“Can freedom come from control? The very nature of bondage is control, and yet most of us seek freedom through greater and greater control in our lives. Is there a link between psychological suffering and the pervasive need to feel that we are in control?” J.Krishnamurti

I want to maintain a sense of control in my life: in relationship either with myself or over others. Does this deep desire bring stability, success and peace; or does it guarantee a life of psychological struggle, conflict and contradiction?

In our in depth inquiry over 5 days we shall be closely examining the facts about the need for control in our lives. Furthermore, we shall also need to look very carefully at what lies – often concealed – behind our automatic reactions. Are we ourselves exercising control, or is thought itself running the impulses unbeknown to us?

In order to discover these hidden desires for control, we must be very honest and meet the inquiry with absolutely no prior conclusions. Can there be attention to perception that is already shaped by and formed in thought? Does this thinking camouflage in our everyday minds as safely, fulfilment, achievement and order?

Our approach to the investigation will involve the actuality of our controlling natures to be central to this very inquiry. We cannot achieve  freedom from control whilst remaining caught up in its very matrix. Am I, the controller, different from the controlled?

The deeper implication is that I cannot come to this group expecting results without a direct confrontation with – as well as an awareness of – the immediate nature of my own psyche. I cannot discover freedom from control without utterly facing the truth of my own psychological confinement.

Facilitator

Jackie McInley founded and ran an independent Krishnamurti centre called Open Door in Southern France from 2004 until 2013 – hosting monthly inquiry weekends and annual international gatherings in French and English. She organized an experimental David Bohm bi-monthly dialogue meeting for 4 years in a local market town, and later a Krishnamurti dialogue group in the city of Toulouse.

A former self-employed, foreign language and theatre teacher by profession (schools, higher education and business), she now organises and facilitates inquiry events, gatherings and retreats in a variety of countries and cultures around the world. She also visits, facilitates dialogues and gives talks in the Krishnamurti Foundations, centres & schools in USA, UK and India.

Jackie does not follow any particular spiritual teaching but is deeply interested in the investigative talks & dialogues of J.Krishnamurti as a mirror and friend to her own constant inner inquiry.