SOLUTION

Continues … from last week issues 22 / 01 / 11 

What action will put an end to the increase of problems is all our activities? Is there any movement of thought, in any direction , that can free man from this manner of living , the reformation of which always needs further reform ? In other words, is there an action which is not born of reaction?

I think there is a way of life in which there is not this process of reformation breeding further misery; and that way may be called religious. The truly religious person is not concerned with reform, he is not concerned with merely producing a change in the social order; on the contrary; he is seeking what is true, and that very search has a transforming effect on society; That is why education must be principally concerned with helping the student to seek out truth or God, and not merely preparing him to fit in to the pattern of a given society.

I think it is very important to understand this while we are young because, aw we grow older and begin to set aside our little amusements and distractions, our sexual appetites and petty ambitions, we become more keenly aware of the immense problems confronting the world. And then we want to do something about them,we want to bring about some kind of amelioration. But unless we are deeply religious, we shall only create more confusion, further misery ; and religion has nothing to do with priests, churches, dogmas or organized beliefs. These things are not religion at all : they are merely social conveniences to hold us  within a particular pattern of thought and action , they are the means of exploiting our credulity, hope, and fear. Religion is the seeking our of what is truth, what is God, and this search requires enormous energy, wide intelligence, subtle thinking. It is in this very seeking of the immeasurable that there is right social action, not in the so – called reformation of a particular society.

 To find out what is truth, there must be great love and a deep awareness of man’s relationship to all things which means that one is not concerned with one’s own progress and achievements. The search for truth is true religion, and the man who is seeking truth is the true religious man. Such a man, because of his love , is outside of society ; and his action upon society is therefore entirely different from that of the man who is in society and concerned with its reformation. The reformer can never create a new culture. What is necessary is the search of the truly religious man , for this very search brings about its own culture, and it is our only hope. You see, the search for truth gives an explosive creativeness to the mind is uncontaminated by the edicts and sanctions of society. Being free of all that, the religious man is able to find out what is true, and it is the discovery of what is true from moment to moment that creates a new culture.

That is why it is very important for you to have the right kind of education. For this the educator himself must be rightly educated so that he will not regard teaching merely as a means of earning  a livelihood, but will be capable of helping the student to put aside all dogmas and not be held by any religion or belief. The people who come together on the basis of religious authority, or to practice certain ideals, are all concerned with social reform , which is merely the decorating of the prison walls. Only the truly religious man is truly revolutionary, and it is the function of  education to help each one of us to be religious in the true sense of the word, for in that direction alone lies our salvation.

Continues with explanations on next week….