If people call you silly, don’t worry—no one truly knows who’s wise or foolish, so just be yourself.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Will everyone count me a fool?
Yes, yes, they'll count you, they'll count you. And who can say whether the one whom everyone counts a fool—who lets himself be counted a fool—is wise or not? Who can say? Who can say?
While practicing zazen, just sitting, I discovered that I had become the greatest fool on earth. But suddenly I remembered one proverb: when ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise. Though this stupidity has made me a fool, I have never been so full as I am now. I have now fallen in love with this zazen stupidity. I invoke your blessings so that I remain a fool till eternity.
I have heard about one man who made a will when he died. And in the will he said, 'Write on my tomb: Born such-and-such year, died when thirty, buried when seventy.' Almost always it happens that people die near about thirty, then they are buried at seventy. That's another thing: burial is one thing, dying is another thing. When society comes to know that you are dead that's another thing. I have heard about a priest -- a Catholic priest of course -- who died, and for three days he could not understand what had happened. Then he came to his church and tried to communicate with his successor, and said, 'Be aware. I died, but for three days I did not think that I was dead because I was more dead while I was alive. I was feeling more alive so I did not think that I was…
I am a fool. What should I do?
What can you do? What can anybody do? Remain a fool, become a perfect fool. Accept it. Why should you ask about doing something? What is wrong in being a fool? Relax with it. Enjoy it. Persist in it. There is a statement of William Blake: THE FOOL WHO PERSISTS IN HIS FOLLY WILL BECOME WISE. So persist in it. Remain with it. Don't try to do anything else because if the fool tries to do something it will be foolish, it will come out of your foolishness and you will do something wrong. It is better to keep quiet. That's why Zen people say 'sit silently. Please don't do anything because whatsoever you do will be wrong. What can you do out of your foolishness? A fool trying to become wise -- is it possible? How is it possible? The fool is trying to become wise -- in his…
How long the night to the watchman, how long the road to the weary traveler, how long the wandering of many lives to the fool who misses the way.
IF THE TRAVELER CANNOT FIND MASTER OR FRIEND TO GO WITH HIM, LET HIM TRAVEL ON ALONE RATHER THAN WITH A FOOL FOR COMPANY. "MY CHILDREN, MY WEALTH!" SO THE FOOL TROUBLES HIMSELF. BUT HOW HAS HE CHILDREN OR WEALTH? HE IS NOT EVEN HIS OWN MASTER. THE FOOL WHO KNOWS HE IS A FOOL IS THAT MUCH WISER. THE FOOL WHO THINKS HE IS WISE IS A FOOL INDEED. DOES THE SPOON TASTE THE SOUP? A FOOL MAY LIVE ALL HIS LIFE IN THE COMPANY OF A MASTER AND STILL MISS THE WAY. THE TONGUE TASTES THE SOUP. IF YOU ARE AWAKE IN THE PRESENCE OF A MASTER ONE MOMENT WILL SHOW YOU THE WAY. THE FOOL IS HIS OWN ENEMY. THE MISCHIEF HE DOES IS HIS UNDOING. HOW BITTERLY HE SUFFERS! WHY DO WHAT YOU WILL REGRET? WHY BRING TEARS UPON YOURSELF? DO ONLY WHAT YOU DO NOT…
Empathy comes and goes. When it goes I am a wreck. I am falling apart in fear and yearning. The yearning is getting deeper, twisting in my gut. Sometimes I know I am a fool and in those moments can hear the birds and see the sky. I have written questions for months and not handed them in because they all seemed foolish when the moment passes.
First, all questions are foolish. I have never come across a question which is wise. How can there be a wise question? Questions are foolish. All questions are childish. One of the very important therapists in the West was Fritz Perls. He used to say to his friends, patients and disciples, that only children ask questions. That seems to be perfectly true. Only children ask questions. Have you ever walked with a child -- just a morning walk? And see -- he will not allow you to walk at all. A thousand and one questions... each step brings questions. 'Why is this tree green papa?' Now who knows why this tree is green? Everything becomes a question for a child. Put anything in a child's mind and out comes a question. The whole mechanism is question-producing. Anything, any small thing -- and the child immediately makes it a question. Questioning…