An Illuminating Meditation (Part I)

What is true meditation?

If you are confused about the practice of meditation, it makes sense to turn to the wisest for guidance.

I must count Jiddu Krishnamurti as one of the best teachers on meditation that I have encountered in my readings.

Rather than just encourage you to read one of Krishnamurti's books (most of which are transcriptions of his talks), I have selected one of his talks and  what I believe to be the salient points and then put them together in an easily accessible and readable format.

The problems with this approach are immediately evident:

1. As an unofficial editor, my biases and the limitations in my understanding are heavily involved in the redacted version.
2. Perhaps inadvertently, the removal of material may change the original meaning and intent of the teacher.
3. The reader may be mislead into thinking that the essence of the teaching is easily distilled and that there is no need to explore more fully the writings of the teacher–much as a college student may be tempted to skip reading a classic of literature because he or she has read the Cliff Notes version. Clearly, much value would be lost in such an approach.

Nevertheless, I still think there is a benefit in creating an invitation to explore more fully what Krishnamurti has to offer on the question of how to live a full and satisfying existence.

In the interest of fluidity, I will not indicate gaps in the text or necessarily hold to the original formatting. I will also add comments or emphasis when I think such editorial intrusions will help clarify the distilled message. These changes and additions are documented in the footnotes.

My hope is that the end result will be a useful tool in an individual's quest to conquer happiness by living up to his or her fullest potential.