On Dialogue

If I say I am going to look into my mind but I don’t consider my assumptions, then the picture is wrong because the assumptions are looking. That is a common problem of introspection. You say, “I am going to look at myself inwardly,” but the assumptions are not looked at – the assumptions are looking.

What is called for is not suppressing the awareness of anger, nor suppressing nor carrying out its manifestations, but rather, suspending them in the middle at sort of an unstable point – as on a knife-edge – so that you can look at the whole process. That is what is called for.

suggest that there is a possibility for self-awareness of thought – that the concrete, real process of the movement of thought could be self-aware, without bringing in a “self” who is aware of it. “Proprioception” is a technical term – you could also say “self-perception of thought,” “self-awareness of thought,” or “thought is aware of itself in ac

The word leisure has a root meaning “emptiness” – an empty space of some sort – an empty space of time or place, where there is nothing occupying you. You might begin by looking at nature, where there are minimal distractions.

Thought lacks proprioception, and we have got to learn, somehow, to observe thought. In the case of observing the body, you can tell that observation is somehow taking place – even when there is no sense of a distinct observer. Is it possible for thought similarly to observe itself, to see what it is doing, perhaps by awakening some other sense of

It has to be emphasized, however, that as long as a paradox is treated as a problem, it can never be dissolved. On the contrary, the “problem” can do nothing but grow and proliferate in everincreasing confusion. For it is an essential feature of thought that once the mind accepts a problem, then it is appropriate for the brain to keep on working un

two further aspects of dialogue – the notion of shared meaning within a group, and the absence of a preestablished purpose or agenda.

Normally we don’t see that our assumptions are affecting the nature of our

Practically all of what has been called nature has been arranged by thought. Yet thought also goes wrong somehow, and produces destruction. This arises from a certain way of thinking, i.e., fragmentation. This is to break things up into bits, as if they were independent. It’s not merely making divisions, but it is breaking things up which are not r