KANZ Newsletter #41

 

 

 

 

KANZ Newsletter No. 41 Summer 2005/2006

The Krishnamurti Association in New Zealand, 64 Ryburn Rd, RD4, Hamilton

"School is a place of learning and not merely a place for accumulating knowledge"

 From September 1978 through to March 1980 Krishnamurti wrote a series of letters which were sent every fortnight to the schools in India, England, California, and Canada. The following letter was sent on 1st December 1978:

The whole movement of life is learning. There is never a time in which there is no learning. Every action is a movement of learning and every relationship is learning. The accumulation of know-ledge, which is called learning and to which we are so accustomed is necessary to a limited extent, but that limitation prevents us from comprehending our-selves. Knowledge is measurable, more or less, but in learning there is no measure. This is really very important to understand, especially if you are to grasp the full meaning of a religious life. Knowledge is memory and if you have observed the actual, the now is not memory. In observation memory has no place. The actual is what is actually happening. The second later is measurable and this is the way of memory.

 To observe the movement of an insect needs attention - that is if you are interested in observing the insect or whatever interests you. This attention again is not measurable. It is the responsibility of the educator to understand the whole nature and structure of memory, to observe this limitation and to help the student to see this. We learn from books or from a teacher who has a great deal of information about a subject and our brains are filled with this information.

 This information is about things, about nature, about everything outside of us and when we want to learn about ourselves we turn to books that tell about ourselves. So this process goes on endlessly and gradually we become second-hand human beings. This is an observable fact throughout the world and this is our modem education.

 The act of learning, as we have pointed out, is the act of pure observation and this observation is not held within the limitation of memory. We learn to earn a living but we never live. The capacity to earn a living takes most of our life; we have hardly any time for other things. We find time for gossip, to be entertained, to play, but all this is not living. There is a whole field which is the actual living, totally neglected.

 To learn the art of living one must have leisure. The word leisure is greatly misunderstood, as we said in our third letter. Generally it means not to be occupied with the things we have to do such as earning a livelihood, going to the office, factory and so on, and only when that is over is there leisure. During that so-called leisure you want to be amused, you want to relax, you want to do the things which you really like or which demand your highest capacity. Your earning a livelihood, whatever you do, is in opposition to so-called leisure. So there is always the strain, the tension and the escape from that tension, and leisure is when you have no strain. During that leisure you pick up a newspaper, open a novel, chatter, play and so on. This is the actual fact. This is what is going on everywhere. Earning a livelihood is the denial of living.

So we come to the question - what is leisure? Leisure, as it is understood, is a respite from the pressure of livelihood. The pressure of earning a living or any pressure imposed on us we generally consider an absence of leisure, but there is a much greater pressure in us, conscious or unconscious, which is desire and we will go into that later. 

School is a place of leisure. It is only when you have leisure that you can learn. That is: learning can only take place when there is no pressure of any kind. When a snake or a danger confronts you there is a kind of learning from the pressure of the fact of that danger. The learning under that pressure is the cultivation of memory which will help you to recognise future danger and so becomes a mechanical response.

 Leisure implies a mind which is not occupied. It is only then that there is a state of learning. School is a place of learning and not merely a place for accumulating knowledge. This is really important to understand. As we said, knowledge is necessary and has its own limited place in life. Unfortunately this limitation has devoured all our lives and we have no space for learning. We are so occupied with our livelihood that it takes all the energy of the mechanism of thought, so that we are exhausted at the end of the day and need to be stimulated. We recover from this exhaustion through entertainment - religious or otherwise. This is the life of human beings. Human beings have created a society which demands all their time, all their, energies, all their life. There is no leisure to learn and so their life becomes mechanical, almost meaningless. So we must be very clear in the understanding of the word leisure - a time, a period, when the mind is not occupied with anything whatsoever. It is the time of observation. It is only the unoccupied mind which can observe. A free observation is the movement of learning. This frees the mind from being mechanical.

 So can the teacher, the educator, help the student to understand this whole business of earning a livelihood with all its pressure? - the learning that helps you to acquire a job with all its fears and anxieties and the looking on tomorrow with dread? Because he himself has understood the nature of leisure and pure observation, so that earning a livelihood does not become a torture, a great travail throughout life, can the teacher help the student to have a non-mechanistic mind? It is the absolute responsibility of the teacher to cultivate the flowering of goodness in leisure. For this reason the schools exist. It is the responsibility of the teacher to create a new generation to change the social structure from its total preoccupation with earning a livelihood. Then teaching becomes a holy act.

 From “Letters to the Schools, Volume 1” (© 1981 Krishnamurti Foundation Trust Ltd).

 

  

The KANZ Brockwood Park Scholarship

KANZ wishes to thank all of you who have donated so generously to our appeal to establish a scholarship to help a young person from New Zealand attend Brockwood Park School. More information about the appeal and Brockwood Park School is available on line at: http://www.krishnamurti-nz.org/scholarship.htm.

To Apply for the Scholarship – Information and Conditions

A Scholarship Fund has been started by The Krishnamurti Association in New Zealand with the intention to assist a young person to study at Brockwood Park, the Krishnamurti School in England.

Applications for a Scholarship for the academic year 2006/2007 are invited, with a closing date of 31st December 2005. The conditions for awarding the Scholarship are as follows:

1. The bestowing of the Scholarship is dependent on the applicant being accepted as a student by Brockwood Park School. Applicants must make their own application to Brockwood, with the approval of their Parent or Guardian. Complete acceptance usually involves a prospective week at Brockwood (which can be required or waived at Brockwood's discretion).

 2.  A years fees for Brockwood Park School are at the moment 11,800 GB Pounds. These may increase next year. As funds are still being raised, the exact value of the Scholarship cannot be stated at the present time but it will have a maximum value of $20,000.

Whatever the final value of the Scholarship, the remainder of the fees must be found by the successful applicant, and a minimum of NZ$10,000 must be contributed by the applicant. All other expenses, including travel, must also be met by the applicant. 

3. Applicants must be born between 2/9/1988 and 1/9/1992 and have held official New Zealand residency for a minimum of five years.

4. Applicants and at least one parent or guardian may be required to attend an interview with the Scholarship Committee (in NZ). 

5. KANZ Trustees, the Scholarship Committee, or close relatives of either may not apply for the Scholarship.

6. In case of any dispute around the terms of the Scholarship, the decisions of the KANZ Board of Trustees are final and no correspondence will be entered into.

For an application form please apply to the address below or download from: http://www.krishnamurti-nz.org/scholarship.htm.

The Scholarship Committee will announce its choice of applicant no later than 28th February 2006. This will also be announced in the KANZ newsletter and also on the http://www.krishnamurti-nz.org  website.

For enquiries, please contact The KANZ Administrator, Jane Evans, 64 Ryburn Road, RD4, Hamilton, ph 07 8566523, email: kanzadmin@gmail.com 

 

 

"There must be change in society, because there are so many evils and social injustices... but change in society is of secondary importance; that will come about naturally, inevitably, when you as a human being in relationship with another bring about this change in yourself."

-         J Krishnamurti

 

To Make A Donation To The Scholarship Fund

Please enclose a cheque payable to: The Krishnamurti Assn in NZ

or

Make a direct transfer to this account:

Account number - 03-0104-0019160-01 (Westpac Bank)

Name - The Krishnamurti Assn in NZ

 

In either case please complete the details below and post this slip to:

KANZ administrator, Jane Evans, 64 Ryburn Road, RD4, Hamilton.

 

You will receive a receipt for your donation.

 

I enclose a cheque/have made a direct transfer to the value of: $_____________

 

 The Krishnamurti-nz Postal Lending Library

 The library has been expanding its CD Collection, and also has recently started to acquire video CDs and DVDs. which are of a higher technical quality than the old videos. In addition, the library holds over 80 books by and about Krishnamurti, some 130 titles in the KANZ video library, and over 150 audio tapes. The library is always keen to receive donations of new material.

 To keep up to date on new additions, and to receive the occasional review of existing titles, you can join an email group at: http://groups.msn.com/krishnamurtinz.  Members of this group also receive news of NZ gatherings, video showings, and other events.

 A complete catalogue of all available titles can be obtained on line at: http://www.krishnamurti-nz.org/libraries.htm or by writing to The Krishnamurti-nz Postal Lending Library, 64 Ryburn Road, RD4, Hamilton.

Reviewed from the Krishnamurti-nz Postal Lending Library

On DVD: The Challenge of Change

          - a biographical film: Special 20th Anniversary Edition

The Challenge of Change is the compelling story of a great teacher of the 20th century, from his childhood discovery in 1909 to the mature teachings expressed by Krishnamurti himself in the United States, England, India, and Europe.

The Special 20th Anniversary Edition includes the original version re-mastered plus outtakes not used in the film, unseen elements from the original interview with Krishnamurti, a dialogue with director Michael Mendizza and producer Evelyne Blau on the creation of the film, a biographical perspective on Krishnamurti and current efforts to preserve and disseminate his teachings.

Proclaimed the "World Teacher" by Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater of the influential Theosophical Society, the film explores his rejection in 1929 of that special status when Krishnamurti declared that "Truth is a Pathless Land." This remarkable story told through archival film and photographs is a priceless introduction to Krishnamurti's life. He spoke not as a guru, savior or master but as one who called for the awakening of intelligence.

Music by Michael Rogers

Narrated by Richard Chamberlain and Richard Basehart

  

The Krishnamurti Association in New Zealand

is a registered charity providing information and services relating to the teachings of J. Krishnamurti (1895 - 1986).

 

Enquiries and correspondence:

Post: KANZ, c/o Jane Evans, 64 Ryburn Road, RD4, Hamilton

Email: kanzadmin@gmail.com

 

Video Library:

Post: Kamlesh Duggal, 1 North Street, Te Awamutu

On-line catalog: http://www.krishnamurti-nz.org/videos.htm

 

Book & Audio Library:

Post: Krishnamurti-nz Books and Tapes, c/o 64 Ryburn Road, RD4, Hamilton

Email: libraries@krishnamurti-nz.org

 

On-line catalog: http://www.krishnamurti-nz.org/libraries.htm

 

Trustees: Kevin Gaunt, Glenn Muir, Warren Snow, Keith Symonds, Richard Whittaker.

 

 

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The Krishnamurti Association in New Zealand is a registered charitable trust, providing information and services relating to the teachings of J. Krishnamurti (1895 - 1986). KANZ’ activities are run by volunteers and rely on donations. Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

 

Please find my donation of $........................... enclosed.