excerpts

The authority of the priest is very strong throughout the world because each of us wants to be secure, safe in what he is doing, never to be disturbed - that is what we really want. We do not [really] want truth. We do not [really] want God, we do not want understanding; we want more and more safety, more and more security and therefore we pile up authority, not only the authority of the book, of the guru, but also our own authority of theory and knowledge.

But when you tear down the house of authority totally, destroy it completely, then there is the freedom which has its own extraordinary sense of security. The free mind has no fear and therefore in that state there is security; not the security of a petty, little mind, because such a mind is merely seeking security, safety.

But the mind that is free, having no fear of any kind, not wanting to be anything, has no authority, and therefore is everlastingly capable of affection and integrity. The man who loves is completely, everlastingly fearless.

But you see, unfortunately, most of us here will do very little about it. When you go home, go into yourself, step by step, to discover where is your authority and why you cling to it. Please go into it very deeply yourself, take time off and go into it. You sec for yourself the authority of your wife, the domination of your family, your children and also wherein you dominate - the whole process of authority. If you go into it very deeply, step by step, then you will find out how completely, how unknowingly, the burden of authority falls off, you do not have to do anything about it. Just follow the fact where it will lead you…

You are listening here obviously hoping to get something or other. But you are not going to get anything at all. You will go empty-handed. You are not really listening to what the speaker is saying. You are only hearing something which is going on. So you are not tearing down the house [of fear and authority] that you have built about yourself…

It is a marvellous thing to put the question without seeking an answer, because the question then becomes unravelled, it begins to open the doors and windows of your own mind, and so through this questioning, watching, listening, your mind becomes extraordinarily sensitive…