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earth, shade to the pilgrims... but that is possible only if the tree is in a tremendous self-love.
Man has been taught 'Don't love yourself'. That has been the almost universal message of the so-called organised religions... not of Jesus but certainly of Christianity, not of Buddha but of Buddhism. Of all organised religions that has been the teaching: condemn yourself, you are a sinner, you are worthless; you deserve hell and nothing else.
And because of this condemnation the tree of man has shrunk, has lost lustre, can no more rejoice. People are dragging themselves somehow. This is not life; this is very pseudo, very superficial. People don't have any roots in existence -- they are uprooted. They are trying to be of service to others and they cannot, because they have not been even friendly to themselves. So they pretend to be friendly to others, but a pretension is a pretension; it creates a very false society. Hypocrisy becomes the foundation of such a society... very formal, with no relationship at all.
You see people in crowds but people are alone in the crowds, utterly lonely, because there is no relationship, there is no possibility of relationship. Friendship is not possible; how is relationship possible? So people relate only in a formal way. You love your wife because she is your wife. Love has to be done -- it is part of your duty, your duty as a husband. She has to love you -- her duty as a wife, but the persons are no more there. These are only two functions, husband and wife, two functionaries -- pretending, going through empty gestures, but the hearts never meet, they cannot meet; the very foundation has been destroyed.
My message is: the first love is self-love. One should be utterly happy to be oneself. One should rejoice in oneself, one should celebrate one's being. Nobody is a sinner, you are not condemned. By giving you birth, god has already appreciated you. By giving you birth, he has already respected you. A poet writes a poem because he loves it, and a painter paints a certain painting because that is in his heart. Man is possible only because man is god, in god's heart. This existence is possible only because
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