Inward Revolution Bringing About Radical Change in the World

We are going to observe, understand together the immense problem of living,
of existence, which is to understand the complex relationships between human
beings. Because without laying the right foundation in relationship, in our daily
relationship with others, without having a right basis, we cannot possibly go
beyond. A person who is really serious must inevitably lay the foundation for
understanding this relationship, a foundation based not on an idea or a conclusion
or the authority of the scriptures or your gurus, but on what you yourself
understand as the meaning and significance of relationship.
You know what is happening not only in the faraway world of America or
Russia or China but also nearer home. There are wars, there are riots, there is
despair, great sorrow, confusion. Fragmentation is going on not only nationally,
religiously, but also inwardly, in ourselves. We are broken-up human beings,
aren’t we? If you observe yourself, you will see how contradictory you are. You
say one thing, you think another, do something else. Nationally, you are
divided—Pakistan and India, Germany and Russia, and America. You know the
political, national divisions, with all their conflicts, with all their ambitions, their
economic competition. In religion, there is the Catholic and the Protestant, the
Hindu and the Muslim, the Buddhist and somebody else. The world around us is
broken up, fragmented, socially, morally, and ethically. Both outwardly and
inwardly we are fragmented, broken-up people.
And when there is division of any kind, there must be conflict. That is a truth.
It is the absolute truth that where there is division outwardly or inwardly, there
must be conflict—Pakistan and India; the Hindu and the Muslim; and in
ourselves, the observer and the observed, the thinker and the thought. So where
there is division, there must be conflict. And a mind in conflict must inevitably
be distorted, and therefore it cannot possibly see clearly what truth is. This is
logic, reason. We are afraid to exercise reason, logic, because we think that is
something that is not spiritual; but if you do not know how to reason clearly,
objectively, impersonally, healthily, you cannot possibly have a mind that is very
clear.
It is a fact that human beings right throughout the world have created a
morality that is no longer moral, a culture that is corrupt, a society that is
degraded. This is a fact with which you cannot either agree or disagree, because
it is so. You observe in this country what is going on: the decadence, the
immorality of society, the various divisions linguistically, tribally, in religion. If
you observe very closely and clearly, you will see that you have thousands of
gurus, each saying his system, his method, leads to truth, to enlightenment, to
bliss, to whatever he promises. And if you observe closely again, you will see
how tradition has distorted your minds, how you accept the religious books as
though they are the complete truth. It is a fact that there is division, that religion,
which should bring people together, has brought about separation, conflict,
misery.
Seeing all this, not from the description of the speaker, but actually seeing it
in our own life, what can we do? What is the right action? There is this great
sorrow in the world. The word sorrow isn’t just a word; there is great misery,
poverty. Man has become mechanical, and he will follow any leader who