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I think it is fairly clear why none of us do experience something beyond the mere watching. There may be rare moments of an emotional state in which we see, as it were, the clarity of the sky between clouds, but I do not mean anything of that kind. All such experiences are temporary and have very little significance. The questioner wants to know why, after these many years of watching, he hasn't found the deep waters. Why should he find them? Do you understand? You think that by watching your own thoughts you are going to get a reward: if you do this, you will get that. You are really not watching at all, because your mind is concerned with gaining a reward. You think that by watching, by being aware, you will be more loving, you will suffer less, be less irritable, get something beyond; so your watching is a process of buying. With this coin you are buying that, which means that your watching is a process of choice; therefore it isn't watching, it isn't attention. To watch is to observe without choice, to see yourself as you are without any movement of desire to change, which is an extremely arduous thing to do; but that doesn't mean that you are going to remain in your present state. You do not know what will happen if you see yourself as you are without wishing to bring about a change in that which you see. Do you understand?

Jiddu Krishnamurti#10

TruthMindAwarenessExpectationMeditation

About this quote

What does it mean?
Watching thoughts fails when done with an expectation of reward, turning awareness into a transaction.
In plain terms
If you watch your thoughts to get something, you are not truly watching.
What can you take from it?
Awareness without expectation is true observation.

Where it applies

  • meditation
  • psychology
  • self inquiry

Putting it to work

  • practicing non transactional awareness
  • dropping goals

Questions to consider

  • What are you trying to gain from practice?
  • Can you observe without wanting a result?

Another view

It may confuse the natural human desire for progress with spiritual practice.

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