VBT – Meditation 6.4
Remove The Rock
There are only two ways of living in life. One is to live it from the very core of your being – that has been the way of the mystics. Meditation is nothing but a device to make you aware of your real self – which is not created by you, which need not be created by you, which you already are. You are born with it, you ARE it! It needs to be discovered. If this is not possible, or if the society does not allow it to happen…and no society allows it to happen, because the real self is dangerous – dangerous for the established church, dangerous for the state, dangerous for the crowd, dangerous for the tradition – because once a man knows his real self, he becomes an individual. He no longer belongs to the mob psychology; he will not be superstitious, and he cannot be exploited. He cannot be led like cattle, he cannot be ordered and commanded. He will live according to his light, he will live from his own inwardness. His life will have tremendous beauty, integrity. But that is the fear of society.
Integrated persons become individuals, and society wants you to be non-individuals. Instead of individuality, society teaches you to be a personality. The word ‘personality’ has to be understood. It comes from a root, ‘persona’ – persona means a mask. Society gives you a false idea of who you are; it gives you just a toy, and you go on clinging to the toy your whole life.
The one way is to live through meditation – then you live a life of rebellion, of adventure, of courage. Then you really live! The other way to live, or to fake living, is the way of the ego – strengthen the ego, nourish the ego; so that you need not look into the self, cling to the ego. The ego is an artifact created by society to deceive you, to distract you.
The ego is man-made, manufactured by us. And because it is manufactured by the society, society has power over it. Because it is manufactured by the state and the church, and those who are in power, they can destroy it any moment; it depends on them. You have to be constantly in fear, and you have to be constantly obeying them, conforming to them, so that your ego remains intact. The society gives you respect if you are not an individual. The society honors you if you are not a Jesus, not a Socrates, not a Buddha. It respects you only if you are a sheep, not a man.
Your consciousness is there, just behind the rock; it has not to be brought from somewhere else. Remove the rock – real religion consists only of removing that which is unnecessary, and then the necessary starts flowing. That which is unessential has to be removed. And the essential is already there, is already the case! You remove the rock and you will be surprised: you need not create the real self – it reveals itself to you.
And the real has beauty, and the real is deathless. Because it is deathless it has no fear. The unreal is constantly trembling. The ego is always in danger – anybody can destroy it. Because it has been given to you by others, they can take it back. Today they respect you, tomorrow they may not respect you. If you don’t follow their idea of life, if you don’t confirm their style of being, they will withdraw their respect. And you will be flat on the ground…and you will not know who you are.
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