People are tense. Tension arises when you are chasing something: relaxation arises when you are allowing something.
People are chasing, chasing hard, trying to get something out of life, trying to squeeze life. Nothing comes of it because that is not the way. You cannot squeeze life, you have to surrender to it. you cannot conquer life. You have to be so courageous to be defeated by life. Defeat is victory there, and the effort to be victorious is going to proof to be nothing but your final, utter failure.
Life cannot be conquered because the part cannot conquer the whole. It is as if a small drop of water is trying to conquer the ocean. Yes, the small drop can fall into the ocean and become the ocean, but cannot conquer the ocean. In fact, dropping into the ocean, slipping into the ocean is the way to conquer.
People are trying to find happiness, hence the over concern with the body. It is almost an obsession. It has gone beyond the limits of concern to obsession with the body. They are making an effort to have some contract with happiness through the body, and that is not possible.
The second problem is that the mind is competitive. You may not be really in love with body, you may be just competing with others. Because others are doing things, you have to do them. And the western mind is the most shallow, Ambitious mind that has ever existed. It is very wordy mind that is why the business man has become the top most reality in West. Everything else has faded into the background, the business man, the man who controls money is the top most reality. In India, Brahmins were the top most reality - the seekers of God. In Europe, the aristocrats were the top most reality - cultured, educated, alert, in-tuned with the subtle nuances of life: Music, art, poetry, sculpture, architecture, classical dances, languages - greek and latin. Under Communism the proletariat, the downtrodden, the oppressed, the labourer is the top most reality. Under capitalism it is the business man, the one who controls money.
Money is the most competitive realm. You need not have culture, you need only have money. You need not know anything about music or poetry. You need not know anything about ancient literature, history, religion, philosophy - know, you need not know. IF you have a big bank balance, you are important. That is why, I say the western mind is the most shallow mind that has existed. It has turned everything into commerce. It is continuously in competition. Even if you purchase a Vangogh or a Picasso, you don't purchase because it is Picaso. You purchase it because the neighbours have purchased one. They have one in their drawing room, so how can you afford not to have one? You have to have it. You may not know even how to hang it properly since it is difficult to know, With a Picasso whether it is hanging upside down or rightsize up. You may not even know whether it is an authentic Picasso. You may not look at it much but you have acquired it because others have. You simply flaunt your money and possession because what ever is costly is thought to be significant.
Money and the neighbours seem to be the only criterion in deciding Western success. You have to keep up with Joneses. IF they have saunas in their bathrooms, everyone has to have one to be part of the "in" crowd. otherwise you look poor. If everyone has a house in the hills you have to have a one too. You may not know how to enjoy the hills or you simply may be bored their. Or you may take your TV and radio there and just listen to the same programs you were listening to in you old home. What difference does it make whether you live? the answer is that it matters because it matters to others. And so on it goes.
