Can there be only sensation, and not thought?

Now, the question is whether there can be a hiatus, a gap; that is, have only sensation, and not let thought come and control sensation. That is the problem. Why does thought create the image and hold on to that sensation? Is it possible to look at the shirt, touch it—sensation—and stop, not allow thought to enter into it? Have you ever tried any of these? When thought enters into the field of sensation—and thought is also a sensation—then thought takes control of sensation, and desire begins. Is it possible to only observe, contact, sensation, and nothing else? And discipline has no place in this because the moment you begin to discipline, that is another form of desire to achieve something. So one has to discover the beginning of desire and see what happens. Don’t buy the shirt immediately, but see what happens. You can look at it; but we are so eager to get something, to possess a shirt, a man, a woman or some status that we never have the time, the quietness, to look at all this.

J. Krishnamurti/Mind Without Measure, pp 19-20

Vincent Carriuolo

Interests: breathing, music, literature, golf, art, snowshoeing, writing, kayaking, meditation, skiing, walking/hiking, theatre (preferably drama), comedy clubs, concerts, art museums, poetry readings, working out and elephant polo at tiger tops, nepal (just seeing if you're still reading). some favorite films: the bicycle thief, dr. strangelove, 81/2, the diving bell and the butterfly, babette's feast, being there, city lights, everything is illuminated and life is beautiful. favorite reads: 100 years of solitude; the short stories of raymond carver; the divine comedy; the power of now; j. krishnamurti's the book of life; the short stories of eudora welty and ethan canin; the poetry of t.s. eliot; matsuo basho and robert frost; the odyssey; the secret language of symbols; a path with heart; zen flesh, zen bones; gift from the sea; siddhartha and anything by: j. krishnamurti; eckhart tolle; jack kornfield; anthony demello s.j.; thich nhat hahn; thomas merton; shunryu suzuki, : meister eckhart; emmett fox and ram dass. play blues harmonica. like color: cobalt blue. like flower: paper white narcissus. last read: one hundred years of solitude (again), quotes: just this. --anon. we don't see things as they are, we see them as we are. --anais inn, a friend of bill w.