“Sorrow is not in death but in loneliness,
and conflict comes when you seek consolation,
forgetfulness, explanations, and illusions.”
~ J. Krishnamurti, The Little Book on Living
Tim has not been my only intimate contact within the worlds of the Risen. I’ve been prepared all my life for these experiences, and in many continuing ways that are often beyond my present understanding. It’s clear that spiritual guides and guardians have used my love for books, healing, nature, art, music, research, and learning as inspired sources of motivation.
One particular individual turned out to be both guide and guardian. While he was still in his body on earth he had been my watchful mentor since I had been born. He continued to act in this service after he transitioned to a higher plane.
My guardian revealed himself fully one day to get my attention and ground me firmly back into my earthly awareness during a time of great psychological distress. I don’t know if anyone can truly imagine my reactions to suddenly hearing, as loud and clear as an inner bell, a stern but kindly voice announcing himself as “Krishnamurti,” that he had been with me since I was a child, and to not be afraid. I felt a certain amount of disbelief but then relief as his unwavering presence calmed and restored me to complete stability on all levels in less than a day.
Following are excerpts from our book, from some of the talks I’ve had with K.—while on solitary walks in the woods, or lying in bed trying to nap and unable to quiet my mind, or while sitting at my desk and working on some trivial writing matter.
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“You have become interested in the subject of awareness. What does it mean to be aware of one’s own self? You might think that here is a very difficult and complicated concept, or else something of a totally different and simple nature. Most of us feel that we are certainly aware beings as we are right now. If we weren’t we would be asleep, wouldn’t we? We must maintain such a belief and are in fact already engaged in the difficult and complicated side, simply because we cannot see that we have already answered our own question.”
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“Is self-awareness the same as self-knowledge? What does it mean to say, ‘I know myself?’ Let us examine this question closely without sentiment or criticism. Especially without criticism, for we are merely attempting to observe, and that is enough for now.”
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“Those of us who are still circling in the slave’s walk of hope and are desperate enough to long for something better, a simpler life with less demands and more rewards, are often more aware of ourselves through the medium of our suffering. Those who are, for whatever reasons, more intuitive than the average human being, might drift in and out of self-awareness through feelings and dreams. A very small child might be astutely self-aware, but that is quickly and tragically overshadowed and eventually extinguished by the hopes, dreams, and sufferings that are its parents’ legacy, perhaps handed down over many generations, even many centuries, constantly being embellished with a peculiar type of refinement that is both alluring and addicting. If one could be totally and completely aware, totally free of unawareness, there would be nothing to be lost or gained, neither from the past nor from the future.”
. . . . . . . . . . .
“Surrender is the hand that reaches out to gently touch the awaiting pendulum of the clock, to begin its first movement that will allow it to continue on by giving back the service of marking chronological time. Surrender is the birth of a child into the awaiting world, to begin its first movements that will continue on in its newly found potential to give back to the world. Surrender is one’s hand reaching out to another in an open gesture of human companionship, in giving some food to eat or clothes to wear; rendering an act that will live on and continue to allow the receiver to give back. To surrender is to dissolve into the perpetual motion of love. Reduced to its simplest terms, surrendering is giving, and so it is a gift.”
