No Way Out

Q: U.G., I have read a statement that is attributed to you. It says that nature is not interested in creating a perfect being, but that its interest is only to create a perfect species. What do you mean by that? UG: We have for centuries been made to believe that the end product of human evolution, if there is one, is the creation of perfect beings modeled after the great spiritual teachers of mankind and their behavior patterns. Q: By great spiritual teachers you mean people like Jesus and the Buddha? UG: All of them. All the great teachers—the occidental, the oriental, and the Chinese teachers. That is the basic problem we are confronted with. I don't think I have any special insights into the laws of nature. But if there is any such thing as an end product of human evolution (I don't know if there is such a thing as evolution, but we take it for granted that there is), what nature is trying to produce is not a perfect being. Q: But scientific research has revealed that there...

Q: I have always been told that mankind has a certain purpose in creation. But ever since I have read your books, I have begun to wonder whether this is true. UG: You are the one to answer that question. We don't give a tinker's damn, to use that harsh expression, to what others have said about it? How does it matter whether what they have said is true or not. It is up to you to find out. I can say that there is no purpose, and if there is any purpose, we have no way of knowing it. We only repeat what we have been told. We are made to believe that there is a purpose, and that belief is what is responsible for the tragedy of mankind today. We have also been made to believe that we are created for a grander purpose, for a nobler purpose, than all the species on this planet. This is not all. We are also told that the whole creation was created for the benefit of man: that's why we have created all these problems—ecological problems and problems of pollution. Now, we are almost...