"I WONDER IF WE
HAVE EVER ASKED ourselves what education means. Why do we go to school, why do
we learn various subjects, why do we pass examinations and compete with each
other for better grades? What does this so-called education mean, and what is
it all about? This is really a very important question, not only for the
students, but also for the parents, for the teachers , and for everyone who
loves this earth. Why do we go through the struggle to be educated? Is it
merely in order to pass some examinations and get a job? Or is it the function
of education to prepare us while we are young to understand the whole process
of life? Having a job and earning one's livelihood is necessary- but is that
all? Are we being educated only for that? Surely , life is not merely a job, an
occupation, life is something extraordinarily wise and profound, it is a great
mystery, a vast realm in which we function as human beings. If we merely
prepare ourselves to earn a livelihood, we shall miss the whole point of life;
and to understand life is much more important than merely to prepare for
examinations and become very proficient in mathematics, physics, or what you
will.
So, whether we are
teachers or students, is it not important to ask ourselves why we are educating
or being educated? And what does life mean? Is not life an extraordinary thing?
The birds, the flowers, the flourishing trees, the heavens, the stars, the
rivers and the fish therein- all this is life. Life is the poor and the rich;
life is meditation; life is what we call religion, and it is also the subtle,
hidden things of the mind- the envies, the ambitions, the passions, the fears,
fulfillments and anxieties. All this and much more is life. But we generally
prepare ourselves to understand only one s mall corner of it. We pass certain
examinations, find a job, get married, have children, and then become more and
more like machines. We remain fearful, anxious, frightened of life. So, is it
the function of education to help us understand the whole process of life, or
is it merely to prepare us for a vocation, for the best job we can get?
What is going to
happen to all of us when we grow to be men and women? Have you ever asked
yourselves what you are going to do when you grow up? In all likelihood you
will get married, and before you know where you are you will be mothers and
fathers; and you will then be tied to a job, or to the kitchen, in which you
will gradually wither away. Is that all that your life is going to be?
Have you ever asked yourselves this question? Should you not ask it? If your
family is wealthy you may have a fairly good position already assured, your
father may give you a comfortable job, or you may get richly married; but there
are also you will decay, deteriorate. Do you see?
Surely, education has
no meaning unless it helps you to understand the vast expanse of life with all
its subtleties, with its extraordinary beauty, its sorrows and joys. You may
earn degrees, you may have a series of letters after your name and land a very
good job; but then what? What is the point of it all if in the process your
mind becomes dull, weary, stupid? So, while you are young, must you not seek to
find out what life is all about? And is it not the true function of education
to cultivate in you the intelligence which will try to find the answer to all
these problems? Do you know what intelligence is? It is the capacity, surely,
to think freely, without fear, without a formula, so that you begin to discover
for yourself what is real, what is true; but if you are frightened you will
never be intelligent. Any for of ambition, spiritual or mundane, breeds
anxiety, fear,; therefor ambition does not help to bring about a mind that is
clear, simple, direct, and hence intelligent.
You know, it is
really very important while you are young to live in an environment in which
there is no fear. Most of us, as we grow older, become frightened; we are
afraid of living, afraid of losing a job, afraid of tradition, afraid of what
the neighbors, or what the wife or husband would say, afraid of death. Most of
us have fear in one form or another; and where there is fear there is no
intelligence. And is it not possible for all of us, while we are young, to be
in an environment where there is no fear, but rather an atmosphere of freedom-
freedom, not just to do what we like, but to understand the whole process of
living? Life is really very beautiful, it is not this ugly thing that we have
made of it; and you can appreciate its richness, its depth, its extraordinary
loveliness only when you revolt against everything- against organized religion,
against tradition, against the present rotten society, so that you as a human
being find out for yourself what is true. Not to imitate but to discover- that
is education, is it not? It is very easy to conform to what your society or
your parents and teachers tell you. That is a safe and easy way of existing;
but that is not living, because in it there is fear, decay, death. To live is
to find out for yourself what is true, and you can do this only when there is
freedom, when there is continuous revolution inwardly, within yourself.
But you are not
encouraged to do this; no one tells you to question, to find out for
yourself..., because if you were to rebel you would become a danger to all that
is false. Your parents and society want you to life safely, and you also want
to life safely. Living safely generally means living in the imitation and
therefore in fear. Surely, the function of education is to help each one of us
to live freely without fear, is it not? And to create an atmosphere in which
there is no fear requires a great deal of thinking on your part as well as on
the part of the teacher, the educator.
Do you know what this
means- what an extraordinary thing it would be to create an atmosphere in which
there is no fear? And we must create it, because we see that the world
is caught up in endless wars; it is guided by politicians who are always
seeking power; it is a world of lawyers, policemen and soldiers, of ambitious
men and women all wanting position and all fighting each other to get it. Then
there are the so-called saints, the religious gurus with their
followers; they also want power, position, here or in the next life. It is a
mad world, completely confused, in which the communist is fighting the
capitalist, the socialist is resisting both, and everybody is against somebody,
struggling to arrive as a safe place, a position of power of comfort. The world
is torn by conflicting beliefs, by caste and class distinctions, by separative
nationalities, by every form of stupidity and cruelty- and this is the world
you are being educated to fit into. You are encouraged to fit into the
framework of this disastrous society... and you also want to fit in.
Now, is it the
function of education merely to help you to conform to the pattern of this
rotten social order, or is it to give you freedom- complete freedom to grow and
create a different society, a new world? We want to have this freedom, not in
the future, but now, otherwise we may all be destroyed. We must create
immediately an atmosphere of freedom so that you can live and find out for
yourselves what is true, so that you become intelligent, so that you are able
to face the world and understand it, not just conform to it, so that inwardly,
deeply, psychologically you are in constant revolt; because it is only those
who are in constant revolt that discover what is true, not the man who
conforms, who follows some tradition...
...The question is:
if all individuals were in revolt, would not the world be in chaos? But is the
present society in such perfect order that chaos would result if everyone
revolted against it? Is there not chaos now ? Is everything beautiful,
uncorrupted? Is everyone living happily, fully, richly? Is man not against man?
Is there not ambition, ruthless competition? So the world is already in chaos,
that is the first thing to realize. Don't take it for granted that this is an
orderly society; don't mesmerize yourself with words. Whether, here in Europe,
in America or Russia, the world is in a process of decay. If you see the decay,
you have a challenge: you are challenged to find a way of solving this urgent
problem. And how you respond to the challenge is important, is it not? If you
respond as a Hindu or a Buddhist, a Christian or a communist, then your
response if very limited- which is no response at all. You can respond fully,
adequately only if there is no fear in you, only if you don't think as a Hindu,
a communist or a capitalist, but as a total human being who is trying to solve
this problem; and you cannot solve it unless you yourself are in revolt against
the whole thing, against the ambitious acquisitiveness on which society is
based. When you yourself are not ambitious, not acquisitive, not clinging to
your own security- only then can you respond to the challenge and create a new
world...
Do you know what it
means to learn? When you are really learning you are learning throughout your
life and there is no one special teacher to learn from. The everything teaches
you- a dead leaf, a bird in flight, a smell, a tear, the rich and the poor,
those who are crying, the smile of a woman, the haughtiness of a man. You learn
from everything, therefore there is no guide, no philosopher, no guru. Life
itself is your teacher, and you are in a state of constant learning...
Do you know what
attention is? Let us find out. In a classroom, when you stare out of the window
or pull somebody's hair, the teacher tells you to pay attention. Which means
what? That you are not interested in what you are studying and so the teacher
compels you to pay attention- which is not attention at all. Attention comes
when you are deeply interested in something, for then you love to find out all
about it; then your whole mind, your whole being is there....When you are
doing something with your whole being, not because you want to get somewhere,
or have more profit, or greater results, but simply because you love to it- in
that there is no ambition, is there? In that there is no competition; you are
not struggling with anyone for first place. And should not education help you
to find out what you really love to do so that from the beginning to the end of
your life you are working at something which you feel is worth while and which
for you has deep significance? Otherwise, for the rest of your days, you will
be miserable. Not knowing what you really want to do, your mi nd falls into a
routine in which there is only boredom, decay and death. That is why it is VERY
important to find out while you are young what it is you really love to
do; and this is the only way to create a new society..."
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