"The only way is to be here. You cannot be there. The tomorrow is non-existent, it never comes, and idealism believes in the tomorrow. It sacrifices the today at the altar of the tomorrow. It goes on saying to you, 'Do something – improve yourself. Do something – change yourself. Do something – become perfect.' It appeals to the ego.

"Idealism belongs to the world of the ego. It appeals to the ego that you can be more perfect than you are; in fact you should be more perfect than you are. But each moment is perfect, and it cannot be more perfect than it is.

"To understand this is the beginning of a new life, is the beginning of life. To miss this is to commit suicide.

"Then you go on destroying this moment for the moment which never comes. Then you go on destroying this life for some life which exists nowhere. You go on destroying this world for some other world – some paradise, some moksha, some nirvana. To sacrifice the present for the future is to be trapped into death.

"To live the moment, to live it totally and freely, is to delight in existence, is to celebrate it. And that is the only way of being; there is no other way. Idealism has put you on a wrong track.

"The first thing to be understood: you are perfect.

"If somebody says to you that you have to become perfect, he is the enemy. Beware of him! Escape from him as soon as possible. Don't let him poison your being. Don't let him destroy you. He may have been destroyed by others; now he is doing the same to you. He himself may be a victim. Have compassion on him, but don't allow him to destroy you. He has not lived his life. He has only hoped; he has not lived. He has only dreamt; he has not lived. He has only prepared, planned; he has not lived.

"The idealist mind goes on preparing for something that never happens. It is a nightmare. It goes on preparing and preparing – infinite preparations for a journey that never starts. It goes on planning in a thousand and one ways – subtle, cunning, clever – but the whole thing is pointless, because each moment it is denying life."