To do unto others what you would like to be done to you by them can be right only if everybody’s taste is the same. And that is not the case. For example, somebody is a masochist; he likes to be beaten, he likes to be tortured. Now what should he do with you, torture you? According to the principle, he should beat you, he should torture you, because that’s what he wants you to do to him.

Perhaps Hillel or the Jewish philosophers were not aware that there are people who love to be tortured and there are people who love to torture. It is the latest contemporary psychological insight that there are sadists who like to torture, and there are masochists who like to be tortured; hence, it is said that the best couple in the world would be if by chance a sadist and a masochist get married. Then they are living in paradise, because one wants to be tortured and the other wants to torture. Both are enjoying.

But it is very difficult. No astrologer thinks about it, no parents think about it. In fact, whether somebody is a sadist or a masochist is not considered at all when people are thinking about marriage. Before you fall in love, remember the first basic inquiry: if you are a sadist, then find a masochist; if you are a masochist, find a sadist. The best places to find such people are the offices of psychoanalysts. Just sit outside there; you will find all kinds of people. But this statement will not be applicable.

And you want to know if somebody asks you about my philosophical standpoint… It is not going to be that easy, because I see man as a multi-dimensional being. You will be able to state it standing on one foot, there is no need for sentences, but you will have to state ten non-commandments.

The first: freedom.

The second: uniqueness of individuality.

The third: love.

The fourth: meditation.

The fifth: non-seriousness.

The sixth: playfulness.

The seventh: creativity.

The eighth: sensitivity.

The ninth: gratefulness.

The tenth: a feeling of the mysterious.

These ten non-commandments constitute my basic attitude towards reality, towards man’s freedom from all kinds of spiritual slavery.