be
what I call the realization of God but it is still a sensation. As
you know and as I know every sensation comes to an end and so we proceed
from one sensation to another and every sensation strengthens the
habit of seeking further sensation.... sensations are going on-inside.... You
want more and more and more and more. and "the more" means
that the past sensation has not been sufficient.... sensations - I
like it or dislike it.... Our sensations are limited and you take
drugs and all the rest of it to have higher sensation....the sensation
of sexuality.... It is not to the experience that we cling but to
the sensation of that experience which we had at the moment of experiencing. Keep
it very simple, don't intellectualize it for the moment - we'll do
it later. Sir, sensation is ever a reaction and it wanders from one
reaction to another. The wanderer is the mind, the mind is sensation.
The mind is the storehouse of sensation, pleasant and unpleasant and
all experience is reaction. The mind is memory which alter all in
reaction. Reaction or sensation can never be satisfied. Sensation,
reaction must always breed conflict, and the very conflict is further
sensation. Thought
gives pleasure, sensation is turned into pleasure! When there is no
identification the senses are senses. Why does thought identify with
sensation? Why does thought identify with senses - is that it? Now
wait a minute Sir. Why, because of pleasure,...sensations - I like
it or dislike it... If it is pleasurable when the senses begin to
enjoy - say "how nice" - then thought begins to identify
itself with it. Why because of pleasure.... the mind is the storehouse
of sensation, pleasant and unpleasant and all experience is reaction
The mind is memory which alter all in reaction. So unless one understands
this activity of sensation fear and pleasure will go on. Sensations
are ever seeking gratification. If it is pleasurable I want more of
it, if it is painful I resist it. So the resistance to pain or the
pursuit of pleasure - both give continuity to desire. What
is wrong in watching the beautiful motion of a bird on the wing? What
is wrong in looking at a new car...? .... in seeing a nice....face?
But desire does not stop here. Your perception is not just perception,
but with it comes sensation. With the arising of sensation.... comes
the urge to possess. You say "This is beautiful, I must have
it" and so begins the turmoil of desire. -
Collection of K Teachings from the KFT CDROM which contains all the
published works of K from 1933-1986. ....there
are some things which the mind goes on with, even though it knows
them to be ugly or stupid. It knows how essentially stupid it is to
smoke, and yet one goes on smoking. Why? Because it likes the sensations
of smoking, and that is all. If the mind were as keenly aware of the
stupidity of smoking as it is of the pain of a pinprick, it would
stop smoking immediately. But it doesn't want to see it that clearly
because smoking has become a pleasurable habit. It is the same with
greed or violence. If greed were as painful to you as the pinprick
in your arm, you would instantly stop being greedy, you wouldn't philosophize
about it; and if you were really awake to the full significance of
violence, you wouldn't write volumes about non-violence - which is
all nonsense, because you don't feel it, you just talk about it. If
you eat something which gives you a violent tummy-ache, you don't
go on eating it, do you? You put it aside immediately. Similarly,
if you once realized that envy and ambition are poisonous, vicious,
cruel, as deadly as the sting of a cobra, you would awaken to them.
But, you see, the mind does not want to look at these things too closely;
in this area it has vested interests, and it refuses to admit that
ambition, envy, greed, lust are poisonous.... -Pg
150, This matter of culture Happiness
is not an end in itself. It comes with the understanding of what is.
Only when the mind is free from its own projections can there be happiness.
Happiness that is bought is merely gratification; happiness through
action, through power, is only sensation; and as sensation soon withers,
there is craving for more and more. As long as the more is a means
to happiness, the end is always dissatisfaction, conflict and misery.
Happiness is not a remembrance; it is that state which comes into
being with truth, ever new, never continuous. -Commentaries
on Living (Second Series) p.71 Everything
about us, within as well as without-our relationships, our thoughts,
our feelings - is impermanent, in a constant state of flux. But is
there anything which is permanent? Is there? Our constant desire is
to make sensation permanent, is it not ? Sensation can be found again
and again, for it is ever being lost.... Being bored with a particular
sensation, I seek new sensation.... every sensation comes to an end
and so we proceed from one sensation to another and every sensation
strengthens the habit of seeking further sensation. My mind is always
experiencing in terms of sensation. There is perception, contact,
sensation and desire and the mind becomes the mechanical instrument
of all this process. With the arising of sensation comes the urge
to possess....and so begins the turmoil of desire.... and the habit
of seeking further sensation... and is there an end to sorrow ? Is
it possible to live a daily life with death, which is the ending of
the self? ...There is only one fact impermanence....every sensation
comes to an end.... Can the mind the brain remain absolutely with
that feeling of suffering and nothing else....there is no movement
away from that moment, that thing called suffering. Is there an action
in which there is no motive no cause - the self does not enter into
it at all? Thought identifies itself with that sensation and through
identification the 'I' is built up.... identification with sensation
makes the self. If there is no identification is there a self? So
is it possible not to identify with sensation? Thought
gives pleasure, sensation is turned into pleasure! When there is no
identification the senses are senses. Why does thought identify with
sensation? Why does thought identify with senses - is that it? Now
wait a minute Sir. Why, because of pleasure,....sensations - I like
it or dislike it... If it is pleasurable when the senses begin to
enjoy - say "how nice" - then thought begins to identify
itself with it. Why because of pleasure.. Face
the fact don't move away from the fact. Thought identifies itself
with that sensation and through identification the 'I' is built up,
the ego and the ego then says "I must" or "I will not".
Thought has given shape to sensation. Desire is born when thought
gives shape to sensation, gives an image to sensation. That
means I must put everything in its right place. Right ? But there
are all the bodily demands....sex....food.... put it in the right
place. Who will tell me to put it in the right place ?. You understand
Sir ? So I want to find out what is the right place. How shall I find
out ? I have got the key to it Right ? Which is non identification
with sensations, that is the key of it. Right Sir ? So non identification
with sensation. Identification with sensation makes the self. So is
it possible not to identify with Sensation ? Yes sensation. So
we are asking is there a holistic awareness of all the senses....?
Just be aware....effortless observation.....choiceless observation....and
to learn, to find out whether it is possible to allow sensation to
flower and not let thought interfere with it-to keep them apart. Will
you do it ? -Collection
of K teachings from the KFT CDROM (Please
refer to the K teachings quoted under ''The Four noble truths'' and
''Ignorance and conditioning/cause effect'' in this study) IMPORTANT: Please refer to the Teachings as quoted in PART III |
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