The Interior Realization

One of Krishnamurti's titles was or is "The Urgency of Change" and in thinking about this book, I thought of that idea. We feel the possibility of an inner life that never gets under way as our time is stolen by necessary pretenses and ordinary activities, love and hate, and the demands of the more powerful. So this inkling is buried and lost like the seed that landed in the sand. Still, there is a sense that ordinary life could be immensely different if it were experienced in greater depth. Dr. Benoit pursued the study of this great change within, primarily in the study of the Vedanta and early Chan teachers, some interaction with Gurdjieff in Paris, and through personal suffering. This was his last book and is quite brief and deceptively simple. It's a good book in concert with others; by itself, I don't think it will make much of an impression. It is also necessary to have tried to meditate and make efforts of awareness. It's not a book to read to pass the time on a long flight. Dr. Benoit's assertions about God and man and what his real possibilities are goes directly against what a great many people have said, written and thought. If he is right, a great many people are wrong. I think he's right. At the same time, early on he reminds us that the Divine is inexpressible on our level, that any assertion about anything is partial. So he can never be absolutely right. He can be more right than some. There are degrees of rightness. For me, his work has been a Godsend. This book and The Supreme Doctrine have been among the most important books of my life. I've read lots of books. Both texts are contained in The Light of Zen in the West, a translation by Graham Rooth, which I highly recommend, despite the awkward title. Many ideas are touched on, but I think the most important is that a consciousness beyond this state of worry and pride does exist for which one feels a great nostalgia: hence the urgency. Of course, it is an urgency for a state in which you're calm and aware of what you're doing.

If you have read Zen and the Psychology of Transformation and found it a very difficult read, try this. I found the former filled with much good pointing, but the structure of the sentences and the paragraphs that seem to go on for pages extremely challanging. This is a much smaller book, but powerful nonetheless. This is a much more friendly read. Part one will tie your mind in knots as he expalains the Divine Trintarian Unity, but there is a lot of really good teaching in the latter 3/4 of the book. He, in a different way, says many of the things that Nisargatta, Ramana Maharashi, Hui-Neng and Huang Po, etc. have tried to point out to those of us who, hang onto closely held beliefs that prevent "us" from seeing our true nature. As Benoit says, "Illusory opinions will remain the object of unquestioned beliefs because they are considered unconsciously as being incontestable." This book will help you as Nisargatta has said "question your most closely held beliefs."