Most of the people in the world have lived in slavery because of a simple psychological fact: slavery is cozy, freedom is an open sky. Slavery is the security of the cage. The bird in the cage need not worry about food, need not worry about enemies, need not worry about changes of seasons, but he has sold his freedom for all this security.
Zen’s effort is to take you out of your cages. Those cages have beautiful names: Christianity, Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism. The effort of Zen is – it does not matter what kind and what shape of cage you are living in, but don’t live in a cage. And the whole universe is available to you. It has not to be searched for, it is already there throbbing in your heart. Just be more conscious of your interiority, and you will start growing up.
Very few people grow up, most people only grow old. Growing up makes one a buddha. And the lowest has the potential to become the buddha. But never become a Buddhist – that is a cage. Never belong to any organization. Never belong to any system of belief or morality. Just belong only to your own freedom, and freedom certainly brings immense responsibility. For everything you do you are responsible. There is nobody else to take the responsibility. That’s why people have agreed to believe in all kinds of lies.
God is a lie, but it helps people to make him responsible. He made the world – if he has made us the way we are, he is responsible. They have believed in prophets, in messiahs, just to give them their responsibility. And all your messiahs, your Christs, your Krishnas, ask you only one thing: “Believe in me and I will take care of your spiritual life.”
There are millions of Christians, and they believe in Jesus and they believe in God, but their spirituality has not blossomed. Nor has it blossomed in other religions. Something is fundamentally wrong. Zen makes it a point to make you aware of that wrong. Giving up responsibility felt good – the burden is gone. But with the responsibility gone, your freedom has also disappeared. And a man who doesn’t know freedom, knows nothing of life, knows nothing of love, knows nothing of creativity, knows nothing of this immense universe.
When I say there is no meaning, I mean you have to create meaning. It is not there ready-made, on sale. When I say there is no goal, I simply mean you have to learn to live without goals. A man lives only to the point, to the depth – who has no goals, no sources, who is alone in this vast universe, without any guidance.
All scriptures are unholy, because they all pretend to be your guidance, your guides. But you don’t need guides. You need awareness, and every guide will want you to be blind. It is easier for the guide if people are blind, because they don’t ask questions, they don’t create doubt. They are ready to be slaves if security is given to them, and that’s what all religions are giving you: security in afterlife, security in heaven.
Just the other day I was watching a film about Jesus, and I love the man. Unless I love anybody, I don’t criticize him, I don’t feel he is worth criticizing. Watching the film, there were a few points: