Yes, I call it the first religion, because religion is the highest flowering of consciousness. Up to now, man was not capable of conceiving of it. Even now, only one percent of humanity is barely able to conceive of it. The masses are still living in the past, burdened with the past, conditioned by the past. Barely one percent of mankind is in a state now to conceive of religion. All the old religions are based on fear. Now, a real religion destroys fear. It is not based on fear.

The concept of God in all the old religions is nothing but out of fear, a consolation; otherwise there is no validity, no evidence, no proof for the existence of God. The people who believe in God are really people who cannot trust in themselves. They need a father figure, a big daddy. They are still childish. Their mental age is nearabout twelve years, not more than that. They need somebody to give them courage, to guide them, to protect them. They are simply afraid to be left alone. They are afraid of death, which is coming closer every day. They need somebody to protect them from death. It is a projection of your fear. The moment your fear disappears you will find there is no God. The moment you are able to trust in yourself, to be yourself, there will be no God. You will laugh at the whole concept of God.

Now, Jesus is praying to God, continually raising his hands toward the sky, as if God is there above, in the heavens. And not only is he praying, he is receiving answers too – he is hearing voices! Now, these are symptoms of neurosis. To tell you the truth, Jesus is a mental case. He is a nice fellow, he is a good person, but the way he behaves proves many things. He is a fanatic. He carries the same kind of mind as Adolf Hitler. He is a fascist. He thinks that only those who follow him will be saved; anybody who does not follow him is going to fall into eternal hell. Now, only a simpleton can say such a thing. Who is he to save anybody? But he says he is “the only begotten son of God.” And he truly believes it. It is not only that he says it, he truly believes it!

Until the crucifixion, he truly believes it. It is only the crucifixion which brings a little sense to this insane man. Only at the crucifixion, he cries, “Why have you forsaken me?” He was certainly waiting for a miracle to happen. He is the only son of God, and God doesn’t come. And if he doesn’t come at the crucifixion, then when? And if even Jesus is not being saved, what is the guarantee that those who are going to follow Jesus will be saved? And the fools still believe that they will be saved if they follow Jesus. Even Jesus is not saved. And he knew it. He waited for a time for the miracle to happen – but it didn’t happen.

Miracles don’t happen at all. They have never happened. They are only wish fulfillments of people who are dreaming and hallucinating. They are not realities. If you believe in them, they may appear to you almost real, perhaps more than real. It is your belief that creates the hallucination; otherwise there is nothing – no miracle. But Jesus believed that he himself was doing miracles; and he was waiting for the miracle. These are all very childish qualities.