Two people came and presently explained that they were Christians, and so they wanted to bring about peace in the world.
Do not these very labels – Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, and so on – keep people separate? As national and economic barriers divide people, so religions with their symbolism, their darkening altars, and their chanting priests keep people apart. Beliefs and dogmas, creeds and ritualism build an insurmountable barrier. It is over these that there have been, and there still are, vain controversies. It is these that create intolerance and antagonism. It is these that corrupt the mind and the heart. It is the spirit of sectarianism, exclusiveness, and privileges that destroys the unity of man, goodwill, and love.
Religion is the way of love in life, not belief. It is action without the self and its private motives, and not ritualism. It is the search for the highest without corrupting dogma.
When one asserts that one is a Christian or a Hindu, an American or an Englishman, there goes with it a certain pride and power, which inevitably create barriers between people. And when they say they are Christians, are they not aware of all its implications? Are they not aware of the insignificance of the label and the greatness of reality? The more they are concerned with the petty, is there not the less of the real?
Love, compassion, goodwill – these do not need a label, and it is these that will bring peace to the world. Neither mere economic adjustment, nor the domination of one or two peoples, nor technical advancement can bring peace. On the contrary, without a change of heart, these can bring about only greater and more destructive catastrophes.
To bring peace to the world, you must begin with yourself, for you are the world. What you are, the world is. If you are greedy, competitive, seeking privilege and profit, attached to this or that label, jealous and passionate, then you will have a world in which hate and wars will exist, a world of increasing chaos and tyranny, of ruthlessness and fear.
You have created the world’s problem, and you are the only person who can solve it. Do not leave it to specialists, to the politicians, to the leaders, for what you are the world is.