Doing good because you're scared, bribed, or trained—like a dog hearing a bell—isn't real goodness; real goodness comes when you are awake and choose from understanding.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Question: BELOVED MASTER, WHAT IS MECHANICAL GOODNESS? Gina Goyt, there is nothing like mechanical goodness. Goodness cannot be mechanical and anything mechanical cannot be good. It is a contradiction in terms. Goodness can only be conscious, nonmechanical; and evil can only be unconscious, mechanical. But I understand your question. It is relevant, because for centuries something like mechanical goodness has been taught to people because it is easy. People ARE mechanical. To bring real goodness in their lives, real virtue, you will have to transform their unconsciousness into consciousness, you will have to change their darkness into light. That is an arduous effort, and the society, moreover, is not interested in it at all. In fact, it is afraid of it because whenever a REALLY good person has happened in the world he has created trouble for the society.
Osho: would you please say something about the relationship between spontaneity and working on oneself? Shouldn't we be loving as much as we can? If there are certain things to do or ways to be to increase our capacity for joy, shouldn't we do them? Shouldn't we let our egos drop? Many good men have written that love can begin as an impulse of the will, and trying to be spontaneous seems to be a contradiction. Would you comment on this?
You have forgotten what real love is. You fall in love with the color of the hair -- now, what has that to do with love? After two days you will not look at the color of the hair at all. Or you fall in love with a certain shape of nose or a certain kind of eyes, but after the honeymoon these things are just boring! And then you have to go on managing somehow, pretending, cheating. Your spontaneity has been corrupted and poisoned, otherwise you would not fall in love with parts. But you only fall in love with parts. If somebody asks you, 'Why do you love this woman or this man?" your answer will be, "Because she looks so beautiful," or, "Because of her nose, eyes, proportion of the body, this and that" -- and all this is nonsense! Then this love cannot be very deep…
Question: BELOVED OSHO, YOU ARE GOOD WHEN YOU ARE FULLY AWAKE IN YOUR SPEECH. YET YOU ARE NOT EVIL WHEN YOU SLEEP WHILE YOUR TONGUE STAGGERS WITHOUT PURPOSE. AND EVEN STUMBLING SPEECH MAY STRENGTHEN A WEAK TONGUE. YOU ARE GOOD WHEN YOU WALK TO YOUR GOAL FIRMLY AND WITH BOLD STEPS. YET YOU ARE NOT EVIL WHEN YOU GO THITHER LIMPING. EVEN THOSE WHO LIMP GO NOT BACKWARD. BUT YOU WHO ARE STRONG AND SWIFT, SEE THAT YOU DO NOT LIMP BEFORE THE LAME, DEEMING IT KINDNESS. YOU ARE GOOD IN COUNTLESS WAYS, AND YOU ARE NOT EVIL WHEN YOU ARE NOT GOOD, YOU ARE ONLY LOITERING AND SLUGGARD. PITY THAT THE STAGS CANNOT TEACH SWIFTNESS TO THE TURTLES. IN YOUR LONGING FOR YOUR GIANT SELF LIES YOUR GOODNESS: AND THAT LONGING IS IN ALL OF YOU.
Beloved Osho, seven years ago I took sannyas. You spoke to me about the witness and about watching. When you finished, and before I could leave, you stopped me and said, "and you're a good man." your love and your grace have been with me these seven years, beloved master. I am still in wonderment: what is a good man?
These are not the qualities of the authentic religious man. The religious man has no judgment, no condemnation. He knows one thing: that no act is good, no act is bad; awareness is good and unawareness is bad. You may even do something -- in unawareness -- which looks good to the whole world, to the religious man that is not good. And you may do something bad, and you will be condemned by everybody -- except by the religious man. He cannot condemn you, because you are unconscious. You need compassion, not judgment, not condemnation -- you don't deserve hell, nobody deserves hell. As your meditation deepens, your witnessing becomes great. That's what I was saying to you about witnessing and watching when you took sannyas seven years ago. I had forgotten to tell you, not to think that witnessing or watchfulness are nothing but good qualities. That's why,…
Osho, behaviorist psychologists believe that if behavior is properly trained, a person can be changed and improved. Please tell us how true this idea is.
Therefore my entire emphasis is: never accept being forced by someone else into any mold. That is how you lose your soul. The only meaning of soul is your freedom. And the only meaning of freedom is the freedom to be bad or to be good. If you wish, you can be bad; if you wish, you can be good. Let that wish be yours. Let there be no external control over it. Only then does the soul appear within you and grow. It may be that the human race, the entire earth, could be made crime‑free. It may be that all wrongdoers could be forcibly changed. But there will be no benefit from it. The earth will become empty. You will see machines—human machines. Man will be lost. The dignity of man will be lost. Even that “good” earth will be a corpse, not living. You are alive because…