Unconditional Freedom

I don’t know if any of you have noticed, early in the morning, the sunlight on the waters. How extraordinarily soft is the light, and how the dark waters dance, with the morning star over the trees, the only star in the sky. Do you ever notice any of that? Or are you so busy, so occupied with the daily routine, that you forget or have never known the rich beauty of this earth- this earth on which all of us have to live? Whether we call ourselves communists or capitalists, Hindus or Buddhists, Muslims or Christians, whether we are blind, lame, well or happy, this earth is ours.

Do you understand? Its our earth, not somebody else’s; it is not the rich man’s earth, it does not belong exclusively to the powerful rulers, to the nobles of the land, but it is our earth, yours or mine.

We are nobodies, yet we also live on this earth and we all have to live together. It is the world of the poor as well of the rich, of the unlettered as well as of the learned. It is our world, and I think it is very important to feel this and to love the earth, not just occasionally on a perfect morning, but all the time. We can feel that it is our world and love it only when we understand what freedom is.

The problems of the world are so colossal, so very complex, that to understand and so to resolve them, one must approach them in a very simple, direct manner. And simplicity, directness, do not to be found through conferences, blueprints, or the substitution of new leaders for the old. The solution obviously lies in the creator of the problem, in the creator of the mischief, of the hate and the enormous mis-understanding that exists between human beings. The creator of this mischief, the creator of these problems, is the individual, you and I… We are the world, and our problems are the world’s problem. This cannot be repeated too often, because we are so sluggish in our mentality that we think of the world’s problems are not our business, that they have to be resolved by the United Nations or by substituting new leaders for the old. It is a very dull mentality that thinks like that, because we are responsible for the frightful misery and confusion in the world, this ever-impending war.

To transform the world, we must begin with ourselves; and what is important in beginning with ourselves is the intention. The intention must be to understand ourselves and not to leave it to others to transform themselves or to bring about a modified change through revolution, either of the left or of the right. It is important to understand that this is our responsibility- yours and mine- because, however small may be the world we live in, if we can transform ourselves, bring about a radically different point of view in out daily existence, then perhaps we shall affect the world at large, the extended relationship with other.

We as human beings separated, isolated, have not been able to solve our problems; although highly educated, cunning, self-centred, capable of extraordinary things outwardly, yet inwardly we are more or less what we have been for thousands of years. We hate, we compete, we destroy each other; which is what is actually going on at the present time. You have heard the experts talking about some recent war; they are not talking about human beings being killed, they are talking about destroying airfields, blowing up this or that. There is total confusion in this world, of which one is quite sure we are all aware; so what do we do? As a friend some time ago told me: “You cannot do anything; you are beating your head against the wall. Things will go on like this indefinitely; fighting, destroying each other, competing and being caught in various forms of illusion. This will go on. Do not waste your life and time.” Aware of the tragedy of the world, the terrifying events that may happen should some crazy person press a button; the computer taking over the man’s capabilities, thinking much faster and more accurately- what is going to happen to the human being? This is the vast problem we are facing.