All of our problems have arisen because of our acceptance that it is possible for us to understand the reality of the world, or the reality of our existence. What I am saying is: you have no way of experiencing anything that you do not know. So anything you experience through the help of the knowledge we have is fruitless. It is a lost battle.
There is no thinking at all. If there is no thinking, there is no thinker. If there is no thinker, there are no thoughts, even. So you can’t say that there are only thoughts if there is no thinker. The thoughts are not from here, they are coming from outside. The translation of a sensory perception within the framework of your experiencing structure is thought.
It’s a very, very mechanical thing. We are not ready to accept that it is so mechanical, because it knocks off the whole image we have that we are not just machines. It’s an extraordinary machine. It’s no different from the computers we have which we are using. But this is something living, you see. It has a living quality to it.
The idea that the whole thing is created for our benefit, and that we are created for grander and nobler purposes than all the other species on this planet, is the cause of the destruction. And we have said, you see, this powerful use of thought is destructive. Thought is self-protective mechanism. So anything borne out of thought is destructive. Whether it is a religious thought, or a scientific thought, or a political thought—all of them are destructive. So we are not ready to accept that thought is our enemy.
