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has to come in immediate contact, direct, heart to heart. Nothing should be allowed between the two: your heart and the heart of reality. They should respond in a deep resonance. They should meet and mingle and merge and there should not even be a curtain of words, knowledge, concepts. Only then, you know what religion is.
Hassidism is religion, Judaism is just a reflection. Or you can say the same thing in other words: Judaism is just the periphery and Hassidism is the core -- the very core, the living soul, the very center.
Buddhism is the periphery, Zen is the core. Islam is the periphery, Sufism is the core.
And the core is one; peripheries are millions. On one center you can draw many concentric circles. You can go on drawing them; the center remains one.
We will be talking about Hassidism. Before we enter into the spirit of it, a few remarks are needed as an introduction.
Whenever the problem arises of how to talk about THE religion, it becomes very difficult because whatsoever you say about it is always going to be less than the truth. Whatsoever you say about it is always going to be a reflection. It can indicate; it cannot explain. It can show but it cannot say. So from where to begin, to indicate, to show?
I would like to start with Samuel Beckett's beautiful play, WAITING FOR GODOT. It is absurd -- as absurd as life is -- but the very absurdity of life, if understood deeply, becomes an indication towards something which is beyond and meaningful.
That which is beyond you is meaningful. And only the beyond is meaningful. That which is beyond mind is meaningful.
WAITING FOR GODOT can be a good beginning for Hassidism, Zen, or Sufism -- a very indirect indication. Because to say something direct about such intimate, deep phenomena is to violate them. So be cautious, move slowly. It is holy ground. The curtain rises: two vagabonds are sitting and waiting for Godot. Who is this Godot? They don't know; nobody knows. Even Samuel Beckett, when once asked: 'Who is this Godot?' said: 'If I had known, I would have said so in the play itself.' Nobody knows. This is a Zen gesture.
The word Godot sounds
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