Page 133 - JOURNAL OF THE KRISHNAMURTI SCHOOLS

Don’t look at me! Test it out!

I am still convinced that K is the greatest mind I have met so
far. But there were also the K-people—’K-non-disciples’—as
Christa Winkler, Shyam Shembekar, and I sometimes called them
in a self-ironizing way and not without a touch of sarcasm. I do
miss those two thousand people at the Saanen gatherings. What
a brilliant crowd! They were the most interesting group of human
beings I have ever come across. All colours, all countries, beautiful
lunatics, all sorts of strong and deep personalities—real existen-
tial seriousness from hippies to old-fashioned theosophists, people
to talk to and to learn from, from theoretical physicists like David
Bohm to Zen monks and breeders of the sacred mushroom. Many,
potential friends for a lifetime. I also liked the fusion with nature—
listening to K’s talk one day, getting up at five the next morning with
my friend Wolfram Engelhardt and others to climb the Gummfluh.
Which year was it when it rained nine nights and nine days with-
out a single break, and we almost drowned in the campsite? At one
point even K said, “I am sorry the weather is so foul!” In Saanen
they began to hate those soaking-wet figures, who were starting
to smell and only had money for a single hot chocolate—and then
never wanted to leave. I am grateful to Manfred Schneider and his
wife for so many things, one of them being that they ultimately res-
cued us by organizing some kitchen jobs in Saanenmöser. The size
of the vats of chocolate sauce for the vanilla ice cream was amazing.
After K died, I deliberately kept my distance for some three
decades. I was deeply disturbed when after his death I saw people
continuing to organize ‘gatherings’. But talking to young folks in
Mürren and Ojai a few years ago, I came to understand that for
many of those who come into contact with K’s teachings after his
death, it is crucial to have a place for exchange with like-minded
others. Confronting all the things his teachings make you con-
front can be a lonely business, and it helps to learn about others’
perspectives, about other human beings’ insights and difficul-
ties. I still think, though, that it is important to radically confront

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