The Beauty of Death (eBook)

Bombay, India, 1966

First Talk in Bombay

I think it is right that we should establish what we mean by “communication.” We—both of us—must understand this question, because it is one of the most difficult things to communicate with another.

Most of us do not listen at all; we naturally have ideas—our own opinions, prejudices, conclusions—and these become a barrier and prevent us from listening. After all, if one is to listen, one must be attentive. And there is no attention if one is occupied with one’s own thoughts, conclusions, opinions, and evaluations—then all communication ceases. This is an obvious fact, but unfortunately, though it is a fact, we rarely are aware of this fact. One has to put aside one’s own thoughts, conclusions, and opinions, and listen—only then is communication possible.

Communication implies responsibility—responsibility on the part of the listener as well as on the part of the speaker. The speaker wishes to convey something, and the listener must partake, share, in what is being said. It is not a one-sided affair. Both you and the speaker must be in communication with each other; that is, the words the speaker uses must have the same meaning for you also. There must be not only a verbal communication but also an intellectual understanding of the words and also of the nature and significance of the words and the sentences. There must also be an emotional contact. You may be intellectually very aware of agreeing or disagreeing, rejecting or accepting; but that will not lead us far. Whereas if there were an intellectual awareness of what is being said, of what is implied, and also an emotional contact, then communication with each other would be possible.

Merely to listen to a talk of this kind intellectually has very little meaning. But if you could listen intellectually, emotionally, and physically—that is, if you could give your own total attention to what is being said—then communication would become an extraordinarily interesting affair. We rarely communicate anything to another directly. You have your conclusions, your experiences, your knowledge, your information, your tradition, the society, the culture in which you have been brought up; and if the speaker does not belong to the same category, the same tradition, the same culture, and if the speaker denies the whole structure of that culture, of that narrow, limited conditioning of mind, then communication between you and the speaker will be nil. So to communicate with each other, there must be not only an intellectual, rational, clear thought but also an open attention; and then only is it possible to understand very deeply what is being said—not agreeing or disagreeing but seeing the validity and the truth of what is being said. Therefore, it is responsibility on your part as well as on the part of the speaker.

We are going to share together, and sharing essentially is communication. If you merely hear what is being said and do not partake in what is being stated, then communication is not possible. Therefore, communication has significance only when both of us are in relationship, sharing the same problem and trying to find out not only the solution but also the full implications of the problem that one has. Then only, it seems to me, will “communication” and these talks have some meaning—which means really that one has to listen.

To listen, several things are required. First, one’s own mind must be quiet; otherwise, it cannot listen. If your mind is chattering, opposing, agreeing or disagreeing, then you are not listening. But if you are quiet, if you are silent, and if in that silence there is attention, then there is the act of learning. And all communication is learning—not a repetition of what has been said—to a person who would understand, who would listen, who would really grapple with the many problems of life into which we are going.

One has to listen, one has to be in communion with the problem. And you cannot be in communication with the problem if you do not listen to it, if you do not learn the whole significance of that problem; and you cannot learn if there is no quietness, if there is no attention. And you have more or less to establish a relationship between the speaker and yourself: not a relationship which is based on words, on ideological conclusions, but a relationship that intends to investigate together the problem of existence—investigate together—not that you listen and the speaker investigates or explains, but both you and the speaker are going to take a journey together, a journey of exploration, a journey of investigation, a journey to understand this extraordinary thing called life. This means an active sharing on your part, not a dull, indifferent attention, but an active sharing on the part of the listener who is taking the journey with the speaker.

One sees right throughout the world a general decline, a deterioration. Technologically there may be very tremendous advancement—electronic brains, computers, automation, going to the moon, and all the rest of the technological knowledge. There is also the so-called progress in science. And man has looked to science, to politics, to the so-called religions, to the organized beliefs, and so on to help him solve his many problems; and the problems have not been solved, Man has remained more or less as he has been for over two million years: miserable, unhappy, in conflict, in confusion, living in a state of despair, anxiety, guilt, not attaching any significance to existence, or giving significance to life according to his temperament, knowledge, despair, and so on. But man—you and I, as human beings—has not essentially changed; he is still greedy, envious, confused, miserable, at war. We all know this. A man who reads current history, the newspapers and the magazines, who listens to the radio, and so on, knows quite well what is taking place in his own city, in his own neighborhood, in his own country, and in other countries. He also knows that there is a deterioration, more or less, intellectually and so-called spiritually. Religion has no meaning any more except for old ladies and old men because they have to face death, and religion gives them some kind of hope. Religion has no meaning to a man who is active, thoughtful, rational, clear. There is a moral decline, as one can see in this country. There is a religious decline—not that there are not more swamis, yogis, and sects; that is an indication of decline because they are establishing that which is past—dead tradition that has no meaning whatsoever.

To a man who has observed the world, the misery, the wars, the endless sorrow of the human being—to him the scriptures, authority, beliefs, the rituals, the innumerable political speeches, the ideological and political commitments such as the communist, the socialist, the congress, the democrat, and the republican have no meaning any more. And it would be absurd, childish, immature, to look to those to bring about a change in the world, to bring about a good society—not a great society; a great society is not necessarily a good society.

Seeing all this, as you must, one demands naturally: Can human beings change? Can you and I change? Can you and I bring about in ourselves a mutation so profound that, as human beings, our relationship is not based on temporary, convenient, self-centered activity? Because what is most important is relationship. Unless there is a radical revolution in that relationship between two human beings, talking about God or about the scriptures, or going back to the Vedas, the Bible, and the rest of it, is sheer nonsense. It has no meaning whatsoever unless we establish right relationship between human beings.

And that will be the subject of our talk—how to bring about a fundamental revolution in our relationship so that there will be no war, so that countries are not divided by nationalities, by frontiers, by class differences, and so on. Unless we, you and I, establish such a relationship, not theoretically, not ideologically, not hypothetically, but actually, factually, there is bound to be a greater and greater decline and deterioration.

What do we mean by relationship? What does it mean to be related? First of all, are we related? Relationship means contact: to be together, to be related, to be in contact, to be in immediate contact with another human being, to know all his difficulties, his problems, his misery, his anxiety which is your own. And in understanding yourself you understand the human being and, therefore, bring about a radical transformation in society. The “individual” has very little meaning, but the “human being” has a tremendous significance. The individual may change according to pressures, strains, circumstances; but his change will not radically affect society. But the problems of man, not as an individual but as a human being who has lived for two million years and much more, with his conflicts, with his anxieties, with his fears, with his coming face to face with death—the whole of that is the human issue. Unless we understand that—not as an individual, but as a human being—there is no possibility of bringing about a different culture, a different society.

So a radical transformation of the human being is absolutely essential. Because most of us are still animals. If you have observed animals, you will know how closely related we are! You observe the dog, a pet you know! How jealous he is! How he loves to be praised, to be petted, and so on, like human beings! So there is a very close...