Always liked your nick anyway.

Glad it helped you!

Cheers!

The brain is a powerful and mostly untapped organ.

Unlocking even just a few of it's drawers can be very rewarding indeed.

I've explored various techniques of higher being over the years.

Cannabis and music work for me.

Because the vast majority of people do not wish to explore in this way. I am one of them.

I like to have a few pints of ale, and I smoke cigarettes. I have never taken any mind altering drugs. I won’t even touch pot. I am relatively happy with my puny little mind just the way it is, thank you. Just like the vast majority of normal, day to day living, hard working, family raising, under the cosh human beings.

You are right that there are some cultures where prescription drugs are an issue, and by this I take it to mean antidepressants. The latest figures from the UK show that 26% of the population had prescription drugs last year. Of these, 17% were on antidepressants, so the 40% you quote sounds to me like one of Friede’s statistics, i.e. a tad overblown. It is here more like 4% of the populace. Of the remaining 96%, an even smaller proportion will be hooking tabs, injecting junk, or snorting coke up their hooters, although the proportion of those regularly smoking dope will be a lot higher.

I believe in God. My wife practices Reiki healing techniques, and both of us are very interested in the spiritual side of both ourselves and wider humanity. Being rather dull, though, neither of us feel the need to get off of our trolleys in order to do so. Very boring, I know.

I did read your original post, but chose not to respond, because I have very little interest or sympathy in such matters. Without wishing to come across as po-faced or judgmental, I personally find the need to get off of one’s head constantly pretty weak and pathetic. However, being the freedom loving chap I am, whatever floats your boat is my motto.

Let me give a suitably pompous/pretentious answer being that this is progarchives.  Maybe the people responding here, myself included, don't belong to those sections of population.  Maybe, contrary to the critics' constant lampooning of prog, it helps fill up our lives and keeps us sane.  Whatever.  I know that's absolute nonsense but to echo what Steve said, I don't particularly set store for other means to alter one's mental state either.

Let's see, I try not to gloat because this has been a very difficult year for many people.  I have had challenges on the work front too but was never without employment and have retained my job into the last month of the year.  Who knows what tomorrow will bring, maybe something could happen to get me fired but I will face it.

In the meantime:

1) Living in Mumbai which like New York has lots of public transport and terrible traffic, I never bothered to learn to drive all these years. I did during the covid lockdown and just in the nick of time because they started calling us once, twice and now thrice a work in the workplace and I am able to drive back and forth in rush hour traffic. 

Just a little sample of what driving in Mumbai looks like:

2) I used this period to invest both in terms of equipment and technical training in my singing (and also my father who also likes to sing).  I won't say who but I received a wonderful voice lesson from a Broadway legend.  The lockdown had her twiddling her thumbs, presumably, and she used the time to offer lessons so I got lucky.  May not have happened in a different year. 

3) Spent a lot more time with family because of these circumstances. 

Like I said, I recognize that I am very fortunate to be in this position and I don't want to gloat.  I laid out all of the above only to make the point that it's not a given that ALL of us need or seek help or intervention of some form.  Life has its ups and downs but mostly I am sorted, thank you very much. Tomorrow if it throws me a curveball, I will face it.

I am, and have been for many years, an avid reader of a lot of things that lead to the areas that you mention and help one's inner constitution. However, I had to work 40/50 hours or more weekly to support myself and be able to spend more time in the areas that I love so much ... 

I was born into a time of movies, classical music and theater, and then rock music showed up! My tendencies tend towards what a lot of people consider "weird" and "strange" because it is not of the cookie cutter variety and definitely not of the top ten variety of diet pills that you go buy in the supermarket!

To this end, when I started reading Carlos Castaneda, I realized quite quickly that it was not about all the dope visuals that were being described ... it was about the perception of it all, and most people got stuck in the drug fueled ideas and visions, and then a few years later ... they got upset when don Juan said to Carlos when he asked if drugs were needed ... "of course not you idiot, but we had to give you something to get you to shut up and see something else!". A bit blunt, but to the point and I had no ideas about it, and felt that it was an important lesson ... it was at that time that I was trying out a little of the colorful stuff, but I was not a grass smoker (never have been!) and was not interested in the harder stuff whatsoever. The psychedelics were attractive because I was very well read on a lot of literature going all the way back to Levi, Crowley, Fortune, Rampa, Gurdjieff, and many others, and they all showed a sort of visual thing that everyone seemed to be afraid of around me ... tripping on the music in the West Coast (before the big place went out in SF), was cool, but I found out realy quick that it was mindless and for the most part many of these folks were simply trying to hide from their daily grind ... and I knew from the visualizations that it should not be mindless and HAD TO CONNECT to the outer person ... not escape from it.

That I was into the visual arts, like theater and film, was no surprise. I saw in them an outlet for a lot of imaginary stuff and how it was interpreted and it is in these things that I have dedicated my efforts, though these days I mostly write ... with one exception ... I have in the past couple of years developed an uncanny ability to write a "novel" in my half/dream state and have finished many of them, although I have not (and likely will not do so!) write any of them down in reality. The continuity was awesome ... for example ... when things only got so far on one night, the next night I could continue from that exact moment ... and this taught me something about the writing thing when you can't come up with anything ... and the story moves on like there was no break. Nothing missing in the "set" (for example) or the conversation. No "lag" in the story which showed that you continued it three months later and the feeling is now different.

I have been writing a massive document on these things, and am not in a condition to describe it, or explain it YET ... but it is about developing some of these moments into something valuable and useful ... WITHIN AN ARTISTIC ATMOSPHERE. 

Many folks here have seen me describe, non stop, details having to do with improvisation and other moments, many of which are defined through a lot of my inner "spiritual" studies. Some of these details are scary for many, specially musicians that have an idea that all music is dependent on the notes ... not anything else ... doesn't say much about how music was created, does it ... but these same folks don't consider that music ... they consider that child-less-ness. You have to know this and that and this and that ... and in the end, the truth is ... you REALLY DON'T ... you just have to experience it, as you describe ... and the sad fact is that many folks here are not willing to do so, based on their cozy situations ... I'm not finger pointing ... I would rather use that finger with paints on a canvas, see? So a comment here is not necessary about anyone. 

Such an awesome post....

Of all the drugs we're talking about I only drank some alcohol, terribly strong green tea and I must say that being very tired, sleeping little is probably the cheapest and the most effective drug of all. 

Anyway, as an Eastern Orthodox Christian, as a religious man, I know and see that any earthly, material addiction is not a good thing, at all. 

Did someone train you? or you learnt it by internet?

Tell us a bit more about it, what does it consist in exactly.

TX

Perhaps you experienced an expansion of your consciousness?

I am actually afraid to be totally open to an unknown, unnamed Higher Force, Higher Power that may bear strange for my ear Indian or Japanese name. I'd rather beieve it is a devilish force than a divine force. It is easier to contact demons than angels - that's my view on the things. 

Speaking of artistic inspiration, sort of channeling - I have experienced it a lot in my life. As I have already written somewhere on the forum, I do NOT play any music instruments - but I DO love making music. For the most part, my attempts are laughable (while certainly listenable for some people in some mood) - at times, I happen to create really professional sequences of several seconds to one minute or so using DAW's or even playing in the smartphone keyboard apps. It may be my very long and dense listening experience (I have like 50,000 mp3 files in my collection), but there may also be a factor of something coming from outside of me. There were cases when I just put several tens of notes in MuseScore DAW virtually randomly - and it produced an unexpectedly charming melody. 

With poems it is even more tremendously evident. I wrote several books of poetry in Ukrainian and Russian. I know very well that sometimes poems just flow, words just appear. Once, the beginning of a poem came to me in the morning when I was still sleeping. Brain activities are miraculous. 

Iain,

Having met Oliver on three occasions (even spending an evening at his place some 10 years ago, reviewing his homebrewed hi-fi system) and knowing of his upper-bourgeois background, unless he's totally changed since, money is not Oliver's concern in these mystical concerns/quests (he was making a good living too).

Yeah, Oliver's mind-bending interests can seem a little tutti fruity, though.

 

There are many ways that people obtain this uplifting feeling, be it yoga, meditation, deep prayer or the like. I can't help but feel that what works for one will not necessarily work for others. There are different keys that unlock doors of different people. I'm glad that oliverstoned has become 'enlightened' but even happier for others that have obtained this feeling of contentment with less effort. I also feel bad for those that never have and never will.

Thanks Steve. That's a very thoughtful and nice reply. My uncle has been exploring the combination of creativity and consciousness and has said similar things. Perhaps one day I will find that key that unlocks my door.

Hi,

They are not the only ones, but (for me) two folks that helped interpret many things.

oliverstoned wrote: ... I've been fascinated by Castaneda for decades, more recently Gurdjeff teachings were another major shock.  ...

Neither is "perfect" ... and if I may say it, the biggest fault in all these studies is us ALWAYS thinking that something has a clue that is going to synthesize our own spiritual side ... this pure and utter bollocks ... since it is an individual trip and you have to find your own clues and your own paths.

Quoting this or that, or even primal this or that, is only helping confusing what you want to know ... you have to study what you have WITHIN ... not look at what you "think" is right or better, outside of yourself ... and this is the greatest clue to the best "teachers" ... they don't tell you something or other ... they help you synthesize your inner side.

oliverstoned wrote: ... But the primal therapy helped me to understand why official freudian psychology doesn't work as it's only trying to suppress the symptoms and is unable to act on the cause which is on the emotional level. In the primal optic, only an emotional catharsis (to make it short) can free you from trauma that caused the neurosis we all suffer from. ...

You're substituting one reason for another! These, in their own right, have nothing to do with your own psychology and you associating yourself with an outside "IDEA" of what things are, only means one thing ... you are afraid to move along properly and correctly and are being spread thin on many paths that are not for you ... the only path that matters is the one you can see and define inside you ... the world of "leaders" and "subjects" is a world that defines the high from the low classes ... the ones who "have it" and the ones who "don't" ... and all you are doing is not realizing that. And thinking that something out there is for you!

oliverstoned wrote: ... All things to which we're identify and that will be lost sooner or later. Thus a feeling of unsecurity and a repressed fear of death in our culture. ...

This is your condition, not mine or pretty much anyone else's, including what you might think as non-believers.

What will be lost is that you wake up and find that all the time you wasted on things that you junked because they didn't work, since you had no clue how to see and tell what would be right or wrong, and you had to go explore in the Akhashi Library for any information to help ... in the end, you never realized that the Akhashi Library ... was YOU ... not a building or a library per se.

wow man..  good to see back around.  Yeah.. I've always thought that drugs were a bit of a crutch. Oh I loved them myself..they are an escape from reality.. and that is what I needed in that point in my life.. but did retain some self awareness that I was using them as a crutch.

see drugs do dim that 'shock' as you called it.. I found mine by walking a very thin line.. and expending a fair number of my 9 lives.. put myself and a mass of Detroit steel into a tree at 90mph and walked away.. got shot.. stabbed..broken bones in many a bar fight...and ended up with nothing more than some sexy scars... but yes.. that is reality man.. and reality is a very beautiful thing and nothing but near death experiences can make the grass greener.. the sky bluer..  you know.. make life more beautiful.

I did eventually move on from self destruction as therapy.. it was discovering the Hindu faith which led to meditation. spiritualism..and all that jazz and it has really centered me out.  I don't have the bad dreams and PTSD I used to have.. and generally can relegate the demons of my past in the deepest parts of my mind.

great post Oliver.. and again.. great to see you around the forum again.

Doing OK, despite the lockdown driving me nuts (both in Bel and NL) and the GF's house renovation project going wrong (her fault at 80%) taking a lot of energy out of me.

Well as for your "spiritual quests", you know that as an atheist, I don't care for such philosophies, but I prefer that direction than churches and doctrines.

I am from India. I know something about Sadhguru and have watched his 'evolution' with both intrigue and dismay. I would dare say his world is a cult and not much better than churches or doctrines. It IS less dangerous, so far, than Rajneesh but essentially an English-speaking cult for the educated and affluent set as Rajneesh was (as opposed to mass cults like the now disgraced Asaram Bapu).  It is less ambitious in targeting wounded corporate warriors and their stress levels as opposed to offering a radical new way of life that embraced everything in excess, from sex to limousines, after critiquing Western civilization for said sin.

However, oliverstoned has the benefit of distance - physical and cultural - from Sadhguru and his teachings and therefore the flexibility to adapt his teachings to his own circumstances.  

The only thing that my home country (Scotland) could really use, rather than your mystical hippy w**k-mongering is a roof. This probably explains the skepticism we extend towards any first world entreaties to

open our minds to the possibility that levitation can be attained in gale force wind conditions. Scottish Rom-Coms would resemble torture porn and our tenderest love songs would make death metal sound conciliatory. Even our national flower (the humble thistle) is technically a weed and if you put one of those in your hair your scalp will bleed. We too have the Glaswegian breathing technique where those who are deemed to be charlatans and sellers of snake oil quackery are asked to hold their breath for say (30 or 40 minutes usually suffices) to make the universe a better place.

Yep, and it is the same here in Land of the Sheep. Throughly bloody miserable and set for the day.

But all kidding aside,  I spent from 1969 to about 1989 reading and practicing various eastern meditative and religious paths inlcuding Vedanta, Zen bench sitting, and various forms of mantra and breath work (hence my avatar). I found it relaxing and interesting ...never reached any state of enlightenment ,but then maybe I was simply not very good at it. I also looked into several western occult traditions including Gurdjieff.

Millions of people use various religious ideas and techniques to achieve some kind of peace..more power to them, but what I learned early on from reading Krishnamurti, Watts, Ram Dass and other wise people is not to 'get attached' to the method of what you are doing...don't let it use you but you use it  to get 'free'.

"The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over ; thus the wise say the path to salvation is hard."

Katha Upanishad

Hi,

This is the hard part of it all ... the "need" to think that what they do is more important than anything else ... and the person saying it, does not even realize, that this is but one small step in the thousands that have to be taken ... but at his pace and idea of it all, he will quit the whole thing in a few months when the baby in the family is born ... and you can't quite find time to meditate (instead of thinking you are the oracle for PA!!!!) ... in order to take your studies another step.

But counting the steps is fruitless, because everyone's internal constitution is different and some can do one thing easier than others and vice versa!

To me, it's what defines a "follower" ... and not a teacher or helper that can assert/verify your own improvement.

As Dr. P. L. Nelson used to say in his lectures 40 years ago ... you create all kinds of boxes to get into (your preferred methods for anything) and then one day, you get to the end and you can't find the box to remove all boxes forever!

Welcome to your mindless mind!

They of course were disappointed that their 'guru' didn't wan't specific followers or a religion around him.

I have read most of Krishnamurti's books many years ago when I was young. They are excellent. And imho are the thoughts of someone who has realized the foolishness of 'organized religion' and attaching oneself to a speciifc dogma or path to the point where one becomes more concerned with the religious dogma, thre actual rules around the techniques, and other aspects missing in the end the point of 'getting free' or achieving what he called 'freedom from the known'.  This can be done with simple meditation and contemplation and with the asking of questions about who you are and why we do what we do.

He said this in 1929:

"I maintain that truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect. That is my point of view, and I adhere to that absolutely and unconditionally. Truth, being limitless, unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organized; nor should any organization be formed to lead or coerce people along a particular path. ... This is no magnificent deed, because I do not want followers, and I mean this. The moment you follow someone you cease to follow Truth. I am not concerned whether you pay attention to what I say or not. I want to do a certain thing in the world and I am going to do it with unwavering concentration. I am concerning myself with only one essential thing: to set man free. I desire to free him from all cages, from all fears, and not to found religions, new sects, nor to establish new theories and new philosophies."

oliverstoned wrote: Are you used to be overwhelmed by joy to the point that tears comes out ? How often do you experience that?

That still happens to me regurlarly, especially when reading/viewing/hearing something very moving or meaningful to me...

but it's nothing to do with spirituality and the use of mind-altering substances is not necessary.

Number of occasions.  When I heard a symphonic orchestra perform Beethoven's Ninth Symphony live in the auditorium.  After the performance, I rushed out to the Marine Drive promenade in Mumbai (the hall is right on Marine Drive) and let the sea breeze envelop me as I gazed at the moonlit sky. I was similarly ecstatic after watching Shakti live or a show of legendary Indian singer Shreya Ghoshal.  I have also similarly been overcome by the beauty of nature on a number of occasions.  While it's not quite as natural as may appear, the first time I saw the Niagara Falls was an overwhelming experience.

Sad ... that someone is not capable of climbing a 1000 steps (or more) to see that the view from the skyscraper at the top is so different from the view at the bottom ... and this guy, is just stuck in one floor and I'm not sure he will ever see the top with its wider view and much larger perspective.

Plain meditations, visions and dreams, are not the end all ... these are the "doorways" to move on ... the issue being that many people find dragons at every doorway (like The Bardo!!!!) ... which is a wonderful analogy for the fear we have to take that next step.

Sad, that this guy does not see the bigger picture and is stuck in his "visual" fields and does not even realize that this is not even the beginning of it all ... but we already know the rest of the story ... usually ... nothing but just some more ashes and atoms for the universe! All else does not matter specially the idea that the mind is greater than the universe!

Hi,

As if a message, or email, or these posts, were any kind of indication as to what is the way that things are.

There is no confusion in my lines, in that I see something that I went through some 30 or 40 years ago, but in my case my English was bad and I could not communicate a lot, so I kept it quiet and wrote instead. Later, I resolved a lot of it in theater and some film ... I sill did not say a whole lot about it.

But I know, that the road is not about one vision, or one feeling ... and you continually supporting that stand, TO ME, shows that you are not ready for the next step, and will have a harder time getting there that you (or I) would like.

I'm not a "new age" floozy ... and if you don't see the clarity in the lines, look in the mirror. You might find something, then!

...it felt like stepping out of this world and into another, more real, more beautiful world; or rather, like lifting an opaque veil that would cover all things, and revealing their divine light in all its splendour, unveiling the endless, numinous beauty which lay within them and suffusing the heart with a childlike joy. In this place, which felt infinitely more real than anything that exists in what we regrettably call the "real world," the sensation of time would vanish, and matter would be transfigured into Spirit; and each tree, each leaf, each flower, each stream, each moss-covered stone would glow with a pearly light, and become alive, and every thing - my own Self included - would reveal itself as being but a reflection, an emanation, of that which even at that time I could only describe as "God." All was a theophany, all was One - and I was one with all; and everything around me was like a sweet, diaphanous, blossoming rose of glimmering twilight, soft and serene, and perfumed with an angel's song. All was bliss - a deep, nostalgic, melancholy bliss of such a nature as I will never be able to put into words - all was Love and light and shade... They were the most ecstatic, achingly beautiful sensations I had ever experienced, and had a profound impact upon my life: not only did they turn me from a radical atheist into a deeply religious person, but they also impacted all of my personal ideological convictions - social, political, economical, moral, aesthetical - which had now, somehow, become certainties. Here was an endless spring of Truth whence I could drink at any time - I needed only to be surrounded by nature (or in any other sacred place, really), to immerse myself in its contemplation, and it would pour forth its waters; and lo, every illusion, doubt, and sorrow would suddenly be dispelled. I have never ceased to have these mystical experiences (for those wondering: no, I have never done drugs), and to this day they have continued to shape my spiritual identity and my relationship with the Divine.

Remember: we who have been blessed to witness Truth in its purest form within our very hearts must never take such a gift for granted, for it does not come from ourselves, but from God, and neither does it belong to the world of matter nor to that of the mind, but to the Soul, to Atman. It is a state of Paradisal bliss, and it is but a reminder of God and a path toward Him.

Oh, please, you don't have to be sorry. First, it comes over as very patronizing; second, really, I'm fine. I just don't believe there is Truth with a capital T, but if someone thinks there is and is happy with that belief, that's fine with me too.

Hey, I just like being nice 

suitkees wrote: You're making your case even worse by stating that "relativist arguments have no place in genuine philosophy", showing that you have missed the boat of a lot of twentieth century philosophy (and 21st, for that matter)

Most 20th and 21th century "philosophy" is actually the opposite of genuine philosophy. It is a love of ignorance, conscious or otherwise.

suitkees wrote: and apparently prefer to remain stuck in a 19th century stance of positivism that believes there is something of an absolute knowledge (the ultimate goal of every science and every religion...). You imply that something has to "conform to Truth" in order to be qualified as knowledge, but the correspondence theory of knowledge is very outdated and simplistic. I suppose you also dismiss everything that epistemology, phenomenology and hermeneutics have brought to philosophy these last 120 years or so, since they will very much shake your foundations of absolutism.

You get me wrong, I am no positivist. I have zero faith in modern "science", nor do I believe that it can get anywhere near Truth; nor am I a rationalist in any way, shape, or form. See, there is a false dichotomy in all these modern ideologies which appear to contradict one another. Underneath their superficial contraditions, all the "-isms" of modernity have the same source and lead to the same end: they begin and end in darkness.

Is the aim of religion to attain absolute knowledge? Well, yes and no. This is really not the appropriate time or place to discuss that though, and it would be pointless.

 

suitkees wrote: I believe in truths! Note the plural! I don't believe in one truth that is the absolute reference for everything; in my opinion that can only lead to dogmatism and extremism.

If the "truths" you believe in are indeed "true", they must either be the whole Truth or fragments, reflections of it. If the "truths" you believe in do not mirror or emanate from the Absolute in any way, they are therefore illusory, necessarily so; and you must accept that fact from a logical perspective, whether or not you are willing to.

By "dogmatism and extremism", do you mean in religion? Dogmas are (or should be) a central component of religion on an exoteric level. However, so-called "religious fundamentalism" stems not from a true understanding of said dogmas, but from the ignorance of their very nature and reason for being. "Religious fundamentalists" take the relative for the Absolute, and either cannot or do not want to realize that on the level of Relativity the Absolute can express Itself in an infinite multiplicity of forms, each one being just as true an expression as the other. Their error is to take the effects for the cause, and the outward for that which is inward.

suitkees wrote: The Italian philosopher, and god-believing Christian, Gianni Vattimo for example wrote a little book that might interest you, was it only to sharpen your counter-arguments if you wish: A Farewell to Truth (2009), with a chapter titled: "Only a relativistic God can save us".

Vattimo is anything but a Christian, and whether or not he claims to be one is irrelevant. I appreciate the recommendation though.

suitkees wrote: You don't have to believe the same thing(s) as I do, we can still make a society. That is: if you accept that I believe something else than you and that you don't want to impose your Truth on me. I accept that you believe in your Truth, I just don't believe in it myself, and I will remain very suspicious towards everything you claim to be Truth or Knowledge...

I admire your tolerance and respect for different beliefs. And don't worry, I am not trying to impose anything on anyone (not the least because Truth cannot be imposed, only comprehended). I dislike engaging in discussions of any kind, and I already regret having engaged in this one, for it could never lead anywhere, and the only good thing that could come out of it would be a better mutual understanding of each other's points of view, something which is really not worth the time and effort. As it is stated in the Quran (109:6), "Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion."

Anyway, hope you have a great weekend! 

Thanks. You too.

For me it is never a waste of time to better understand the reasoning of someone else but there's indeed no point in bringing this further since our views are worlds apart.

We may have more common ground regarding music... 

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound arrogant or to say that I have no interest in understanding your reasoning. I just don't think we could ever reach any sort of consensus on this matter, and when consensus is impossible discussion becomes an exercise in futility.

Krishnamurti was a quite misguided individual concerning many aspects, including this one. Truth is of course "limitless, unconditioned", being in itself synonymous with God. But to claim that it is "unapproachable by any path whatsoever" reveals the profoundest ignorance, not only of the fundamental nature of fallen man and Creation as a whole, as well as of the hierarchy of Divine manifestation and the relationship between the Absolute and the plane (or planes) of relativity, but also of the most basic notions of metaphysics and even of God.

It would be more correct to say that the paths toward Truth are infinite (for an infinite number of lines may link a circumference to its center) than to claim no paths lead to it (which would make Truth absolutely unapproachable indeed) - and this is not by any means to say that every conceivable "path" is a valid one, quite on the contrary.

Spoken like someone who has misunderstood Krishnamurti's point , has chosen a path, and thinks it's the correct one. This of course has biased and distorted the search for 'unconditioned truth'.

I read several of his main books many years ago...and watched a few old videos also back in the 80's.

Some great wisdom and insights into religion, truth ,and non attachment. I don't recall anything about meditation on 'anything' at all. Can you link to a part in a book or a talk that shows this or is this just a sense you got from his ideas?

I don't remember which book I read that in but I think it was a book he wrote on meditation. I just don't know where it is or if I still have it. He basically didn't agree with the idea of meditation being just this thing where you sit still and do nothing. In a sense I agree because if you wash the dishes and only pay attention to the washing aspect and don't let your mind wander in a sense that is sort of a meditation. He just seemed to get a little carried away with that concept though. Unfortunately, like I said, I don't know where that book is. I can send you a pm with more specifics if I find it though. 

Ok...no problem. Meditation and the various types is tricky. There isn't one way only to meditate.

One can us a mantra, or empty mind type, or watching the breath, etc...to me his main point was not to get hung up on a particular religion or path and lose sight of the goal...which was to be free of these things in the end.

There’s only one Truth with a capital T.  There’s only one Singularity... Everything else is just a fragment of the One. 

There is never a separation from the One, only a delusion of it, which is very hard to get rid of.

I have indeed chosen a path (or rather, God has appointed a path for me), but I would never think of it as *the* correct one, as in "the only valid one". To understand what I mean when I say Krishnamurti (whose worldview was fundamentally anti-traditional and intrinsically heretical and profane) was misguided, I highly recommend the book The Fall of Spirituality: The Corruption of Tradition in the Modern World by Julius Evola, as well as the works of authors such as René Guénon (who would most certainly regard Krishnamurty as an agent of what he termed the "counter-initiation") and Frithjof Schuon (particularly his books The Transcendent Unity of Religions, To Have a Center, and From the Divine to the Human).

I have no wish to start a lengthy discussion on this matter, being busy as I am, but I will leave here a couple of relevant excerpts by two genuine philosophers of Tradition, the first being Marco Pallis, who writes:

Krishnamurti (...) must be accounted something of a fringe manifestation of "the new religions" seeing that he himself rejects, as self-imprisoning products of a bad habit of thinking, practically all that the word "religion" covers for an ordinary mind. For him there is no question of revelation, therefore not of tradition either; doctrines or formal elements of any kind which others regard as reliable supports for truth and as its eventual catalysts in the soul are discounted by him as being no more than creations of a wish to feel comfortable and secure; the inter-relationship between Intellect—the intelligence uncreated and untreatable, as Meister Eckhardt put it—and Truth on which all acts of discernment ultimately rest seems to be omitted from Krishnamurti’s calculations so that, for him, the human task reduces itself to a psychological process of self-observation sufficing unto itself, a kind of "art for art's sake" from which all ascertainable finality is a priori excluded as being but one more deception of the arch-enemy "thought" (...).

If Krishnamurti showed good sense in breaking loose from the grotesquely inflated role for which he was being briefed by his Theosophist sponsors—for a young man of spirit, life under their ceaseless battery of adulation must have been terribly boring—one may yet wonder whether, after that, he might not have done better to retire quietly into the fold of his ancestral Hinduism where his remarkable gifts could then have ripened in the normal way, and who can say how far this course might subsequently have taken him? This is only speculation, of course, since in fact the world-stage has continued to be his field of activity: which leaves one with the thought that Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater may, after all, have carried out their briefing more thoroughly than they knew of, even if things did not work out exactly according to plan from their own point of view.

And the second author being Whitall Perry, who addresses the topic of Krishnamurti in his essay Anti-Theology and the Riddles of Alcyone:

Furthermore, either his "message" is timeless, in which case it is madness to believe Krishnamurti the first to promulgate it, or it is not, in which case it is a passing fad without interest. The man is in fact a victim of the very thought conditioning he would reject, being a product of the Brahmanic heritage from which he has deviated. The violence of his reaction against religion is a manifestation even of exactly the sort of antagonism, resistance, opposition, and conflict which he pretends to be rejecting. Moreover, every spiritual anomaly is nothing but the distortion of truth. (...) Krishnamurti's aberration is [a perversion of negative theology and a confusion between the ego and the Self] in a more "Hindu" mode, a distortion of the via negativa (neti, neti) of Advaita Vedanta. If he were a caste Hindu practicing the sadhanas and dharmasastra, he could have an ashram and pursue the Shankaran method of "non identification of the self with the non-Self." For it is perfectly true that the map is not the country it portrays, that spiritual attainment can only be had through a reversal of values, a rupture of habit, a spontaneous immediacy that cannot be "communicated," and hence a "leap into the dark." But these are things that every spiritual master knows.

Short and to the point.