"It has a certain logic; the known may be painful, miserable, but at least it is known. Who knows? – the unknown may be more painful, more miserable. And we know how to deal with the known; we don't know how to deal with the unknown.

"We have become accustomed to the known; it is painful, but because we have been living in it for so long even the pain has become part of us. The misery has become our way of life. Slowly, slowly we have accepted it; now it no longer hurts.

"In fact the mind is afraid that if all this pain, misery and suffering is taken away, it will find itself in a space with which it is absolutely unacquainted; and that is frightening.

"The greatest fear in the world is the fear of the unknown – and mind is a coward. Hence, the world at large perhaps may never be ready. Not that it does not feel the thirst; it feels the thirst, but it has not the guts to recognize it. Even to recognize it is dangerous. That means the beginning of a search, the beginning of a seeking, again moving into the unknown.

"The moment you start searching, you become alone.

"If you don't search, you are surrounded by a crowd, a vast crowd of believers, of people who have faith. The crowd gives you a certain warmth, coziness. It makes you feel that you must be right because so many people, millions of people, are on the same way. You can be wrong, but so many people cannot be wrong. And if they are all moving in the same direction, it brings you a certainty.

"That's why people want to belong to a church, to a religion, to a dogma, to a creed, to an ideology – political, religious, social; but they want to belong to a crowd, they don't want to stand alone.

"To stand alone…the fear arises: Who knows whether you are right or wrong?

"To stand alone, you stand in coldness.

"To stand alone, you lose the coziness of the crowd. To stand alone, you lose the faith of the fanatic. To stand alone, you lose the authority of a long tradition."