Choiceless awareness
Encyclopedia
Choiceless Awareness is posited in philosophy
, psychology
, and spirituality
to be the state of unpremeditated, complete awareness
of the present
without preference
, effort, or compulsion. The term was popularized in mid-20th-century by Jiddu Krishnamurti
, in whose philosophy it signifies a main theme. Similar or related concepts had been previously developed in several religious or spiritual traditions; the term or others like it has also been used to describe traditional and contemporary secular and religious meditation
practices. However, Krishnamurti's approach to Choiceless Awareness was unique, and differs from both pre-existing and later-developed notions.
n philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti
(1895–1986). Beginning in the 1930s, he often commented on the subject, which became a recurring theme in his work. He is considered to have been mainly responsible for the subsequent interest in both the term and the concept.
Krishnamurti held that outside of strictly practical, technical matters, the presence and action of choice indicates confusion and subtle bias: an individual who perceives a given situation in an unbiased manner, without distortion, and therefore with complete awareness, will immediately, naturally, act according to this awareness – the action will be the manifestation and result of this awareness, rather than the result of choice. Such action (and quality of mind) is inherently without conflict.
He did not offer any method, gradual or sudden, to achieve such awareness; acceptance of any method is considered a choice, and its practice a series of further choices; such constant application of choice cannot possibly evolve into, or result in, true choicelessness – just as unceasing application of effort leads to illusory effortlessness, in reality the action of habit
; additionally, in his opinion all methods introduce potential or actual conflict, generated by the practitioner's efforts to comply. According to this analysis, all practices towards achieving Choiceless Awareness have the opposite effect: they inhibit its action in the present by treating it as a future, premeditated result, and moreover one that is conditioned by the practitioner's implied or expressed expectations. For true choicelessness to be realized, choice – implicit or explicit – has to simply, irrevocably, stop; however the ceasing of choice is not the result of decision (another choice), but implies the ceasing of the functioning of the chooser or self as a psychological entity; therefore Krishnamurti asserted that Choiceless Awareness is a natural attribute of non-self-centered perception, which he called "observation without the observer".
Accordingly, Krishnamurti advised against following any doctrine
, discipline, teacher, guru
, or authority, including himself. He also advised against following one's own psychological knowledge and experience, which he considered integral parts of the "observer". He denied the usefulness of all meditation techniques or methods, but not of meditation itself, which he called "perhaps the greatest" art in life.
Krishnamurti's ideas on Choiceless Awareness were discussed by among others, influential Hindu
spiritual teacher Ramana Maharshi
(1879–1950) and they attracted the attention of psychologists and psychoanalysts in the 1950s; in the following decades Krishnamurti held a number of discussions on this and related subjects with practicing psychotherapists and with researchers in the field.
In late 1980, almost half a century after he started discussing it, Krishnamurti included the concept in The Core of Krishnamurti's Teaching, a pivotal statement of his philosophy: "Freedom is found in the choiceless awareness of our daily existence and activity."
, rehabilitation medicine, and counseling.
One term that is often used as a near-synonym
is "mindfulness", which as a concept has similarities to or may include Choiceless Awareness. Initially part of Buddhist meditation practice, it has been adapted and utilized for contemporary psychological treatment
.
Kindred themes can be found in the doctrine and meditation practices (such as Vipassanā
) associated with the Theravada
school of Buddhism
; and also in 20th-century offshoots like the Thai Forest Tradition
and the Vipassana movement
. Within these and similar fields for example, the Shikantaza
practice in Zen Buddhism, Choiceless (or Effortless) Awareness is considered to frequently be the result of a mature progression of practice.
The concept was included in the discourse of independent Hindu spiritual teacher Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh)
(1931–90) while Tibetan Buddhism
teacher Chogyam Trungpa
(1939–87), who engaged in dialogue with Krishnamurti, used the term to describe the experience of "shunyata" (Śūnyatā) – in Sanscrit, "emptiness", or "ego-less perception".
Among other fields, the term has appeared in dispute resolution
theory and practice, and has found application in artistic endeavors. In dramatic theory
, theater criticism
, and acting
, it has been used to denote spontaneous creativity and related practices or attempts; it has additionally appeared in music works.
at Laney College
, in Oakland, California
.
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, and spirituality
Spirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
to be the state of unpremeditated, complete awareness
Awareness
Awareness is the state or ability to perceive, to feel, or to be conscious of events, objects or sensory patterns. In this level of consciousness, sense data can be confirmed by an observer without necessarily implying understanding. More broadly, it is the state or quality of being aware of...
of the present
Present
Present is a time that is neither past nor future.Present may also refer to:- Time and timing :* Present tense, the grammatical tense of a verb* Before Present, radiocarbon dates relative to AD 1950* Presenting, a medical term* Presenteeism...
without preference
Preference
-Definitions in different disciplines:The term “preferences” is used in a variety of related, but not identical, ways in the scientific literature. This makes it necessary to make explicit the sense in which the term is used in different social sciences....
, effort, or compulsion. The term was popularized in mid-20th-century by Jiddu Krishnamurti
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Jiddu Krishnamurti or J. Krishnamurti or , was a renowned writer and speaker on philosophical and spiritual subjects. His subject matter included: psychological revolution, the nature of the mind, meditation, human relationships, and bringing about positive change in society...
, in whose philosophy it signifies a main theme. Similar or related concepts had been previously developed in several religious or spiritual traditions; the term or others like it has also been used to describe traditional and contemporary secular and religious meditation
Meditation
Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....
practices. However, Krishnamurti's approach to Choiceless Awareness was unique, and differs from both pre-existing and later-developed notions.
Choiceless Awareness is a major concept in the exposition of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Jiddu Krishnamurti or J. Krishnamurti or , was a renowned writer and speaker on philosophical and spiritual subjects. His subject matter included: psychological revolution, the nature of the mind, meditation, human relationships, and bringing about positive change in society...
(1895–1986). Beginning in the 1930s, he often commented on the subject, which became a recurring theme in his work. He is considered to have been mainly responsible for the subsequent interest in both the term and the concept.
Krishnamurti held that outside of strictly practical, technical matters, the presence and action of choice indicates confusion and subtle bias: an individual who perceives a given situation in an unbiased manner, without distortion, and therefore with complete awareness, will immediately, naturally, act according to this awareness – the action will be the manifestation and result of this awareness, rather than the result of choice. Such action (and quality of mind) is inherently without conflict.
He did not offer any method, gradual or sudden, to achieve such awareness; acceptance of any method is considered a choice, and its practice a series of further choices; such constant application of choice cannot possibly evolve into, or result in, true choicelessness – just as unceasing application of effort leads to illusory effortlessness, in reality the action of habit
Habit (psychology)
Habits are routines of behavior that are repeated regularly and tend to occur subconsciously. Habitual behavior often goes unnoticed in persons exhibiting it, because a person does not need to engage in self-analysis when undertaking routine tasks...
; additionally, in his opinion all methods introduce potential or actual conflict, generated by the practitioner's efforts to comply. According to this analysis, all practices towards achieving Choiceless Awareness have the opposite effect: they inhibit its action in the present by treating it as a future, premeditated result, and moreover one that is conditioned by the practitioner's implied or expressed expectations. For true choicelessness to be realized, choice – implicit or explicit – has to simply, irrevocably, stop; however the ceasing of choice is not the result of decision (another choice), but implies the ceasing of the functioning of the chooser or self as a psychological entity; therefore Krishnamurti asserted that Choiceless Awareness is a natural attribute of non-self-centered perception, which he called "observation without the observer".
Accordingly, Krishnamurti advised against following any doctrine
Doctrine
Doctrine is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system...
, discipline, teacher, guru
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
, or authority, including himself. He also advised against following one's own psychological knowledge and experience, which he considered integral parts of the "observer". He denied the usefulness of all meditation techniques or methods, but not of meditation itself, which he called "perhaps the greatest" art in life.
Krishnamurti's ideas on Choiceless Awareness were discussed by among others, influential Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
spiritual teacher Ramana Maharshi
Ramana Maharshi
Sri Ramana Maharshi , born Venkataraman Iyer, was a Hindu spiritual master . He was born to a Tamil-speaking Brahmin family in Tiruchuzhi, Tamil Nadu. After experiencing at age 16 what he later described as liberation , he left home for Arunachala, a mountain considered sacred by Hindus...
(1879–1950) and they attracted the attention of psychologists and psychoanalysts in the 1950s; in the following decades Krishnamurti held a number of discussions on this and related subjects with practicing psychotherapists and with researchers in the field.
In late 1980, almost half a century after he started discussing it, Krishnamurti included the concept in The Core of Krishnamurti's Teaching, a pivotal statement of his philosophy: "Freedom is found in the choiceless awareness of our daily existence and activity."
In contrast with Krishnamurti's approach, other articulations commonly include Choiceless Awareness (or related ideas and terms) as part, or as the hoped-for result, of specific methodologies and meditation techniques. Similar concepts and terms appeared or developed in various traditional and contemporary religious or spiritual doctrines and texts, and also within secular disciplines such as psychotherapy
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
, rehabilitation medicine, and counseling.
One term that is often used as a near-synonym
Synonym
Synonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek syn and onoma . The words car and automobile are synonyms...
is "mindfulness", which as a concept has similarities to or may include Choiceless Awareness. Initially part of Buddhist meditation practice, it has been adapted and utilized for contemporary psychological treatment
Mindfulness (psychology)
Modern clinical psychology and psychiatry since the 1970s have developed a number of therapeutic applications based on the concept of mindfulness in Buddhist meditation.-Definitions:...
.
Kindred themes can be found in the doctrine and meditation practices (such as Vipassanā
Vipassana
Vipassanā or vipaśyanā in the Buddhist tradition means insight into the true nature of reality. A regular practitioner of Vipassana is known as a Vipassi . Vipassana is one of the world's most ancient techniques of meditation, the inception of which is attributed to Gautama Buddha...
) associated with the Theravada
Theravada
Theravada ; literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...
school of Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
; and also in 20th-century offshoots like the Thai Forest Tradition
Thai Forest Tradition
The Thai Forest Tradition is a tradition of Buddhist monasticism within Thai Theravada Buddhism. Practitioners inhabit remote wilderness and forest dwellings as spiritual practice training grounds. Maha Nikaya and Dhammayuttika Nikaya are the two major monastic orders in Thailand that have forest...
and the Vipassana movement
Vipassana movement
The Vipassana movement refers to a number of branches of modern Theravāda Buddhism, for example in the various traditions of Sri Lanka, Burma, Laos and Thailand including contemporary American Buddhist teachers such as Joseph Goldstein, Tara Brach, Gil Fronsdal, Sharon Salzberg, and Jack Kornfield...
. Within these and similar fields for example, the Shikantaza
Shikantaza
is a Japanese term for zazen introduced by Rujing and associated most with the Soto school of Zen Buddhism. Ford cites on p. 224 an opinion that it is "the base of all Zen disciplines." Some people claim that according to Dōgen Zenji, shikantaza i.e...
practice in Zen Buddhism, Choiceless (or Effortless) Awareness is considered to frequently be the result of a mature progression of practice.
The concept was included in the discourse of independent Hindu spiritual teacher Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh)
Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh)
Osho , born Chandra Mohan Jain , and also known as Acharya Rajneesh from the 1960s onwards, as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh during the 1970s and 1980s and as Osho from 1989, was an Indian mystic, guru, and spiritual teacher who garnered an international following.A professor of philosophy, he travelled...
(1931–90) while Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...
teacher Chogyam Trungpa
Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche was a Buddhist meditation master and holder of both the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages, the eleventh Trungpa tülku, a tertön, supreme abbot of the Surmang monasteries, scholar, teacher, poet, artist, and originator of a radical re-presentation of Shambhala vision.Recognized...
(1939–87), who engaged in dialogue with Krishnamurti, used the term to describe the experience of "shunyata" (Śūnyatā) – in Sanscrit, "emptiness", or "ego-less perception".
Among other fields, the term has appeared in dispute resolution
Dispute resolution
Dispute resolution is the process of resolving disputes between parties.-Methods:Methods of dispute resolution include:* lawsuits * arbitration* collaborative law* mediation* conciliation* many types of negotiation* facilitation...
theory and practice, and has found application in artistic endeavors. In dramatic theory
Dramatic theory
Dramatic theory is a term used for works that attempt to form theories about theatre and drama. Examples of ancient dramatic theory include Aristotle's Poetics from Ancient Greece and Bharata Muni's Natyasastra from ancient India.- External links :...
, theater criticism
Theatre criticism
Theatre criticism is a genre of art criticism, and the act of writing or speaking about the performing arts such as a play or opera.Most major national newspapers of first world countries cover the arts in some form and theatre criticism may be included as a part of this arts coverage.Specialist...
, and acting
Acting
Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play....
, it has been used to denote spontaneous creativity and related practices or attempts; it has additionally appeared in music works.
Further reading
– "This work provides readers an insightful and timely commentary on Krisnamurti's most fundamental ideas" (publisher's description). From a professor of Philosophy and HumanitiesHumanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
at Laney College
Laney College
Laney College is a community college located in Oakland, California, next to the Lake Merritt BART station and the Kaiser Convention Center. Laney is the largest of the four colleges of the Peralta Community College District which serves northern Alameda County.Laney College originally opened in...
, in Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
.