The Sun enters Libra at 4:44 pm EDT Sunday. The annual solar ingress to Libra means, among other things, the culmination of an equinox, and turning the corner from one season to the next. This year, the Libra Equinox will closely follow, and implicitly echo, both the culmination of today’s Pisces Full Moon, and Pluto turning a Capricorn corner from retrograde to direct motion tomorrow. All of that reinforces a theme of adjustment so as to initiate a new a season in your life.
What sort of adjustments should you make in the season to come? The answer may be represented by the first aspect the Sun will make upon entry to Libra: a precise cardinal square to 37117 Narcissus on the threshold to Capricorn.
Interpreting the astrology of 37117 Narcissus is tricky. The name carries a lot of baggage. Its orbital characteristics make the object’s classification problematic. Even its discovery date is controversial. That’s how it would sensible to first make sense of the aspect Narcissus will receive from the equinox Sun.
When the Sun enters a cardinal sign (Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn), it is simultaneously a personal and worldwide experience. The equinox Sunday will take place for everybody, everywhere at the same time. The key is to be aware of that.
It’s also an important key to be aware of how everybody, everywhere gets an equal amount of daylight during the days of equinox. In addition, all equinox sunrises are exactly East, and all equinox sunsets are precisely West for everybody on Earth, no matter where.
You need to be aware of those equinox facts because any other object on the doorstep of cardinal territory is interpreted as emulating the Sun by somehow putting us all in the same boat at the same time. That is also the key to interpreting aspects between two objects so placed.
The distribution of cardinal signs on the zodiac circle resembles the points of a cross, with each point opposing another one while at right angles to the other two. When two different objects occupy the same degree of two different cardinal signs at right angles to each other, that is a cardinal square aspect.
Square aspects in general represent tension originating and felt within, although frequently (and in error) ascribed to an outside source. A cardinal square aspect means that sort of private, personal disquiet is probably being felt by everybody, everywhere on Earth at the same time, with most people unaware of that.
Resolving the tension of a square aspect requires action on your part. Frequently that action resembles an adjustment to underwear which has become bunched up. Once your underwear is out of bunch, you feel better, and the tension goes away.
Resolving a cardinal square aspect first requires awareness on your part that you are not alone with your conundrum, and knowing that the adjustment you make will somehow contribute to everybody else feeling more comfortable. It also means understanding the components at odds with one another, in this case the Sun and Narcissus.
The Sun is best understood by stripping it down to its essence. It is the sole source of daylight, and without the Sun in the sky we experience night. Everybody understands that. Astrology’s interpretation of the symbolic Sun as consciousness is another thing that everybody can understand from the experience of either being unconscious (something akin to a personal night), or observing somebody else who is, to coin a phrase, “lights out.”
Hence, we can say with substantial reason that the equinox Sun’s square to Narcissus this weekend will correspond to a very personal discomfort regarding your consciousness. We can also say that any adjustment you consciously make to resolve your own tension will shine forth as an example, contributing to the whole, helping others to turn the corner and be more comfortable.
To that end, understanding how 37117 Narcissus expresses in your life will be the final component that contributes to getting things out of a bunch. Because any object entering a cardinal sign emulates the Sun, it stands to reason that a great deal of understanding can be derived by stripping the mythical origin of the name “Narcissus” down to its own essence in order to interpret its equinox square from the Sun.
Briefly put, the demise of the mythical character Narcissus was brought about by obsession with his own image to the exclusion of all else. A cursory look around will confirm the uncomfortable feeling that each and all of us at once are to some extent doing the same thing.
It is getting more and more difficult to go anywhere and not see a human form, or things made to suit human form, reflected back at you. Humanity has done a very thorough job of remaking the world in its own image, and most of us have contributed to that. Most of us have also been thoroughly conditioned to anthropomorphize the rest of the world’s inhabitants, and even the divine, in both individual and collective consciousness.
Human obsession with the human image is nearly everywhere, nearly all the time. The result has been a discomforting world, where all of us are in the same boat, constantly confronted with the prospect of demise. The culmination of that discomfort, and the necessity to turn the corner on it, is a fair and reasonable interpretation of the cardinal square that will initiate each and every consciousness into the season to come. The question is how to resolve it.
As usual, the answer begins with you. It means getting your own consciousness out of a bunch first. Begin with not taking your self-image so seriously, and showing it. That will encourage everybody in your vicinity to emulate you and relax, which is something we could use a little more of.
Finally, awareness is the key. Simply being aware of all you have in common with others can only culminate with more compassion and less isolation. That will make it possible for each and all of us to adjust and turn a crucial corner away from our own image, no longer exclusive from all else, into a new season of being one with everything else once again.
Offered In Service
Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.
I have had slight withdrawal symptoms following 3 PW free days. I come back to read this illuminating article and to read the most inspiring thread of comments…feel honoured to bear witness.
Thank you Len and all.
I feel that Narcissus gets a bad press really, because in the Age of Pisces the need to sacrifice ourselves and our own needs to the service of and sacrifice to others has been a dominant mental pattern.
I feel Narcissus is the shadowy underbelly of this societal pressure to be ‘unselfish’
Truly though I think that in order to know yourself and heal yourself it is probably necessary to fall in love with yourself
Remenber Iris was with Narcissus by the pool when he fell in.
Problem is most of us are not supported in childhood and adolescence which is the time when we need most to explore and talk out all this self obsession.
Oh dear, no dj skills tonight. This might wake me up.
AC/DC – Touch Too Much
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hLLe7j_tKA
Here’s the one i was looking for……
From a distance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKzd2Wh3xNk
Maria, can i put some music on while i have a think? I’m in a bit of a girly mood at the moment but it may not last!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1–Cvy3C5k
what an amazing collection of comments! what a bunch of talented people! now i’m going to hijack the thread. probably something to do with that narcissus square maybe? or just panic. here goes: solar return tomorrow (hi there all on the cardinal zeros, isn’t this fun), ascendant at 18 sag. as are pholus and ixion. any insights? figure this might help those who have things going on around that degree as well–these guys are pretty slow moving and have been sharing space for a while. thanks for clues…
Thank you, nilou! What joy & exuberance that song carries! Thank you also for your poetry yesterday–a couple of those poems left me breathless. I appreciate your gift.
Strawberrylaughter, peace and blessings, and may your continuing unfolding be rich and joyful. I’m liking this song for you this morning.
Let it shine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojthfcObUaM
Yes, Chief Niwots Son, the “ancient agonies” pack a punch, don’t they? I hadn’t been able to access them myself until just this morning. Sigh. The real danger in all of this is that one ends up being too much, too…intense? too…I don’t know what. Secure, I guess. Inviolable.
Natally, I have a BML-Aphrodite opposition across my MC/IC meridian. So as Venus & BML have been active lately, I’ve been trying to figure out how the two of them might get along, possibly could-be friends, rather than have-to-be enemies. It’s an opposition I’ve always felt acutely — either be the cute object everyone likes or the irascible bitch who doesn’t take any of their shit. Both have their appeal. I’ve never been able to commit to either. But what if their opposition can also bring out their similarities? Both were first among their kind; both bring us inevitably face-to-face with our values; both have been misused, trod under foot, adapted for expediency. Both are powerful beyond measure. What if Lilith can help us real-ize the uncompromising love we can have for ourselves, our unique value, our innate strength? What if Venus can help us see how un-fucking-believably attractive that can be? Together, they might provide a girl a nice backbone.
Venus transits my BML in a few days; I look forward to the continuing unfolding. Especially as, a week after my Mars return, Ceres is now reaching its natal degree.
Everything. All At Once. All the goddamn time.
Nice job search Len with the asteroid 37117 and now you know who is in conjunction to the Sun? , the asteroid 11911 Angel, I love it and you?
I wish you an excellent Sunday and very soon in the stars 🙂
The exhibition I curated, “This is Water,” opens today at the Vermont Institute of Contemporary Arts in Chester, Vermont. The title quote comes from a speech David Foster Wallace gave to the graduating class of Kenyon College in 2005. The concept for the show was inspired by the grand water trine and by Len’s beautiful interpretation of it and everything else under the sun.
To quote DFW:
“The point of the first story is merely that the most obvious, important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about.”
“The Capital T Truth is about life BEFORE death. It is about the real value of a real education, which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time, that we have to keep reminding ourselves over and over.
“This is water.”
“This is water.” ”
This past full moon was conjunct my natal Venus at 20 Pisces and the energy that flowed in was extraordinary. Clear, bright, beautiful. I have been sending broadcasts out since early summer and have seen the results of it first hand. David Foster Wallace had reached his personal end point several years ago when he chose to check out. A brilliant mind and beautiful soul like that needed to not only be nurtured but he needed to see the results of his work first hand. The quantum field has changed since his death and we are fortunate now to see the seeds we plant actually take root and grow. They are being watered by the energy coming in and by all of us together.
This day, today, the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, please remember David Foster Wallace and his peers. We would not be here today without them.
Mia
Strawberrylaughter, Salvete! Asalaam alaikum. Namaste. Amen. Thank you. nilou
wandering_yeti: Since the end of the Ice Age for sure, if not earlier in the Wurm Glaciation. There’s stuff in us been going on since we climbed down out of the trees. I wish you ease with the share you carry, and healing for your spine and sacred bone.
Strawberrylaughter: “It can also be about letting go of the ancient agonies of misspent love.” Whoa! Your words brought me back to my version of this story, and what I can see now, finally, is that all of those “agonies” served to bring me to this moment. And my past agony came only from failing to learn “to let go of romantic illusions,” which was the purpose of those experiences. Thank you for illuminating this for me.
And if I may say, I cannot imagine that you could ever hide your love away anymore. Thank you for all the loving support you have given me, and others, here in this space.
nilou, just for you–I drew a tarot reading this evening with the 10 of swords in the “you are here” position, 7 of wands as “what’s next,” & Death as “what you want.” Awesome. 🙂
Chief: I know what you mean about Jekle and Hyde…Heckle and Hide? A lot of the emotions I’ve dealt with in my life are ambient in the environment, vibrations carried by thousands or millions of people. Some of it comes with the original way I learned to speak English. Part of it comes from my dad losing his mind and installing the family demon in my Door Of Life by whacking my sacrum and lumbar vertebrae. In dreams I’ve wandered in ancestors houses and wake up with muscle spasms in various places. It’s old stuff. Some of it goes all the way back to when the last ice age melted. Then there’s all the wars after that. Cooling down after a long hot burn.
nilou, how sweet! I am a fan of the mad genius in Dahl, tho my peach was more Prufrock-ian. Be well 🙂
Strawberrylaughter, I’m sure there is some flexibility about the date: Peach Party?
http://www.roalddahlday.info/pdfs/Peach_Party_Pack.pdf
be: You are understood and deeply appreciated. Thank you!
Chief Niwots Son: Thank you for sharing your further discovery.
Strawberry: Thank you for some of the most inspirational words it has ever been my pleasure to read.
Chief Niwots Son, I want to add how overjoyed & inspired I am to hear of your newfound peace. I can feel your shift from here. Xoxo!
One of the more useful things I discovered as Pluto stationed retrograde in April was that part of the work ahead of me would be about restoring love to its proper place. I didn’t know then what that would mean, just that I had things out of joint. These last couple of months have been giving me opportunity after opportunity to become aware of how much adjustment is needed to accomplish that in my own life. In particular, Venus’ and Mars’ recent interactions with Saturn have put the point on it–how vast the gulf is between living and loving with the passion inspired by my own divinity, and doing so under the limitations created by culture & society. The gulf between experiencing love as a god or as a human.
Then we had this extraordinary Virgo-Pisces Full Moon, illustrating that even the prototypical opposition can also be a meeting of the minds.
Now, I have one last Grand Trine involving Venus transiting my Nadir as it trines Chiron and BML–in ways a replay, another look from an enhanced perspective, of all the transits those points took in April in May–before Pluto finishes its retrograde phase and resumes forward motion to prepare us for a shift of season into the Venus-ruled sign of balance. (Again, some audacious grammar there! To think I’m a writing tutor–my poor student!)
So the question is, how do I make the best use of this Grand Water Trine? Venus-Chiron can be an opportunity to let go of romantic illusions–an enterprise that would do me no small amount of good (Venus-Chiron-BML could represent the opposite). It can also be about letting go of the ancient agonies of misspent love. So soon after Venus’ brush with Saturn, it could also stretch to embracing the loss caused by shutting out love’s many variations and stepping across a threshold to where love can simply be, in all its glory. Where the enlivening nature of love & desire can be a Dharmic force, rather than a vulnerability to be hidden away.
But…is that much really possible? I’ve witnessed so many profound changes in myself over the past 6 months–many of them impossible right up to the moment when they became my reality. Do I dare disturb the Universe for this? To eat a peach?
Well sometimes I can’t tell an eclipse from an equinox and when I get on a roll I just go with it. Glad you understand Len.
be
Hmm- my natal Nessus sits at 26+ of Taurus, one agree from an exact trine to my 25+ Virgo ascendant, and trine the full moon to within a few minutes. Ah, I see, the easy flow of he trine supports the buck stopping here. Thanks Len!
Chief Niwots Son: Oops, did not mean to miss you. Congratulations on your hard-earned liberation. Thank you for sharing it. You may want to check and see how your natal Nessus was aspected.
nilou: i agree with your choice of adjustment as something i could afford to do as well. Thank you for the reminder.
Patricia: Thank you and welcome to the community of commenters. Even though you are probably too generous, your kind words are deeply appreciated.
bodymindalchemy: Thank you for posting the wisdom of a great teacher. It’s amazing how it fits today’s blog (and our time) like a glove. i have not checked the astrology of 1948 yet, but there must be a connection there to be found.
be: Thank you. If my service fascinates you and provokes thought, it is only to return the favor that you so generously and continuously bestow on all of us. You once again prove yourself to be master of both the Sibly chart and the yod composed aspect. As far as how to interpret Juno at the apex of the yod you describe, it may very well have to do with women in the USA finding their collective political voice and connected clout just as we all need for that to happen. Thank you for sharing the Liz Greene insights regarding Apollo as well.
Strawberry: It is a joy to know you found the joy of laughter through my service. Thank you for your kind appraisal as well.
aword: Thank you again for sharing how (as is so true) the transits really do light up your unique nativity. The line dance is not something i have any experience with, but you relate it so well as to help me understand without difficulty – an excellent metaphor it is.
Jann: So very well put as regards your own transits, with your own excellent brand of humor – thank you.
wandering_yeti: Thank you again for the true wisdom of your teachings, which resonate as deeply as your cogent characterizations. You may be in Portland, but you are a national treasure.
Hey Yeti- Facia in a bunch indeed. And fascia organizes around the energies of suffering, mine tonight was a story so old in my ancestry it belonged to no one in particular, but there is was hiding within.
My friend called it “Jekyll & Hyde” energy, the quick turn to anger, expressing an energy that lived through the family line, an energy that has largely been resolved under this full moon, and I hope the requisite preparation Len alerted us to. So important for me to not identify with the energy within, not mine, not anyone’s, but a line that could be cut, a chain of karma no longer binding souls to suffering.
Now my body feels new, the so deeply familiar pattern of “Jekyll & Hyde” cannot be found, in the wake of the departure is stillness. Peace.
Blessings to each of you from the City of Heat.
To put it into more focus last night I rode the wave of the full moon by showing up at an open mic even though my monkey mind wanted to avoid all the people. Monkey mind chattered a lot, but I’m starting to get past listening to his advice and acting on it. My fear of just being another guy with a guitar was monkey shit: good compost, bad food. The truth was that the similarity of the cats who showed up last night began and ended with our choice of instrument. Everyone had their own voice, their own frequency. I found remaining shreds of my desire to compete turning to dust as I realized that we were a constellation of stars, enough space for everyone to shine. The level of competition still exists of course, but instead of being the default and only POV it coexists with the softer wide angle view.
I used to torture myself by looking down on other people’s mistakes, or what I saw as a lack of musical skill. More monkey shit. I realize that this is the teenage trance, or particularly the authoritarian teenager trance: as strong man authoritarians look down on mistakes, childishness, clumsiness, and not knowing- that is Beginner’s Mind- the teenagers in authoritarian mindspace look down on the children they used to be. I think this is something I’m learning from Portland: people really appreciate the effort around here and you’ll get more respect for being clumsy and brave than being agile and an arrogant dick about it.
In the wide angle view there is no competition; only different stars in different phases of the dance of changes.
Underwear in a bunch? Ha! Nice one. Or fascia in a bunch, untwisting unwise ghost moves so my heart can see clear. Head lolling forward points the head’s main gate away from the zenith and breaks clear reception from the heart shining below and the gut below that. Enough teenage zombie drama! A thousand excuses to fade away instead of show up and shine, all of them monkey shit. Good compost, bad food.
Tr Sun opp N Jupiter in Aries. . .Tr Lilith conj N Lilith and Uranus in Cancer. . .Tr Sun square N Chiron, at 1 Capricorn. . .Hmm. . .means Narcissus is conjunct N Chiron. . . Tr Mercury conj N Neptune in Libra. . No line dancing here. . .cardinal square dancing more like it, all lit up with edgy elbows. Enough of the natal navel gazing. I think I’ll cover the bathroom mirror.
And that, folks, would be the twisted shorts . . .
Thank you as ever, dear Len, for a straightened perspective on the bunched planets.
JannKinz
Be,
Speaking of Apollo, transiting Magnalena and Hades are conjunct natal Apollo (who is natally sextile Hades)
And transiting Apollo is on natal Pluto (surely there’s something to that Yod with Juno) plus transiting Juno is smack dab in the middle of transiting Pluto and my natal Sun.
I dare say, this shines even more light on the weekend’s line-dance ‘n’ party!
Thanks, as always, for your grand additions to our daily astrology lessons!
Such a poet, indeed you are Len, over and over again, as the wheel goes ’round.
And as the wheel goes ’round, as always the aspects are on me like extra lights on an overly decorated Christmas tree. For a very few that relate to today’s communal aspects:
As the Sun enters Libra, she will oppose natal Lilith and square natal Narcissus
Of course, this means a “Narcissus return”.
Meanwhile Narcissus and Narcissus are sextile natal Sun.
And the entry of Narcissus into Cap is by way of his recent line-dancing with my late Sag stellium (Vertex, Achilles, Kassandra, Borassisi, Saturn /GC)
Which could symbolize a lot of stuff bunching up like might be apt to happen during a line dance at a wedding – but with your poetry in motion, I’ll keep the line moving — ah! here it is! Panacea at 22 Sagg, part of the line-dance stellium but semi-sextile Bacchus in Cap! So the dance will be gay, but perhaps not get out of step.
Meanwhile, as is the theme of any line-dance…relax into it, being in step – and staying un-bunched. Sounds like a good weekend.
Thanks, Len!
Seriously Len? “panties in a bunch?” That’s awesome. I nearly spit coffee all over the place the first time I read that. From laugh-out-loud to soberingly poignant in a few quick, easy steps–the sheer agility of your prose is a thing of beauty. Thank you for, once again, leading by example. I am in awe. And still laughing.
Your subjects always fascinate me Len. They DO cause me to think thoughts other than what was on my mind, but sometimes they dovetail (your subjects) with some recent observation I’ve had. Such in-sync moments compel me to comment on them (no such thing as a coincidence maybe) so here goes.
I had wondered (after seeing a commercial on TV of a silhouette of a man looking down at his own palm which held, presumably, a device delivering him information) how many people in public places are just too self-conscious to be seen alone, so want to appear to be engaged with another via cell phone. If so, wouldn’t that qualify as having your consciousness in a bunch? Just curious; probably most people really do need to use their walk-time to communicate or receive some important info ASAP. Still, I wonder.
Speaking of the Sun symbolizing consciousness, Liz Greene says Apollo too symbolizes consciousness, not as the Sun but as the carrier of the Sun. The Greeks felt the Sun was “remote and untouchable” but they could relate personally to the god who drove the Sun across the sky. The Eclipse on Sunday has asteroid Apollo at 3+ Virgo and opposite Neptune at 3+ Pisces, which looks to be another call for balance between consciousness and unconsciousness (like the full moon today).
Apollo in the Eclipse chart also is sextile Hades and Magdalena at 3+ Cancer in something of a team effort to get the U.S. Sibly Venus (also at 3+ Cancer) to tackle something unpleasant, possibly biblically related. Liz Greene says Apollo was known for breaking “family curses” and I can’t help but wonder (again) about some of the U.S. family curses that this might apply to. This eclipse chart has Apollo, Hades + Magdalene (+ U.S. Venus) forming a yod with Juno at 3+Aquarius, with Juno at the apex, but I’m at a loss as to what that might mean. Something to do with married women or the disenfranchised maybe. Any ideas?
be
http://www.astro.com/astrology/in_sungod_e.htm
Reflecting these equinox themes of necessary adjustment is a talk on the causes of war made by Jiddu Krishnamurti. Speaking to an audience in Bangalore, India during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947-1948, which had erupted in the aftermath of the partition of India, Krishnamurti emphasized that “To put an end to outward war, you must begin to put an end to war in yourself.”
As always, thanks, Len, for your inspired insights.
—————–
War is the spectacular and bloody projection of our everyday life, is it not? War is merely an outward expression of our inward state, an enlargement of our daily action. It is more spectacular, more bloody, more destructive, but it is the collective result of our individual activities. Therefore, you and I are responsible for war and what can we do to stop it? Obviously the ever-impending war cannot be stopped by you and me, because it is already in movement; it is already taking place, though at present chiefly on the psychological level. As it is already in movement, it cannot be stopped- the issues are too many, too great, and are already committed. But you and I, seeing that the house is on fire, can understand the causes of that fire, can go away from it and build in a new place with different materials that are not combustible, that will not produce other wars. That is all that we can do. You and I can see what creates wars, and if we are interested in stopping wars, then we can begin to transform ourselves, who are the causes of war.
An American lady came to see me a couple of years ago, during the war. She said she had lost her son in Italy and that she had another son aged sixteen whom she wanted to save; so we talked the thing over. I suggested to her that to save her son she had to cease to be an American; she had to cease to be greedy, cease piling up wealth, seeking power, domination, and be morally simple – not merely simple in clothes, in outward things, but simple in her thoughts and feelings, in her relationships. She said, “That is too much. You are asking far too much. I cannot do it, because circumstances are too powerful for me to alter.” Therefore she was responsible for the destruction of her son.
Circumstances can be controlled by us, because we have created the circumstances. Society is the product of relationship, society changes; merely to rely on legislation, on compulsion, for the transformation of outward society, while remaining inwardly corrupt, while continuing inwardly to seek power, position, domination, is to destroy the outward, however carefully and scientifically built. That which is inward is always overcoming the outward.
What causes war – religious, political or economic? Obviously belief, either in nationalism, in an ideology, or in a particular dogma. If we had no belief but goodwill, love and consideration between us, then there would be no wars. But we are fed on beliefs, ideas and dogmas and therefore we breed discontent. The present crisis is of an exceptional nature and we as human beings must either pursue the path of constant conflict and continuous wars, which are the result of our everyday action, or else see the causes of war and turn our back upon them.
Obviously what causes war is the desire for power, position, prestige, money; also the disease called nationalism, the worship of a flag; and the disease of organized religion, the worship of a dogma. All these are the causes of war; if you as an individual belong to any of the organized religions, if you are greedy for power, if you are envious, you are bound to produce a society which will result in destruction. So again it depends upon you and not on the leaders – not on so-called statesmen and all the rest of them. It depends upon you and me but we do not seem to realize that. If once we really felt the responsibility of our own actions, how quickly we could bring to an end all these wars, this appalling misery! But you see, we are indifferent. We have three meals a day, we have our jobs, we have our bank account, big or little, and we say, “For God’s sake, don’t disturb us, leave us alone”. The higher up we are, the more we want security, permanency, tranquility, the more we want to be left alone, to maintain things fixed as they are; but they cannot be maintained as they are, because there is nothing to maintain. Everything is disintegrating. We do not want to face these things, we do not want to face the fact that you and I are responsible for wars.
You and I may talk about peace, have conferences, sit round a table and discuss, but inwardly, psychologically, we want power, position, we are bound by beliefs, by dogmas, for which we are willing to die and destroy each other. Do you think such men, you and I, can have peace in the world? To have peace, we must be peaceful; to live peacefully means not to create antagonism.
Peace is not an ideal. To me, an ideal is merely an escape, an avoidance of what is, a contradiction of what is. An ideal prevents direct action upon what is – which we will go into presently, in another talk. But to have peace, we will have to love, we will have to begin, not to live an ideal life, but to see things as they are and act upon them, transform them. As long as each one of us is seeking psychological security, the physiological security we need – food, clothing and shelter – is destroyed. We are seeking psychological security, which does not exist; and we seek it, if we can, through power, through position, through titles, names – all of which is destroying physical security. This is an obvious fact, if you look at it.
To bring about peace in the world, to stop all wars, there must be a revolution in the individual, in you and me. Economic revolution without this inward revolution is meaningless, for hunger is the result of the maladjustment of economic conditions produced by our psychological states – greed, envy, ill-will and possessiveness.
To put an end to sorrow, to hunger, to war, there must be a psychological revolution and few of us are willing to face that. We will discuss peace, plan legislation, create new leagues, the United Nations and so on and on; but we will not win peace because we will not give up our position, our authority, our money, our properties, our stupid lives. To rely on others is utterly futile; others cannot bring us peace. No leader is going to give us peace, no government, no army, no country. What will bring peace is inward transformation which will lead to outward action.
Inward transformation is not isolation, is not a withdrawal from outward action. On the contrary, there can be right action only when there is right thinking and there is no right thinking when there is no self-knowledge. Without knowing yourself, there is no peace.
To put an end to outward war, you must begin to put an end to war in yourself. Some of you will nod your heads and say, ” I agree”, and go outside and do exactly the same as you have been doing for the last ten or twenty years. Your agreement is merely verbal and has no significance, for the world miseries and wars are not going to be stopped by your casual assent. They will be stopped only when you realize the danger, when you realize your responsibility, when you do not leave it to somebody else. If you realize the suffering, if you see the urgency of immediate action and do not postpone, then you will transform yourself; peace will come only when you yourself are peaceful, when you yourself are at peace with your neighbour.”
– Jidda Krisnamurti, 1948, second public talk, Bangalore, India; Collected Works of J. Krishnamurti, Vol V.
Thank you Len!
I appreciate your wisdom! Anyone can have knowledge…requires a little extra for wisdom!
Peace and love,
Patricia
Thank you, Len. I think the first adjustment i shall make is to my sleeping and waking patterns. I’m going to aim for asleep at night and awake in the day – just for a change! nilou