He was a young man, but completely the master of the seven strings and of the complex music…. The musician had closed his eyes and was completely absorbed in his creative freedom, and in the beauty of the sound; his mind and his fingers were in perfect coordination.…

The moon was bright outside, and the dark shadows were motionless; through the window, the river was just visible, a flow of silver against the dark, silent trees on the other bank. A strange thing was going on in the space which is the mind. It had been watching the graceful movements of the fingers, listening to the sweet sounds, observing the nodding heads and the rhythmical hands of the silent people. Suddenly the watcher, the listener, disappeared; he had not been lulled into abeyance by the melodious strings, but was totally absent. There was only the vast space which is the mind. All the things of the earth and of man were in it, but they were at the extreme outer edges, dim and far off. Within the space where nothing was, there was a movement, and the movement was stillness. It was a deep, vast movement, without direction, without motive, which began from the outer edges, and with incredible strength was coming towards the center – a center that is everywhere within the stillness, within the motion which is space. This center is total aloneness, uncontaminated, unknowable, a solitude which is not isolation, which has no end and no beginning. It is complete in itself, and not made; the outer edges are in it but not of it. It is there, but not within the scope of man’s mind. It is the whole, the totality, but not approachable.
Except from Commentaries on Living; 3rd Series

Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986) was a speaker and writer on philosophical and spiritual subjects. In his early life he was groomed to be the new World Teacher but later rejected this mantle and disbanded the organization behind it. His subject matter included psychological revolution, the nature of mind, meditation, inquiry, human relationships, and bringing about radical change in society. He constantly stressed the need for a revolution in the psyche of every human being and emphasized that such revolution cannot be brought about by any external entity, be it religious, political, or social.

I discovered Krishnamurti in my early 20’s and for more than a decade his teachings were a beacon on my personal spiritual path. In my middle years, other teachers came to my attention who acted as guides upon the way. It has only been in the last year that I returned to reread some of Krishnamuti’s books and was happy to discover many of his international talks were available on You Tube. I don’t know of any teacher who studied the ways of the mind and consciousness with such intensity and now that I am older I can finally understand some of the things he was saying. When writing, he often introduced a subject by setting the scene and mood of the interview – for his basic method of discussion was inquiry. The section quoted above is, I think, an exceptional relating of observation; how the mind watches ‘life’ and, at times, is able to transcend the observer/observed duality and enter into an intimate field of life. This approach has specifically influenced my own writing and helped me to open myself and allow the greater Self to engage.