Willkommen auf Tagtt!
Thursday, 28. March 2024
Tagebücher » tao » News, Bilder, Videos - Online
Tagebuch tao
2004-09-10 18:46
be aware of the misery
Yes, one thing new has happened -- it is a little difference, but a difference that really makes a difference -- and that is: a certain percentage of humanity has now become more aware than it has ever been before.
Misery has always been there; but to be aware of the misery, that is a new factor. And that is the beginning of transformation.
If you become aware of something, then there is a possibility that something can be done to change it.
People have lived in misery, accepting it as part of life, as their destiny. Nobody has questioned it. Nobody has asked why.
And before anybody could ask why, the religious prophets, messiahs and priests were ready with the answer.
Christianity is ready with the answer: because Adam and Eve committed the original sin; hence you are suffering. Now, can you see any connection?
Even according to Christianity, the world was created four thousand and four years before Jesus' birth -- which is not at all accurate, which is absolutely stupid. The world is millions of years old. And by world, I mean only our world, this earth; I don't mean the sun, the solar system, because that is far more ancient. And I don't mean the world of the stars... because they are not as small as you see them. They are bigger than your sun -- they are all suns -- and they all have their own solar systems. And they are far more ancient than our solar system.
In fact, when you come to calculate about existence, years cannot be used as a measurement, they are too small. A million years does not mean anything. When you start thinking about how old the solar system is, you have to use a new measurement which is not used ordinarily because we never come across such a big thing. And that new measurement is invented by physics: the light year.
You have to understand what a light year means, because our galaxy is millions of light years old. Light travels with a tremendous speed, the greatest speed there is. Anything traveling at that speed will turn into light. The heat of that speed is such that anything at that speed will become light. So there can be no speed greater than the speed of light. We cannot invent any rocket which moves faster than light, because then it will turn into light itself, immediately it reaches the speed of light.
The speed of light is 186,000 miles per second: per second, one hundred and eighty six thousand miles. In one minute, sixty times more; in one hour, again sixty times more; in one day, again twenty-four times more; in one month, again thirty times more; in one year, again twelve times more -- that is the meaning of one light year. And our sun is millions of light years old.
Even if the Christians are right -- Adam still must have committed the original sin at least five thousand years ago. Somebody committing a sin five thousand years ago -- how many generations have passed since then? -- and you are still miserable for his sin? That seems to be absolutely unjust! If he did commit the sin, God made him suffer. Why should you be suffering? You were never a part of it. If anybody has to suffer, it should be God Himself, because in the first place what was the need of creating those two trees? If man was not allowed to eat from them, it was so simple -- God should not have created those two trees. He was committing the original sin -- if anybody was.
Then, even if He had created them, what was the need to tell Adam not to eat from those two trees?because I don't think that Adam, on his own, even by now would have found those two trees. Among the millions of trees, it would have been just a coincidence if Adam had found them. But God showed him the trees, saying, "These are the two trees, and you are not to eat from them."
And this God is Jewish. Sigmund Freud understands it more -- he is also Jewish, born out of the original sin -- he understands far better than this Jewish God. To tell somebody not to do something is to provoke them, is to give them a challenge, is to make the person fascinated. It is not the snake who really persuades Adam and Eve, it is God's "don't" that hits hard; and they become curious why.
And the trees are not poisonous. One tree is the tree of wisdom. There seems to be no logic in why the tree of wisdom should be prohibited to man. And the other tree is of eternal life. Both trees are the best in the whole garden of Eden. God should have told him, "Don't miss these two trees! Anything else you can miss, but these two trees you should not miss." On the contrary, He says to Adam and Eve, "Don't do this."
That "don't" is the real cause of their disobeying; the serpent is just an excuse.
But even if they did commit the sin, whether through God or through the serpent, it is absolutely certain that you are not part of it -- in no way. You were not there to support them.
The Christians have been befooling the whole world, the Jews have been befooling the whole world, saying that it is because of the original sin that man is suffering, he is in misery. He has to turn back, he has to undo what Adam and Eve did. They disobeyed; you have to obey God. Just as they disobeyed and were thrown out of heaven, if you obey totally, without any doubt, without any questioning, you will be allowed back into the world of bliss, paradise.
Misery exists because of the original sin, according to these Judaic religions: Judaism, Christianity, Mohammedanism. These three religions have come from the same source; they all believe in the same original sin, and that we are suffering because we are the progeny of those same people who committed it. Even human justice cannot punish a criminal's son because he is a criminal's son. His father may have murdered somebody, a major crime, but then you cannot punish the son too. The son has nothing to do with it.
Adam and Eve did not commit any major crime -- they just had a little curiosity. And I think anybody who had any sense would have done the same. It was absolutely certain to happen -- because there is a deep need in man to know. It is intrinsic, it is not sin.
It is in the very nature of man to know. And God is prohibiting him. He is saying, "Remain ignorant."
There is, in the same way, an intrinsic, intense desire for eternal life. Nobody wants to die.
Even the person who commits suicide is not against life. Perhaps he is hoping the next life will be better. He is so tired of all this suffering and anguish that he thinks, "In this life there is no chance, so why not take a chance? This life is not giving you anything and is not going to give you anything -- take the chance. If you survive and enter into another life, perhaps...." That "perhaps", that lingering desire, is still in the man who is committing suicide. He may be committing suicide against anything, but he is not committing suicide against life itself.
These two are the basic and the deepest -- rooted desires in man -- and yet he is prohibited from fulfilling his own nature and his nature is condemned as criminal, as a nature which is rooted in sin.
If he fulfills it he feels guilty; if he does not fulfill it he will remain miserable.
These people have created the background of your misery.
Let me summarize it: if you are natural you will feel guilty. Then that will be your misery, your anxiety, your anguish -- what punishment there is going to be for you! You are disobeying God, because all your scriptures and their commandments are against your nature. So if you fulfill your nature there is misery.
If you don't fulfill your nature, there is bound to be misery because then you will be empty, unfulfilled, discontented; you will feel futile, utterly meaningless.
So there are two types of miserable people in the world: one who follows the religious prophets and one who does not follow them.
And it is very difficult to find a third category, a man, who does not care a bit.
Take either side and you will be in trouble. Don't take sides, either for or against; just tell those guys, "Go to hell! And take all your scriptures with you." Only then can you be free of misery.
In the East they have a different explanation. Explanations can be different, but the purpose is the same. In the East, the three religions -- Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism -- all teach that your misery is because of bad actions in past lives. And you have lived millions of past lives, in different shapes, different bodies, animals, birds.... In that way Hindus have a vast perspective. Eight hundred and forty million species of life exist. At least their perspective is vast, not small like the Christian... only six thousand years.
Their perspective is certainly great: eight hundred and forty million species, and you have passed through them all; then you have become man. In all these long -- you will have to use the word "light years" with Hindus and Jainas and Buddhists -- you have committed so many things, good and bad, and everything is recorded with you. If you are suffering, that simply means your bad actions are heavy on you. You have to suffer, that is the only way to get rid of them. You have to pay for your actions. Who else is going to pay? You murdered somebody in your last life, now who is going to pay?
Their explanation seems more mathematical, more logical, than Adam committing sin and you suffering six thousand years afterwards. So many generations have passed, and still the sin is fresh. So many generations have suffered and been punished for it, and you are still being punished for it. Can you punish so many people for one man's sin? And this is going to go on forever and forever. At least the eastern vision seems to be more logical: that in your past life you have committed some bad actions and of course you have to suffer for them. I say it looks more logical, but it is not existentially true.
What do I mean when I say it is not existentially true? I mean that whenever you act, the result of the act is intrinsic in the act itself, it does not wait for the next life. Why should it wait? If you drink poison now, will you die in the next life? I have been arguing with Hindu shankaracharyas, Jaina monks, Buddhist bhikkus, saying "Tell me, if somebody hits his hand with a hammer, will he suffer in the next life or here, right now?" Action brings its reaction immediately. It does not wait. Why should it wait, and why for the next life particularly?
They have been befooling people, of course more logically than Christians and Jews and Mohammedans. Hence no sophisticated Hindu can be converted to Mohammedanism, Judaism, Christianity -- impossible, because all your ideas look very childish. He has far more logical explanations. But those logical explanations are only significant on the surface; deep down there is nothing much in them.
If you put your arm in the fire, will you be burned in the next life? The action is here, the reaction has to be here. They are joined together, they cannot be separated. The moment you love, you are happy. It is not that in this moment you love and you are in deep misery now, and in the next life whether there you love or not, suddenly one day you will feel happy -- the good karma of your last life!
You are disconnecting things which are not, in the nature of things, in any way possible to disconnect. You hate somebody and in that very hatred you are burning in fire. You are angry and in that very anger, not out of it, you suffer. Each moment, whatsoever you are doing you are getting the immediate reaction.
These people are befooling you because they cannot say many things which go against the vested interest. They cannot say that you are poor because the rich are exploiting you -- because they are hired by the rich people.

Kommentare

Noch keine Kommentare!
Kommentieren


Nur für registrierte User.

tao Offline

Mitglied seit: 30.06.2004
71 Jahre, DE mehr...
Wirklich beenden?
Ja | Nein

2004-09-10 18:46