A virtual and live, interactive, continuing exploration of J. Krishnamurtiâs life and collected works.
Unconditionally Free Online Course | Starts March 2024 |Two 1-Year Cycles | 12 Live Sessions per Cycle | $288 per 12-Month Cycle
What does "freedom from the known," "truth is a pathless land," and "choiceless awareness," actually meanânot as a conceptâbut rather as direct experience?
"When two people observe with the same intensity, freedom, and clarity, they see the same thing." - Krishnamurti
A sustained, comprehensive exploration of J. Krishnamurti and his insights, unfolding over two years through twenty-four monthly sessions offered in two one-year segments.
This course is open enrollment, allowing participants to join at any time during the course cycle. Upon enrollment, participants gain access to course materials and videos of previous sessions and are seamlessly integrated into the ongoing cycle, ensuring they have access to any missed content and can freely participate in upcoming sessions.
The course is structured as a two-year journey, divided into 24 sessionsâ12 sessions per year. Participants are invited to enroll on an annual basis, with the flexibility to renew their commitment for the second year upon completion of the first. Enrollment is open throughout the year, allowing participants to join at any time within the 12-month cycle. The enrollment fee is $288 per year, covering each 12-month period of participation.
The Unconditionally Free exploration is expertly crafted. The supporting written materials and videos are insightful and inspirational. Through sustained focus on this Exploration over a period of months, I have found Krishnamurtiâs teaching both deep and simple. Michael Mendizza is a skillful facilitator and through his lived experience adds an invaluable dimension to the course. I also appreciate the active participation of my fellow participants. And most importantly, I continue to find new ways to apply the teachings in daily life. My heartfelt appreciation for you making this course possible. â Doug
"Each of the sessions were so rich, but this last one on death and attachment was truly remarkable. Thank you for putting this material together and organizing it so extensively. I look forward to the next go-round." â E.
"From the bottom of my heart, thank you and the KFA for making this online course available. It has been invaluable and richly experiential for me. I am looking forward to the following course in March, and especially to the session on education." â C.
Many come to this body of insights much like we approach other subjects such as studying a painting, mathematics, or history, for example. We listen to the words and think we understand, but the nature and quality of this understanding remain in a small corner of a much larger fieldâabstract, metaphor, intellectual knowing, mental images, or concepts. There may be a different quality of knowing, which is immediate and direct, like plunging into a river.
To perceive directly, not filtered by our mental images or concepts, is what Krishnamurti described as âliving the teachings.â This quality of attention demands a different intensity and a different relationship to words, language, and to what we call thought. The intent of this sustained and immersive experience is to awaken this quality of attention as we collectively examine Krishnamurti's life and teachings.
This exploration views Krishnamurtiâs insights as fractal, not linear. Insight has no beginning or end. âI have only said one thing my entire life, but I have said it a thousand ways,â he said. Being holistic, like a hologram, each part representing the whole, opens enrollment to anyone, at any time in the process.
Two consecutive years, divided into two sets of twelve live monthly sessions.
24 live sessions starting March 13, 2024, until February 18, 2026 â one session per month.
Participants can register at any time during the year for a set of twelve sessions, (the previous live sessions will be available as recorded video.)
Ninety minutes each session: $288 in total for a given 12 months.
Each session involves selected readings (downloadable text) for each session from the books Unconditionally Free, The Life and Insights of J. Krishnamurti and Always Awakening, Buddhaâs Realization Krishnamurtiâs Insight, with Samdhong Rinpoche, plus theme-related selections.
Each session involves a live, recurring international dialogue, questions, commentary, and explorations.
A new, exclusive, themed interview collection of twenty-four, thirty-minute videos summarizing the essential topics of Krishnamurti's collected works, and personal interviews representing an estimated 500 years of intensive personal interactions with "the speaker."
1st Cycle (12 months):
The Religious Mind, Samdhong Rinpoche Part 1-2
Conflict, Evelyne Blau Part 1
Conflict, Michael Mendizza, Part 2
Education, Karen Hesli/Harsh Thanka
Fear, the Illusion of Security, Laura Huxley
Freedom from the Known, Sunanda Patwardhan/ David Shainberg
Happiness, Javier Rodriguez/Michael Kronen
Insight Intelligence, Mary Codogan
The Limitations of Thought, R. Herzberger/ Prof. Krishnanath
Methods, Radha Burnier/Joy Mills or S.P. Kandsswami/F. Grohe
Radical Transformation, Padma Madholkar/Doris Pratt, and Upasani (not dependent on knowledge or time)
No Psychological Becoming
2nd Cycle (12 months):
The Years of Awakening, Mary Lutyens
Conditioning and the Self, David and Saral Bohm
Change, Lana Peters (Stalinâs Daughter) and Ravi Ravindra
Meditation, Mark and Asha Lee Part 1-2
Freedom & Authority, Mary Zimbalist
The Sacred, Bill Quinn, and P. Jajakar
The Self as Violence, Dr. P. Krishna, Part 1-2
Relationship, Satish Inamdar, MD
Choiceless Awareness, Dorothy Simmons and Achyut Patwardhan
Death, Scott Forbes
The above themes speak for themselves. The personal insights and observations shared in each interview do the same. The book Unconditionally Free is equally comprehensive, spanning in sequence, decade by decade, highlights of Krishnamurtiâs talks around the world. Always Awakening provides an essential historical context for the realized state that Krishnamurti invites us to explore.
David Bohm spent a full year reading his first Krishnamurti book. âKrishnamurti uses language in a unique and very specific way,â he said. To grasp what Krishnamurti is saying, one may need a better understanding of his use of language. Like the key or legend on a large map, the Unconditionally Free exploration provides the underlying context that unites all 250,000 pages, all the videos, and collected works into a coherent, and very simple whole.
What to expect
Immersion in selected monthly printable readings from the book Unconditionally Free, The Life and Insights of J. Krishnamurti, Always Awakening, plus theme-related selections.
Reviewing printable transcripts from the new themed interview collection representing essential themes Krishnamurti shared, plus an estimated 500 years of intensive personal interactions with "the speaker."
Ability to view together the themed interview video presentations at the beginning of each monthly session.
Shared dialogue exploring the above with an international group of participants.
Posting questions, thoughts, and observations in an open forum with other participants.
The opportunity to raise and explore related questions with the presenter Michael Mendizza
Who this is for This ongoing exploration is for anyone seriously interested in Krishnamurtiâs life and insights.
The intent of this ongoing exploration is to help each other actually penetrate through the metaphors and the words Krishnamurti used, and experience in oneself what is being described, as a direct experience, what "the speaker" called "living the teachings."
Presenter Michael Mendizza is an educator, documentary filmmaker, and former trustee of the KFA who began investigating Krishnamurtiâs insight in 1974. In 1998, he traveled with Krishnamurti and recorded his talks, resulting in the first major documentary on his life, The Challenge of Change. Michael continued to professionally record Krishnamurtiâs talks for the rest of his life. He then produced an educational series, Beyond Myth and Tradition, and a traveling exhibit, âThe Mind of J. Krishnamurti.â
He also compiled a collection of over 100 first-generation interviews and a five-year, three-continent dialogue with Samdhong Rinpoche. He then edited a large, illustrated book, Unconditionally Free, the Life and Insights of J. Krishnamurti, documenting Krishnamurti's life and insights. And lastly, he blended the essential themes in Beyond Myth and Tradition with highlights from the âFirst Generationâ interviews, in a new series of up to 24 thirty-minute programs.
*Please contact us ([email protected]) if you require financial assistance to enroll in the course.
