One
Can I live in this mad world
without effort?
One of the most difficult things to learn about is communication. The word
implies that we share together a common factor, think together about a problem;
not merely receive, but share together, create together. The word implies all that:
taking a common factor that all of us have and examining it closely, which means
sharing together. So we are going to talk things over together, which means that
you are sharing the problem, not merely receiving; not arguing, agreeing, or
disagreeing, but examining together. Therefore it is as much your responsibility
as the speaker’s. You have to share in what we are talking about because it is a
problem that touches all human beings, whether they live in America or in Russia
or where you will. The problem is a question of change.
As one travels around the world, one sees everywhere one common thing—
that there must be a tremendous revolution. Not a physical revolution—not
throwing bombs, not shedding blood, not revolt—because every physical
revolution inevitably ends in a bureaucratic dictatorship or the tyranny of the
few. This is a historical fact that we don’t even have to discuss. But what we
have to talk about together is inward revolution. We cannot possibly go on as we
are psychologically. There must be vast, profound changes, not only in the
outward structure of society but also in ourselves, because the society in which
we live, the culture in which we have been brought up, is part of us. The social
structure, the culture, is what we have created. So we are the culture and the
culture is us. We are the world and the world is us. If you are born in a particular
culture, you represent that culture. You are a part of it, and to change the
structure of that culture you have to change yourself.
A confused mind, a mind that is ideologically inclined or has deep
convictions, cannot possibly alter or bring about a change in the social structure
because the actor himself is confused. Therefore whatever he does will result in
confusion. I think that is fairly clear. That is, you are the world, not in
abstraction, not as an idea, but in actuality. You are the culture in which you live.
You are the world and the world is you. And if you change the whole social
structure—and it needs changing—out of your confusion, out of your bigotry, out
of your petty, narrow, limited ideals and convictions, what you produce will be
further chaos, further misery.
So our problem is, Is it possible for the human mind to undergo a radical
change, a change that is not an analytical process, not over time, but rather an
instant change? Is it possible for the human mind, that is, for us, to bring about