way of living, the misery, the confusion, the agony, and so you act mechanically.
You must be serious. Life demands it, because life is a battle, a misery, a
confusion, and if there is to be a different kind of world, one must be very, very
serious.
In our so-called search we get caught by so-called gurus. They offer systems,
methods about how to reach enlightenment, how to reach something which they
call God or whatever it is. Now, when you have a system, a method, a practice,
doesn’t it imply that there is a fixed end? “Do these things and you will achieve
that.” “That” is already known and fixed! So, there are many, many systems, as
though truth, whatever you may like to call “that,” is a fixed state, and once you
have achieved it, all the troubles are over. Therefore practice, do this and you’ll
get that. This is one of your pet problems, and you will find it awfully difficult to
give it up.
Is it logical that a system will lead you to reality? Think it out logically first.
System implies a method, a practice, a process through which you will come to
reality. Process implies time. A process implies a mechanical cultivation of habit
and therefore constant conflict between what is and what should be. Process
implies distorting the mind, not understanding the whole structure and the nature
of the mind, which is thought. That is, we think that through a process, through
time, gradually we’ll arrive at something that is already there, fixed. Now, is
truth something that is permanent that is there for you to capture, or is it
something that’s living and therefore it has no path to it? Therefore it demands
constant observation, perception of everything that is happening inwardly and
outwardly—which is non-mechanical.
You know that there are many roads to the station, and the station is
permanently fixed there, unless, of course, there is an earthquake or a bomb or
something takes place. The many systems offer ways to get to the station, and
people are so gullible, so greedy, that they want this thing which they call truth
without inquiring deeply into whether truth is a static thing. The religious mind is
free from all practice, from all systems, from all organized thought.
One day a man was walking along the street and instead of looking at the
beautiful sky he was watching the pavement as he went along. Then he saw in
the distance something very brilliant. He walked rapidly toward it, picked it up,
and looked at this extraordinary thing, and he was in a state of beatitude because
it was so extraordinarily beautiful. So, he looked at it and put it in his pocket.
Behind him two people were walking. One of them said to the other, “What was
it that he picked up? Did you see his expression? What ecstasy he was in by the
very act of looking at that thing!” The other, who happened to be the Devil,
replied, “What he picked up was truth.” His friend said, “That’s very bad
business for you then, isn’t it?” The Devil said, “Not at all! I am going to help
him to organize it.”
And that’s what we have done with these extraordinary things called systems,
methods, practices, and all the concentration camps that the gurus have offered.
So a mind that is seeking truth—sorry, that is inquiring into the nature of truth—
must be free totally from all organized pursuit, all organized practice, all
organized inquiry.
michael s
(Michael S)
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