Chapter 16 Don't use society as a means to expand yourself

Pune, October 17, 1948 Question: Talking about proper ways of earning a living, you said that soldiers, lawyers, and civil servants are all improper occupations.Aren’t you encouraging us to withdraw from society? Isn’t this just avoiding social conflicts and condoning injustice and oppression? K: To transform or understand something, one must first examine the reality of it.Only in this way is there the possibility of renewal, regeneration, and transformation.Trying to transform something without understanding it is just a waste of time, it's just degeneration.Reformation without understanding can only degenerate, because we have not faced the truth.But once we know the truth, we know what to do.You cannot act without the initial observation, discussion, understanding.We must examine the reality of society, its shortcomings and ills.To examine society, one must directly observe our relationship to society without imposing intellectual or theoretical explanations.

Our present society does not allow us to have a choice as to the right or wrong way of earning a living.As long as you are lucky enough to find a job you have to accept it.So for a person who is eager to find a job, he will not have any problems, because he has to eat, so he has to accept it when he finds it.But for people who are not so urgent, how to make a living should be a problem, and this is what we want to discuss.So what is a legitimate way of earning a living in a society built on grabbing, class distinctions, nationalism, greed, violence? Is there a legitimate way of earning a living in a society with these things? Of course not.If anything, it's just the wrong job, the wrong way of making a living.

What are you giving to society? What is society? Society is your relationship with someone or some people, your relationship with others.What are you giving to others? Are you really "giving" something to others, or are you just trying to get paid? As long as you don't know what you are giving to society, then whatever you get from society is doomed to make a living Way.This answer may be uncomfortable, so you have to think about it yourself and explore the relationship between yourself and society.Maybe you will ask me, "What do you give to the society in exchange for food, clothing, housing and transportation?" What I give to the society is what I talked about today, and these things cannot be said by just one person.What I give to the society is very real to me.You might retort, "Nonsense, it's not true at all." But I've given society what is truest to means.I care about that, not what society gives me.Guys, as long as you don't use society or your neighbors as a means to expand yourself, you will be content with what society gives you, so you won't be greedy.If you are not greedy, your relationship with society will be different.Because you don't see society as a means of expanding yourself, you reject social things, so there is a revolution in your relationship.You no longer have to rely on others to satisfy your spiritual needs, only then can you find a legitimate way of earning a living.

You may say that this solution is too complicated, but it is not at all.There are no simple answers to life.A person who wants to find simple answers to life must have a demented and stupid mind.Life has no conclusion, no pattern.Life is alive and changing.There is no definite answer to life, but we can understand the meaning of life.To understand the meaning of life, we must first understand that we use life as a means to satisfy and expand ourselves.Because we use life as a means to our own gratification, the societies we create are corrupt, decaying as soon as they exist.So, a deliberate society inherently has the seeds of corruption.

It is important for each of us to figure out our relationship with society.We need to find out whether this relationship is based on greed (meaning to expand oneself, to satisfy one's desire for power, status, and authority), or just to accept the basic necessities of society? If your relationship with society is only based on need rather than greed If you are connected, then, no matter where you are, even if the society is corrupt, you can find a legitimate way to make a living.Since societies decay so quickly, we have to figure it out quickly.Those who only establish a "need" relationship with society will create a new culture. They will become the core of society, so that society can equitably distribute the necessities of life, and will no longer be used as a means of self-aggrandizement.As long as you use society as a means of self-aggrandizement, you will seek power.Power will create class divisions in society, such as upper and lower, rich and poor, haves and don'ts, literate and illiterate, and fight against each other.The basis of power is capture, not need. "Seize" creates power, status, prestige.As long as these things exist, your relationship with society must be the wrong way to make a living.If you depend only on society for your needs, you have a legitimate means of earning a living, and your relationship to society is simple.Simplicity is neither "wanting", nor does it mean wearing clothes and being divorced from society.It is not simple to allow yourself to have only a few things. A simple heart is indispensable, but if the heart is used for self-expansion and self-satisfaction, then whether this satisfaction is the pursuit of God, the pursuit of knowledge, or the pursuit of money, The satisfaction of wealth and status cannot be pure in heart.The heart that seeks God is not pure, for God is only a projection of it.A simple man is one who sees and understands what is, and wants nothing more.Such a mind is content and understands the real situation. This does not mean accepting the status quo of society, accepting social oppression, class division, war, etc.If the heart sees and understands the realities of society and takes action, this kind of heart does not need many things, it is very simple and peaceful.Only when the mind is at peace can it experience eternity.