To see that ‘truth is a pathless land’, you must have a free mind; your mind must be inquiring, asking, doubting. To doubt is a most dangerous thing for most people – to question whether our systems really do help or have they become rackets? Whoever the racket is introduced by, it is still a racket. When they offer systems and you accept them, you are enclosed, safe and protected – you feel that. Most people want to be protected, psychologically, and so systems are very popular. Institutions have not saved man – politically, religiously – never really freed man from his sorrow, pain and so on. We know all that, but systems have an extraordinary appeal to the thoughtless. If anybody says, ‘There is no path’ – which has got such great beauty and strength in it – you reject it because you are accustomed to systems; you feel safe and protected. From an interview by Michael Mendizza, Ojai, 20 April 1982 Read more |