Transcription
We will find ourselves with many, many fears. Fear of the dark, fear of life, fear of public opinion, fear of what my neighbor might say, fear of my wife or husband, or girlfriend or boyfriend, fear of insecurity, and when you have economic security, you are afraid you might lose it, fear – we have so many fears. Why have we failed to resolve these fears? The way you resolve the problem of war is by perpetuating war, you have used your minds in preparation for war. The generals on both sides, or in a thousand sides, they are all preparing for war, plans, submarines, airplanes, and so on. They have used their minds to create all these things. But why have they not used the same mind, used it to resolve this tremendous sense of fear? This sense of fear has been with man from the beginning. Why? It means, why do you and the speaker... not inquire into this matter seriously? Just as when you are hungry, when you are ambitious, when you want more money, you become very serious, you work for it. Why have we not inquired into the matter of fear? Those psychologists, those clinicians have explained the causes of fear, explained it in various ways. And can we discard everything they have said, because after all it is only what they have said, and perhaps it is only verbal. They are perhaps as afraid as you are – they might be! I have seen some of these people, and I know they are as afraid as you are, they are afraid of this or that. And why have we failed to resolve this? Is it possible to end fear? We shall inquire into it. Not only use your senses, but use your emotions and your brain, to try to inquire into it, do not escape from it, nor try to rationalize it, but rather to see why we are incapable of resolving it, or allow ourselves to become incapable. What is fear? You know, when there is fear, the natural nature of fear, how it brings about tremors, how your body tightens, how your mind becomes chaotic, almost paralyzed. Do you not know all this? Am I describing something abnormal? It is a fact. It affects your sleep, it affects your daily life, it brings doubt, anxiety, depression, and you cling to something, hoping it will not change, will not bring fear. Either we deal with the root of fear, or we just prune the branches of fear. Right? Is that right? Sir? How do you want to choose? To prune the branches of fear? – Please note, someone is asking this question very seriously, do not disregard what the speaker is asking. Do you want to deal with the branches of fear? We have thousands of fears. It is like a beautiful tree – trees are the most beautiful things, one of the most beautiful things on this earth, it has countless branches, countless leaves; fear is the same, but it is so ugly, it also has countless branches, countless leaves, countless manifestations. Do you want to deal with these? Deal with its manifestations, the superficial things, the external things? Or shall we inquire together into its root? Personally, the speaker does not want to prune the branches, it is futile. So let us find out together what is the cause of fear. We all know all the manifestations of fear. So if we can find the root of fear, then the manifestations of fear will disappear. So what is the source or cause of fear? If someone asks you this question: What is the cause of fear? Will you answer it? Its cause? Or do you expect someone to explain its cause? Explanation is not fact. Right? You can paint a beautiful picture of a mountain, hang it in museums all over the world, but that painting is not a mountain. The word 'fear' is not fear – right? But the word 'fear' might evoke fear. So we are not dealing with its description, dealing with words, but dealing with the deep meaning and power of fear. And we are trying to discover together, not for me to explain and you to accept, but to discover for yourself, so that it becomes your truth, not someone else's truth. You cannot live by someone else's truth, you can only live by truth. So, what is the cause of fear? What is its cause – I will inquire into it. Is it thought? Is it time? Is it thought? Let us look at it. I am living – someone is living at this moment. And thought says, 'Tomorrow I might die,' or 'I might lose my job,' 'My money is in the bank, but the bank might collapse,' 'I am getting along well with my wife, but she might find someone else tomorrow,' 'I published a book, and I hope it will be a great success' – this also means fear. 'I want to be famous' – this is the most childish thing in the world. 'I want to be famous, and someone is now far more famous than I am.' So we have these kinds of thoughts, that is, thinking that I might lose, I might gain, I might be alone. So thought is one of the factors causing fear – right? I am getting along well with my friends, my wife, and my children, but I also know, I have experienced that desperate sense of loneliness. Do you not know it? A deep, frightening sense of loneliness. I am afraid. Have you examined what loneliness is? What is its origin? Do you not know? Have you not felt this loneliness? Am I talking about something abnormal, saying something abnormal? Huh? You must all be saints. Sir, what is this loneliness? It leads to – you understand? Sir? It leads to dependence, makes us cling to something, no matter how illusory, how wrong, how meaningless that thing is. I cling to my wife. I cling to my community, my God, my religious rituals, my friends, because if I let go, I am utterly alone. Have you ever inquired into this matter: Why is man so afraid of loneliness? They might live in communities, they might follow some guru, all these absurdities, but when you strip away all their adornments, they return to their true selves – which is loneliness. Why? Why them? What is loneliness? Losing connection with everything, losing connection with nature, with others, with friends, or losing connection with the man or woman with whom I live, all these connections somehow recede, leaving me alone, feeling utterly empty, lonely – why? What is this feeling of utter despair? I will explain it, but explanation is not fact. Words are not what they describe. Is it clear enough that words are not the thing, you, Mr. Smith are not Mr. Smith, the name is not you, when you say, 'my wife,' or 'my husband,' they – do you understand? I am glad you at least understand that. So explanation is not fact and truth. So let us look at loneliness, let us look at it, without any words, without the word 'loneliness' intervening. Can you do that? Observe the feeling, but do not use the words 'loneliness' or 'despair'. When all our days are spent in self-centered activity, loneliness arises. Self-centered activity itself creates loneliness – does it not? Because it reduces the totality of me, or the vast existence of life, to a tiny, humble 'I'. And when one realizes it, one feels, 'My God, how lonely I am.' Face it, coexist with it completely, do not leave it, then there will be a fundamental change. So we must return to the question of fear. We said, thought is one of the causes of fear, this is obvious. I am thinking about death, because I am old, or I am young, or you see a hearse passing by, all those flowers, horses and carriages. What a civilized country this is, all the noise of funerals. I see thought is one of the causes of death, ah, should be one of the causes of fear – right? Do you understand this? This is an obvious fact, right? Is that right? Gentlemen? And time is also a factor in fear – is it not? I am afraid of things that might happen. I am afraid of certain things I have done – someone might use it to blackmail me, do you understand? I am afraid of that. So time and thought are the roots of fear. Time and thought. There is no division between time and thought, thought is time – right? And now, the problem is... – sorry, I will not use the word 'problem' anymore. The question is: thought is necessary, time is necessary – right? To go from here to there, you need time. And thought is also necessary, you need it to drive a car, take a bus, take a train. On these levels, thought is necessary, time is also necessary. Right? And now, what I am saying is... Since thought and time are the roots of fear, are thought and time necessary? Do you understand? (French) On that level, they are necessary. But psychologically, is thought and time necessary? Right? Is it necessary? As long as time and thought... If you think they are necessary – in the psychological world, in the world of the self, in the spiritual world, in the world inside the skin – then you will always be in fear – will you not? If you perceive this, if you perceive... thought is the root of fear, time is also, is to perceive it, not to accept it, then thought and time are necessary on the material level, but, inwardly, they are not necessary, and therefore, you are then observing. You are observing, the mind is actively observing itself every minute, to ensure that thought and time do not enter its domain. This requires – do you understand? – this requires full attention, requires awareness, by which the mind – the mind, through centuries, or through a day, has accumulated those fears, that mind will see where thought and time are necessary, and where they are unnecessary. Therefore, it is observing like a hawk, so that thought and time... do not intervene in the whole process of life. Do you understand? This is true discipline, this is learning. As we explained the other day, discipline means, the root meaning of the word is 'apprentice', and an apprentice refers to a person who is learning, who is constantly learning, who never says, 'I have learned' and stagnates. The mind is constantly observing itself, therefore it is active, so it has no time to move, or to change. Do you understand something? It is now 11:45, we must stop here. You see, gentlemen, ladies, our difficulty is that we have heard a lot, we know a lot, we have searched, inquired, read, we seek advice from others, we have traveled the world to find, to figure out what all this is about, but we have never asked ourselves, we have never asked ourselves to question seriously, profoundly. We always ask superficial questions. Therefore, we make our lives very superficial as well. However, if you ask those questions, those questions require answers from yourself, by which you can use your mind, your feelings, your full attention, to invest in that question, and then you will begin to discover it yourself, without anyone telling you, including the speaker himself. Therefore, when you get rid of fear, you will not want God, you will not want anything that anyone in the world gives you, then you will be a truly free person.