The Difficulties Are in Your Programming

You’ve got people you’re living with, and you’re having difficulty in human relations? Human relations are never difficult; it’s your programming that’s difficult. There are never any difficulties in relating to people. There are only difficulties in your programming. How come you’re getting upset? You ask, “It’s possible to live with a guy who’s losing his temper every day and not get upset?” Yes. Yes, very much so, to not be upset. You ask, “When somebody insults you, you’re not getting upset? That’s right. “Why not? Why not be upset when someone insults you?”

I mean, when the letter isn’t received, it’s sent back to the person who wrote it. You don’t receive it, it goes back. You know why you got insulted or why you were upset by the insult? Because you took it, that’s why. Silly, why did you take it? “You mean that it’s possible not to take it? You mean, you call this being human—living like a little monkey? Any- one pulls a little string and you jump?”

I’ll tell you what it means to be human. You know what it means to be human? It’s something like this: A guy buys a newspaper every day from a newspaper vendor. The newspaper vendor is always rude to him. So a friend of his says, “Why do you buy your paper from this guy? He’s always rude to you. Why don’t you buy it from someone else just next door?”

Says this guy, “Why should the vendor decide where I buy my newspaper? Why should he have the power to decide that?” Now, you’re talking about a human being. Otherwise, you’re talking about monkeys. You could control them; just twist their tail a little and they act in predictable ways. Programming. Programming.

So, it isn’t the person who has upset you. It isn’t you who have upset yourself. It’s your program- ming. All you have to do is understand this and distance yourself from it, understand it.