What Makes Us Human
Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles, USA
Prem Rawat:
What I have to say is, you are so fortunate to be alive—incredibly fortunate, unparalleled. That within you is this incredible ocean of peace, of joy. That within you are the beautiful, cool shades, the cool waters. And when it gets confusing, you have to know that wherever you go, you always carry in you this incredible peace, this incredible joy. It’s always there, always.
And that’s what makes you so fortunate—not the accomplishments outside. Because they will come and go; they will become useless at one point.
I talk about the two walls—one wall where you came through and you were born—and the other wall that you are moving towards. And you will go through that wall and you will disappear. Now, I’m sure nobody likes to hear that. Because it’s a very strange relationship with life that we have. On one hand, we really can’t do without it.
I mean, it’s one of those things. It’s like, you need it; you absolutely need this thing called “life.” And secretly, you actually love it. And it’s one of those love affairs that is not obvious.
But at the same time that you love this life, that—you want things to be a certain way. And that’s your fight. You want things to be according to your imagination, according to your dreams, according to your ideas. You want this thing to be this way; you want this thing to be this way; you want this person to be this way, you want that person to be that way.
And all your life, you actually love that very thing—but you ignore it. So, you love life—but you ignore it—why? Because, because you are alive you have the capacity to be able to try, (or you think you could), try to change everybody—and everything.
And if you could change everybody and if you could change everything—it’s a ridiculous idea, but this is your road map—your road map is, “I’m not going to change myself. (I don’t want to change.) But I want to change everybody else—and I want to change everything else.” And that’s your road map.
And the amazing thing is, you have no idea how common that road map is. Everybody has the same exact road map. Everybody figures, “If people weren’t the way they are….” If everybody just listened to you, all the time—because you’re always right. Even when you are dead wrong, you’re right.
And so that’s your effort: “Let’s change the world.” Of course, you realize the comedy in this. Everybody is trying to change everybody. And nobody wants to change. So you’re trying to change the person that is next to you, and that person is trying to change you—and that person, the other person on the other side is also trying to change you….
And change, change, change, and nobody wants to change—because we don’t understand what a change is. “The universe is about changes; life is about understanding.” (Aristotle.)
Look. The gift that I have come to give you this evening—and I have a gift for you, I’m in the process of giving it to you––it is not an object. But it is the most beautiful gift because it is a gift to be able to think differently. That’s the gift that I give people.
Because in your thinking, peace is not in you; somebody’s going to bring it. “Dennnh! Wrong.” It’s in you.
The world doesn’t need to change; people don’t need to change; you need to change. And how will you change? By unchanging. “Heh?!” Yes, you are no longer who you really are. You are no longer who you really are, and all you have to do is become who you really are, and the change is finished. That’s the change!
That’s what Socrates said; “Know thyself!” Because if you actually knew who you were, you wouldn’t be chasing all this other stuff. You would be going into that beautiful pond of serenity, of clarity, and diving in and going, “Wow….” Because you have it in you. You have it in you.
And to be able to understand that, to be able to think differently, this can change this life from struggle to enjoyment.
I can only give you what I understand. What I don’t understand, I will not give you. I’m not here to fire up your imagination, start telling you how incredible heaven is. No, I want to tell you that if there is a heaven, it’s here. And I want to tell you, “Before you hit that wall, find it. Find it; enjoy it”—because you don’t know what’s on the other side of the wall. (It’s the honest truth.)
I could tell you things. Oh, people will listen to me; I’ll have a much bigger audience than this. But that’s not what I’m going to tell you. I’m going to tell you—that if there is a hell, it’s not created by Satan; it’s created by us. And we’re the ones who are creating a hell. Not discovering the heaven that is here.
You are here. You are alive. And I think it’s a good time—to find out in your life how much of that, most incredible treasures that you have in you—that you dug up, that you brought out. Did you dive in and dig at the mines of clarity? To dig like you have never dug before? To enjoy the riches, the wealth of clarity?
Did you find your Divine in you? Did you find compassion? Did you find your peace? Did you find your joy? Did you find your love? Did you find your wisdom? Because that’s what makes you human. Not fighting—monkeys fight too. Fish can fight—I saw them today, fighting. Snakes fight.
Fighting doesn’t make you human. Your errors don’t make you human. What makes you human, (not sapiens)—what makes you human are these incredible gifts that have been given to you, that you encompass in your life—clarity. Wisdom. Joy. Peace. “Wow! Wow! Wow!”
What else could you ask for? What else could you ask for? Whatever clarity exists, (wherever it comes from, wherever, whatever, whatever, whatever), in this being called “human,” it can dance—it’s a stage; it can dance.
Wherever peace comes from, (where, wherever, wherever, wherever, wherever in this universe, world, bla-bla-bla, whatever), in this stage called a “human,” it can dance; it can, it can just scream; it can just, “Yes!”
What’s so special about being alive is that you are the stage on which the peace can dance. And there you are—and what is dancing on your stage? Hello? Confusion? Disappointment? When you start to become disappointed with yourself—listen to me. When you start to become disappointed with yourself, nobody can help you after that. And you do.
Because this thing called “imagination” came along and painted a picture—and it painted a wild picture. And you bought that picture; you didn’t edit that picture; you didn’t clean that picture up; you bought it, hook, line and sinker. And you went, “That’s what I want.”
And that first hour you realized you didn’t quite make it there, the disappointment starts to set in, and it’s a very weird disappointment. Because you know you are disappointed with yourself—but you don’t know how to express it to yourself.
When you’re disappointed with somebody else, you know how to express it to them. But when you’re disappointed with yourself, you don’t know how to express it to yourself. And that’s the day you start fighting yourself. And the day—that is the day you need to listen to what I am saying: “Know thyself. Don’t fight yourself; know yourself.”
You are not the instrument to fulfill your wishes; you are not Aladdin’s lamp; (your name isn’t even “Aladdin”). It’s not your job—to go around fantasizing how your life should be and then trying to make that a reality; that’s not what life is about. It’s about this heaven—this heaven—and this heaven that is in you.
Peace is good news. You know, and you come from fear and nothing gets done. Take away the fear and something wonderful happens. And you need to do that to your life, in your life. Celebrate peace; celebrate this existence because (like I started with this), you are so fortunate.