It seems to one,
religion and to have peace in the world
are the two most important things in one's life.
Religion, the etymological meaning of that word is not very clear,
but religion is generally accepted to be
that which is going on in the world,
the Christian religion, the Muslim, the Islamic,
the Hindu, the Buddhist and so on,
with their temples and mosques and churches or cathedrals
and all the rituals that go on inside them,
and all the things that are in the temples,
in the churches, in the mosques,
and follow, having certain faiths, belief,
and the repetition of certain phrases,
doing puja, rituals and so on,
the whole structure of superstition
– that is generally what is understood to be religion.
To the speaker that is not religion,
it is all put together by thought.
Thought is a material process
and that which thought has created,
given sanctity, tradition,
then that very thought turns to worship that which it has created.
This is a fact, not a theory.
We will wait for that aeroplane.
And also, there is no peace in the world.
There are the preparations for war by all nations,
especially the present crisis,
nuclear war and the destruction of the whole of mankind.
So there is no peace in the world,
nor is there peace in ourselves.
To be a religious human being
requires a great deal of intelligence,
and also to live peacefully in this world,
without conflict, without problems,
without this divisive process,
that also requires a great deal of intelligence.
Not repetition of some slogans,
not following some guru,
all that is gone, finished, because man no longer,
if he is at all aware, intelligent and conscious of what is going on,
he has put aside all that rubbish.
You may not agree
but please, listen to the very end of it,
if you have the patience and if you want to face facts.
Because facts do not need opinions, they are so.
How you translate facts depends on your background,
on your prejudices, on your conditioning,
but facts remain facts,
like that there is war in certain parts of the world,
that they are preparing, both sides, right and left.
One hopes there will be no war.
And religion no longer has any meaning at all,
except for sentimental, sensory excitement
and emotional titillation,
but otherwise religion, in the deepest sense of that word,
which is to live a righteous life,
a life of freedom,
responsibility for one's own actions,
independent of environment,
and so on, all which we will go into during these four talks.
So please,
from the very beginning of these talks,
if you are willing,
listen not only to what the speaker is saying
but also listen to your own interpretations
of what the speaker is saying,
how you receive or accept or react to what is being said.
So this requires a constant communication with each other,
to be aware not only to the word,
the significance of the word of the speaker,
but also to be aware of one's own responses.
So it is a responsibility.
Lovely. This is modern civilisation.
Shall we go on?
Let's shout a little more than they do.