Times Of Crises Are Both Dangerous & Important

Times of crises are both dangerous and important. Dangerous for those who have no courage to explore new dimensions of life. They are bound to disintegrate into different kinds of madness, because their mind was made by society. Now with society disintegrating, the mind cannot remain; its roots are in society. It is constantly nourished by society — and now that nourishment is disappearing. Because society is disintegrating, a great suspicion, a doubt that was never there before, is bound to arise in individuals. And if they were just obedient people who have never gone beyond any limit that society has decided, who have always been respected, honourable citizens, they will immediately go mad. They will start committing suicide, they will start jumping from high buildings. In times of crises, the danger is for those who have enjoyed the times when society was settled, when there were no problems. These were the people who had enjoyed the obedience of the mind, and these are going to be the sufferers. It is a simple arithmetic. They will go psychotic, they will go neurotic — and these words don’t make much difference. Times of crises are of tremendous significance for those daring souls who have never bothered about society’s respectability or about what others think about them, but have done only that which they felt right to do; who have in a certain way been always rebellious, individualistic. For these people the times of crisis are just golden, because society is disintegrating. Now it cannot condemn anybody — it is itself condemned, cursed. It cannot say to others that they are wrong. It is proving itself wrong; its whole wisdom is proving just foolish, superstitious. The daring individual can use this opportunity to go beyond mind, because now society cannot prevent him, he is free. There has never been so intense a search for spiritual growth, for meditation. But there has never been so much madness either. Both are happening because the status quo is no longer powerful; it has lost control. Today, the old mind, the old society has lost credibility — and not in one place, but all over the world. There are different kinds of old traditions, but they all have come to a point where so many things are scientifically proved wrong. The most intelligent people are rushing towards the East to find some way, some method, some meditation — Yoga, Zen, Sufism, Hassidism. Somewhere somebody must know how to get over this critical stage, how to go beyond the traditional mind and still remain centred, sane and intelligent. Thousands of people are moving towards the East. It is funny because thousands of people are coming from the East to the West to study science, medicine, engineering, electronics, and the people who know all these are going to the East, just to learn how to sit silently and do nothing. But it is a beautiful time. The grip of society is lost. But the people who will go beyond mind will create the new man, the new mind. And the most special thing to be remembered about the new mind is that it will never become a tradition, that it will be constantly renewed. The new mind has to become continuously new, every day new, ready to accept any unexpected experience, any unexpected truth... just available, vulnerable. It will be a tremendous excitement, a great ecstasy, a great challenge. So i don’t think this crisis is bad; it is good. If the new mind can prevail then life can become an enlightening process. And enlightenment will not be something rare, it will become a very ordinary human experience.