with Krishnamurti

21-9

The Anchored Mind

We carry on like machines with our tiresome daily routine. How eagerly the mind accepts a pattern of existence, and how tenaciously it clings to it! As by a driven nail, the mind is held together by idea, and around the idea it lives and has its being. The mind is never free, pliable, for it is always anchored; it moves within the radius, narrow or wide, of its own center. From its center it dare not wander; and when it does, it is lost in fear. Fear is not of the unknown, but of the loss of the known. The unknown does not incite fear, but dependence on the known does. Fear is always with desire, the desire for the more or for the less. The mind, with its incessant weaving of patterns, is the maker of time; and with time there is fear, hope, and death.

我們像機器一樣，機械地重複著那令人厭倦的日常生活。頭腦是多麼渴望接受某種生存模式，是多麼頑固地緊抓著這種模式不放！像被釘子固定，頭腦被某種觀念緊箝著，圍繞著這一為生存與存在的觀念。頭腦從未獲得自由或保持靈活，總是被錨定。只能在以自身為中心這個劃定的範圍內 – 無論寬窄 – 活動，不敢偏離這一中心，一旦偏離，便會陷入恐懼之中。恐懼非源自於未知，是源自於失去的「已知」的擔憂。未知本身不會引發恐懼，引發恐懼的是對「已知」的依賴。恐懼是伴隨著慾望而生——也就是那種渴望「更多」或「更少」的冀盼。頭腦不斷編織著各種模式，讓時間為它織造。這時間久了，便隨之產生恐懼、希望與死亡。

這段描述很貼地。

註：插圖Ms Fong