Complete Wellbeing We are always comparing; from our very childhood we are taught comparison. Somebody else’s child is more cute, more beautiful, more intelligent; somebody else’s child is more obedient, and you are not.
All educational systems depend on comparison: somebody comes first, and somebody is the last in the class; somebody passes, somebody fails. Teachers appreciate students who are obedient; they hate students, they punish students who are not obedient in every way.
The whole structure of society is continuously comparing, and the very idea of comparison is absolutely false.
Each individual is unique because there is nobody else like him. Comparison would have been right if all individuals were alike; they are not. Even twins are not absolutely alike; it is impossible to find another man who is exactly like you. So, we are comparing unique people — which creates the whole trouble.
No first, no second
In my vision, in schools, there should be no examinations, so nobody comes first and nobody comes second, nobody passes and nobody fails. In schools, there should be merits given every day by every teacher in different subjects to each student. And, based on all those merits it should be decided when a child is ready to move into another class. Some child may be ready within two months; there is no need for him to wait one year. Some child may move after eight months, some child may move after twelve months, some child may take fifteen months. But, nobody is higher than the other; everybody is moving according to his pace, according to his interest.
Everybody has some uniqueness. Education should be organised in such a way that that uniqueness comes over, and becomes an actuality.
Plumber or professor, everyone is unique
A plumber should be as respected as a great physicist. The plumber should be as respected and dignified as the professor. These are professions. You should not value the individual by profession; the individual is invaluable. Hierarchy would drop from society if no profession were bigger and greater and higher than other professions; thereafter, comparison would start disappearing.
In schools comparison should start disappearing. There is no need for every child to read geography, or history, unless he loves it. The choice of subjects should be his love. Every school, every university, every college should devote at least two months in the beginning of the year for students to move into all other subjects, to listen to teachers of different subjects, and find out for themselves what is their love, what triggers their heart and their intelligence.
Right now the situation is such that a person who could have been a good butcher has become a surgeon. Now, there is going to be a difficulty. He should be a butcher, but the butcher should not be in any way lower than the surgeon. Society should be made of unique people, bringing out their talents as fully as possible. Education should help it, parents should help it, everybody around should help every child to bring out his talents. But, right now, that is not the situation; everybody is being ordered.
I have never felt at any point in my life that existence disappoints you if you are honest, sincere. It always helps you; it is immensely compassionate.
This whole system of hierarchy can be dissolved, and only then will inferiority complex dissolve. That is only a symptom.
Even Napoleon felt inferior
Everybody feels inferior—I say everybody, without exception—in some way or other. Somebody is more beautiful than you, somebody is healthier than you, somebody is more educated than you, somebody is in a higher post than you, and somebody has a more beautiful wife than you. Life is such a complex thing, and there are so many things in life that if you start comparing, nobody would be happy.
You would think that a man like Napoleon Bonaparte should not feel inferior: he’s one of the biggest heroes of our mad, so-called history. But, he felt very inferior because he was not very tall; he was only five-feet-five-inches. And, that was such a wound—that his soldiers were taller, his bodyguards were taller.
But, I don’t see any problem: whether you are six-feet, seven-feet, five-feet, anyway your feet reach the earth—that’s the whole purpose. It is not that when you are five-feet you are hanging two feet above and everybody laughs at you. The whole thing is that your feet reach the earth, you can walk.
Politicians and inferiority complex
Everybody feels inferior in some way or other, and the reason is that we don’t accept that everyone is unique. There is no question of inferiority or superiority. Everybody is just one of his kind; so comparison does not arise.
Politicians are the worst sufferers from inferiority complex. They want to prove to the world that they are great, they have power over millions—they are presidents, prime ministers. But, if you look at their lives, that inferiority complex has not left them; it is still there.
For centuries we have been creating the disease; we have not allowed people to accept themselves as they are. The moment you accept yourself as you are, without any comparison, all inferiority, all superiority disappears.
Don’t ask for anything. Whatever you have, existence is wiser than you think. It has given you everything that you need. Just explore your own treasures and bring them to their fulfilment. Bring every potentiality to actuality.
Once this disease disappears, politics will disappear automatically. Politics is the outcome of inferiority complex. People want power to prove to themselves and to others that they are not just nobodies.
I teach you just to be yourself, and that’s enough. You are accepted by the sun, you are accepted by the moon, you are accepted by the trees; you are accepted by the ocean, you are accepted by the earth… What more do you want?
You are accepted by this Universe. Rejoice in it!