Human beings have sought something beyond the physical, beyond the everyday existence of pain, of sorrow and pleasure. They have sought something beyond, first in the clouds: the thunder was the voice of God. Then they worshipped trees, stones. Villagers far away from the ugly, beastly towns still worship stones, trees and small images. Man wants to find out if there is something sacred, and the priest comes along and says, ‘I will show you,’ just as a guru does. The Western priest has his rituals, his repetitions, his fancy dress and worship of his particular image. And you have your own images. Or you don’t believe in any of that; you say you are an atheist. But you and the speaker want to find out something that may be beyond time, beyond all thought, so we are together going to inquire, exercise our brains, our reason, our logic, to find out what religion is, what a religious life is, and whether it is possible to live a religious life in this modern world. So let us find out for ourselves what is really, truly a religious life. That can only be found out when we understand what religions actually are and put aside all that, not belonging to any religion, to any organisation, to any guru, to any so-called spiritual authority. There is no spiritual authority whatsoever; that is one of the crimes we have committed; we have invented a mediator between truth and ourselves. When you begin to inquire into what religion is, you are living a religious life – not at the end of it. In the very process of looking, watching, discussing, doubting, questioning, having no beliefs or faith, you are already leading a religious life.
From Meeting Life
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