|
|
|
|
Meditation
Brockwood Park School at 35 By Bill Taylor, Director of Administration. When the first principal, Dorothy Simmons, arrived at Brockwood Park to start the School in 1969, she was faced with an enormous task. Together with her retired husband, Montague, the completely dedicated if mildly eccentric, Doris Pratt, and 2 young students, Dorothy set to work creating what was to be the first (and still the only) Krishnamurti School in Europe. With the support of numerous friends and associates from outside Brockwood, this small and intrepid group embarked on an educational endeavour which is still underway today and which still bears many of the hallmarks of that early quest for a different way of educating and of living. Brockwood has moved and changed significantly in the intervening 35 years. For the first 17 of these, Krishnamurti was a regular visitor and resident. Brockwood was his European home and base and he 1oved the spacious parkland, the rolling downs and the elegant Georgian manor house. He also loved meeting and discussing with the students and staff as he did on a regular basis. His presence never failed to stir things up as he challenged all those who lived here to consider the deeper intentions of Brockwood's existence, never to get caught in the day-to-day demands and minutia of school life. The School was to be concerned with the whole sphere of living and as he said himself, in so doing, it was "... to bring about a new generation of human beings who are free from self-centred action." Krishnamurti's death gave Brockwood a new challenge. Without the presence of the charismatic teacher the staff had to learn to take more responsibility for the intentions, to ensure that they were alive and vital. Brockwood had its crises as staff grappled to deepen (and live) their understanding, while dealing with the very real demands of living and working closely with teenagers and with each other. There were difficult years when it looked as though the School might not survive, as student numbers dropped and it struggled to retain good staff.
The Art Barn - Brockwood Park School The academic year which has just begun in England has seen Brockwood open with a full complement of 61 students, coming from 25 different countries. There is a dedicated and hardworking group of staff, all of whom share a serious interest in Krishnamurti's teachings, and they offer a curriculum which is wide ranging and challenging. This includes classes which all students attend and which look directly at Krishnamurti's teachings. In a recent survey of students, organised by an independent consultant visiting Brockwood, most students said that they had learnt valuable life skills in the School, the most important being the capacity to establish deep, meaningful and lasting relationships with others. Self confidence, self-discipline, tolerance, a sense of responsibility were further important traits which they felt the School had nurtured in them. The School is not out of the woods. It still operates with a significant annual deficit that has to be met through fundraising or by dipping into limited reserves. In addition, it provides scholarship assistance for up to one-third of its students annually and also has to find this money. Though it seeks to find and retain good people it is unable to provide good salaries or a pension scheme to staff. And as with other schools in the UK, it faces a significant increase in strictures and workload, due to changing government policies and the social climate. Despite these problem, Brockwood has reached its mid-30s still true to its fundamental intentions. These have not aged, they remain as fresh as the young students who enter the front door each year. As Krishnamurti put it "These schools are centres of a new generation with a new outlook, with a sense of being citizens of the world, concerned with all living things of this world." Amen to that!
Students at Brockwood Park School
A New Zealand Scholarship for Brockwood Park $1 donated becomes $2 for the scholarship fund
"It is becoming more and more important in a world that is destructive and degenerating that there should be a place, an oasis, where one can learn a way of living that is whole, sane and intelligent". J. Krishnamurti
There can be little doubt that the world is in need of a complete revolution in human consciousness. Helping to bring that about, investigating if it is possible to bring about a different sort of human being, has been the concern of the Krishnamurti Schools since their inception. For Brockwood Park School in England, surviving financially and attracting sufficient appropriate students has always been a challenge, as Bill Taylor, points out in this newsletter. The school needs and deserves our support; and to this end KANZ is launching an appeal to provide a scholarship that will help a young person from NZ (1) attend Brockwood Park School for one year in 2006/2007.This appeal is greatly strengthened by the fact that the AG Trust (founded by Friedrich Grohe) has undertaken to match donations on a 50:50 basis (2).At the moment, a year's fees at Brockwood are approximately NZ$30,000, which might seem a lot in NZ values, but is very reasonable when compared to UK private schools in general. We have set a target of raising NZ$10,000. With the AG Trust's support, this would produce a scholarship of NZ$20,000 (3). Already NZ$2000 of the NZ$10,000 has been generously donated. We feel the target is realisable if subscribers to our newsletter have a feel for the great significance of Krishnamurti's teachings in the world today.We see the advantages of a successful scholarship appeal as threefold:
So we humbly ask you to give generously to this appeal. More than you can afford! Donations will go exactly where intended; no administration costs will be deducted. The next newsletter will carry details of our progress, and will also invite applications on behalf of young people to take up the scholarship. (4).
"It is the concern of these schools to bring about a new generation of human beings who are free from self-centred action".
Brockwood Parks website can be found at http://www.brockwood.org.uk/.If you have any enquiries about this appeal, please contact the KANZ administrator, Jane Evans, at 64 Ryburn Road, RD4, Hamilton 2021, ph 07 8566523, or email kanzadmin@gmail.com (5).~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(cut here) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - TO MAKE A DONATION
In either case please complete the details below and post this slip to: The KANZ administrator, Jane Evans, 64 Ryburn Road, RD4, Hamilton.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR LIFE? - a book for teenagers compiled from the talks of J. Krishnamurti "If you really love to be an engineer or a scientist or if you can plant a tree, or paint a picture, not to gain recognition but just because you love to do it, then you will find that you never compete with another. I think this is the real key: to love what you do." This is what rediff.com had to say about this book:
The book is organised very clearly in sections and sub-sections, typically half a page long. For example: Self-Esteem; Success and Failure; Loneliness; Depression; Confusion; Nature and Earth; Truth: God; Death. It is also indexed for ready access to any topic. Krishnamurti never dictates, never prescribes - rather he invites one to enquire together. Life, he said, is a voyage on an uncharted sea. He said of his own work: "There is no belief demanded or asked, there are no followers, there are no cults, there is no persuasion of any kind, in any direction. And therefore only then we can meet on the same ground, at the same level. Then we can together observe the extraordinary phenomena of human existence". Reviews from amazon.com:
This book can be purchased on line from the Krishnamurti Foundation of America: Krishnamurti Bookstore, or can be borrowed free of charge (except for postage) from the Krishnamurti-nz lending library. Other books on education by Krishnamurti available from the library include "Life Ahead", "Beginnings of Learning" and "Education and the Significance of Life". Altogether there are over 90 books in the library collection as well as a selection of audio tapes and CDs. For a complete list please click here to transfer to the library page.
The Krishnamurti Association in New Zealand
The Krishnamurti Association in NZ newsletter is available free of charge.Please complete and return this form to receive the newsletter or to advise us of a change of address.
The newsletter can be viewed on the website: www.krishnamurti-nz.org. Notification of each new issue is sent to people on our email list.
KANZ has "no membership" and its activities are carried out by volunteers. Donations for administration expenses and newsletter production are greatly appreciated.
Study Gathering / Retreats Questionnaire One of the activities KANZ undertakes is facilitation of study gathering / retreats in New Zealand each year. The purpose of these gatherings is to give participants the opportunity to spend time alone with the teachings, as well as to engage with others in serious co-operative enquiry. A selection of Krishnamurti books, audio and video tapes are available for use by the participants and there is generally no formal structure other than regular meal times. To help us organise future gatherings we would appreciate feedback from our readers. Please complete and return the questionnaire below. Have you previously attended a KANZ gathering? Yes No Have you any comments / feedback Would you like to attend a future gathering? Yes No Which regions would you to travel to? North Island: Northland Auckland Waikato Coromandel Rotorua Taupo Taranaki Hawkes Bay Wellington South Island: Nelson Canterbury Other Which times of the year suit you? Summer Autumn Spring Winter What length of time would suit you? Weekend-2 days Long weekend-3 days (Fri/Sat/Sun) Holiday weekend: Easter Queens Birthday Labour weekend Other Week - 5 days (Mon - Fri) Week 7 days What type of accommodation would you prefer? Camping, Camper van, Bunk room, Share cabin, Private room Meals: Catered, Able to help with food preparation What price range would you prefer? ($ per day) Can you suggest a suitable venue in your region? (If so can you include information about the venue?) "It is essential to go on retreat. Surely it is good to retreat from all our beliefs, experiences, desires of every kind; to have a complete break from the past... the prejudices, noises, occupations, interests, amusements and entertainments. Sir, do it and you will see delight. Take retreat; go away. Stop the routine the mind establishes for its own security."J. Krishnamurti
|
