Yes, that’s exactly what happens.

The whole world is a chaos, because people go on saying things, not knowing what they are saying, to others who can’t hear, who are not in a state to hear it.

And we go on interpreting according to our own prejudices, we go on imposing our meanings on the words of others. The others function only as screens and we project our own films on them.

I have heard an ancient story:

Once a great emperor, a chakravartin, who ruled the whole earth, decided that if the whole world stops all kinds of noise even for a single minute, that silence will be some incredible experience. But how to convince people to stop totally for one moment – the whole world stopping for one minute – no talking. Even though he was a great emperor, it was not feasible. He inquired of his wise men.

They said, “That seems to be an impossible task. How can we manage it? How will we guard? Who can prevent people from talking, making noise? Millions of people. Your army is big, but compared to the people your army is nothing.”

Then a mystic rose and said to the king, “I can manage it. I know the secret.”

He whispered the secret into the ears of the king, and the secret worked. The secret was very strange – as are the ways of the mystics – always very strange. On the surface they look like something, deep down they are something else: maybe exactly the opposite of what they appear on the surface.

The mystic told the king, “You make an announcement that on a particular day at twelve o’clock midday, the whole world has to shout together the sound Hoo for one minute. The whole world has to shout it. Nobody is allowed not to shout, everybody has to participate.”

The king said, “What are you talking about? I want the world to fall into absolute peace for one moment!”

The mystic said, “I know people! You just follow what I am saying, and what you want will happen.”

And it really happened. The king declared, the day was fixed, and people waited eagerly for that moment. The whole world shouting Hoo for one minute: it was going to be something extraordinary!

Everybody thought, “I am not going to shout, I will listen. Why miss such an opportunity? The king himself wants to listen, why should I miss the opportunity? And who may find out? When the whole world is shouting Hoo, who may find out that I have not been a participant?”