Q: How can you say religions are beautiful when they have caused so much suffering and craziness? We should get rid of them altogether.
MM: Religious organizations of all faiths crucify, burn and torture those they feel threatened by on a regular basis, worse than governments even. The stupidities and ugliness committed in the name of religion seem to warrant that we should indeed get rid of religion altogether.
But - it would be like getting rid of sex because of rape, pedophilia, sex slavery, incest and all other perversions, many of them extremely cruel. Sex at its highest levels is communion and love, just like religion. Both at their lowest levels always turn into cruelty, violence and murder.
The same is true of science. The suffering and cruelty committed in the name of science is horrendous. No religion has ever committed such levels of cruelty.
Q: You can't get rid of sex, but you could get rid of religion.
MM: That is not true. Religion is to the heart what science is to the mind. They are interconnected. If you get rid of religion all together, sex itself becomes the new religion in disguise. It is happening now.
Q: So what if you got rid of sex - what would happen then?
MM: If you were to "get rid of" sex, religion, science...and everything else that interferes with pure truth...what would be left over is love in its highest form. Coal (all human understanding and forms of love) would have been transformed into diamond (truth).
You cannot get rid of anything, you can only transform it. In human society and civilization people exist at different levels of maturity, therefore there will always be sex, religion, science.... When Jesus says: "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free" he is talking about only you, and your freedom.
Q: What kind of truth is he talking about? A religious truth?
MM: No. Just truth. Truth free of any religious, scientific, cultural, moral, social, or any other ideas whatsoever. This may sound impossible, especially to the Western Mind unfamiliar with meditation. It is much like Lao Tsu says: "The Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao." This truth - if it could be "said" or named, it would not be the eternal truth Jesus is talking about. The only thing you can be sure of is that this truth is so clear and self evident that when you come across it, or better, when it finds you, you recognize it and there will be freedom from all doubt.
Q: But then you wouldn't be able to describe it or teach it to anyone...?
MM: Correct.
Q: So what are Jesus, Buddha, Mohammad...and those who follow them, teaching then?
MM: They are hinting at the truth with metaphors and examples the way a thousand arrows can all point at the same spot of emptiness. Some of the teachings often in the form of poetry, simply express deep feelings of gratitude or blessing, and are truly beautiful.
MM: Religious organizations of all faiths crucify, burn and torture those they feel threatened by on a regular basis, worse than governments even. The stupidities and ugliness committed in the name of religion seem to warrant that we should indeed get rid of religion altogether.
But - it would be like getting rid of sex because of rape, pedophilia, sex slavery, incest and all other perversions, many of them extremely cruel. Sex at its highest levels is communion and love, just like religion. Both at their lowest levels always turn into cruelty, violence and murder.
The same is true of science. The suffering and cruelty committed in the name of science is horrendous. No religion has ever committed such levels of cruelty.
Q: You can't get rid of sex, but you could get rid of religion.
MM: That is not true. Religion is to the heart what science is to the mind. They are interconnected. If you get rid of religion all together, sex itself becomes the new religion in disguise. It is happening now.
Q: So what if you got rid of sex - what would happen then?
MM: If you were to "get rid of" sex, religion, science...and everything else that interferes with pure truth...what would be left over is love in its highest form. Coal (all human understanding and forms of love) would have been transformed into diamond (truth).
You cannot get rid of anything, you can only transform it. In human society and civilization people exist at different levels of maturity, therefore there will always be sex, religion, science.... When Jesus says: "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free" he is talking about only you, and your freedom.
Q: What kind of truth is he talking about? A religious truth?
MM: No. Just truth. Truth free of any religious, scientific, cultural, moral, social, or any other ideas whatsoever. This may sound impossible, especially to the Western Mind unfamiliar with meditation. It is much like Lao Tsu says: "The Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao." This truth - if it could be "said" or named, it would not be the eternal truth Jesus is talking about. The only thing you can be sure of is that this truth is so clear and self evident that when you come across it, or better, when it finds you, you recognize it and there will be freedom from all doubt.
Q: But then you wouldn't be able to describe it or teach it to anyone...?
MM: Correct.
Q: So what are Jesus, Buddha, Mohammad...and those who follow them, teaching then?
MM: They are hinting at the truth with metaphors and examples the way a thousand arrows can all point at the same spot of emptiness. Some of the teachings often in the form of poetry, simply express deep feelings of gratitude or blessing, and are truly beautiful.
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