Questioner:
In what manner should one live one's daily life?
Krishnamurti:
As though one were living for that single day, for that single hour.
Questioner:
How?
Krishnamurti:
If you only had one hour to live, what would you do?
Questioner:
I really don't know.
Krishnamurti:
Would you not call your family and friends together and ask their forgiveness
for the harm that you might have done to them, and forgive them for whatever
harm they might have done to you? Would you not die completely to the things of
the mind, to desires and to the world? And if it can be done for an hour, then
it can also be done for the days and years that remain.
Questioner:
Is such a thing really possible?
Krishnamurti:
Try it and you will find out.
(Krishnamurti)
Superstition
The
unexplained was once attributed to
unseen forces controlling our destinies.
Greek gods were believed to favour certain warriors and punish others.
Superstition
constitutes an unsubstantiated belief in the power of rituals and omens.
In the past, many people
died because such
beliefs were so widely held.
Science
Science has removed many people's faith in what they once believed.
Yet,
science is not
fact.
The scientific method is to assert a possibility and then set out to prove
(or disprove) what you believe to be true.
This is why the scientific beliefs of the 1600's are not the scientific
beliefs of today's era.
Tai chi
Tai chi is not
part of any belief system.
Tao and
zen are not
religious in the Western sense of the word; they do not have any bearing on
the supernatural, deities or any kind of ritual.
A belief is something that has been given to you by somebody else.
It is an idea.
Tai chi is not concerned with ideas, but with
reality.
If you adjust your posture, it becomes stronger or weaker accordingly.
If you
move in a particular way, you may or
may not avoid a
punch.
Tai chi is grounded in substance.
Spiritual
The spiritual component of tai chi is not based on
belief, but
rather on
observation
and
awareness.
A practitioner learns to stop and appreciate the
world in which you live,
and to really
look at the
nature
of the relationships around you.
By opening your
mind and
heart to the
world you share, you become soft and receptive, caring and respectful.
You see that there is more to life than your
own petty
concerns.
This change of consciousness is not the product of dogma or assertions, or
even logical argument and reasoning, but simply of seeing.
This is not a belief.
Page created 4 March 2004