Being democratic doesn’t mean leaving your door unlocked when attackers are outside; checking visitors is just locking the door to keep everyone safe.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved master, you say you respect america for its democracy and freedom. I feel that we are contradicting that spirit by submitting all visitors, who want to come to see you and our commune, to customs inspections at portland and at mirdad, by having them sign papers and wear wristbands. This does not happen anywhere else in the usa. Was this part of the fascist mentality? Do we still need these things?
I respect democracy, but I don't respect the so-called politicians who are only hypocrites and not democrats. I hate fascism, and I don't want anything in this commune which gives any indication of a fascist structure. And it is true, as you say, in no other city of America are visitors searched. But you are not aware of the whole situation. You are not yet accepted by America as one of its cities. They are trying hard to destroy you, and their ways of destroying you are very simple. They can bring drugs inside the commune. Then who will be responsible for those drugs? Do you want me to be responsible for those drugs? Those people can come with all sorts of germs, viruses, and they can spread them among you. And if you are all sick, who is going to take care of you? So we are in a…
Osho, freedom of thought, expression, and speech is the basic foundation of democracy. One is free either to agree with what you say or to express one’s opposition. People do oppose, yet they don’t want to allow a person the freedom to do his own work. Why is that?
A single cup shattered both illusions. The drunkard went to the mosque, the sheikh to the tavern. About what we call life, and the values we pride ourselves upon—how many delusions there are in them, and how many truths! If you just open your eyes, you will not be able to avoid being startled. All over the world, in the name of democracy, such lies have been propagated—and for so long—that we have forgotten there is a need to reconsider that propaganda. It is said that democracy is of the people, for the people, by the people. But even the biggest lies, when repeated again and again, start to look like the truth. Adolf Hitler used to say: I have found only one difference between a lie and the truth—and that difference is repetition. A lie is a new truth that has not yet been repeated; and the truth is…
Beloved Osho, if national boundaries and visa restrictions continue to separate us from you and from each other, what is best for us to do about it?
They will not. It is for me to find a way that they don't restrict you from seeing me, from being with me. I am working on it, and I don't think it will take a long time to find a way; perhaps a month at the most. So nobody need worry about it. We will soon have our own place which will not be under any country's rule. And I want a totally new experiment that has not happened in history. There have been anarchists -- their philosophy is one of the best. But it is so good that it becomes impossible to make it real; it remains utopian. Prince Kropotkin, Tolstoy -- these people dreamed of a humanity which one day would drop all governments. They thought that governments are the causes of all the evil that exists on the earth. To some extent they are right, but…
Question: BELOVED MASTER, I AM ONE OF THE STARGAZERS, IDEALISTS, NAIVE. I LEARNED FROM YOU ABOUT TRUSTING EXISTENCE TOTALLY. BUT I UNDERSTOOD TOTAL TRUST TO MEAN JUST THAT -- TOTAL TRUST, TRUST UNTO DEATH. SO I HAD GREAT DIFFICULTY UNDERSTANDING WHEN MY OWN MASTER SUPPORTED PROTECTING OURSELVES WITH GUNS AND SEARCHING VISITORS, OR EVEN JUST BUYING INSURANCE. I BECAME SPLIT: ONE PART OF ME COULD SEE PERFECTLY WELL THAT EXISTENCE CONTAINS WARS AND FAMINES AND HITLERS, AND EVEN JUST THIEVES WHO WILL TAKE YOUR BELONGINGS IF YOU DON'T WATCH THEM. ANOTHER PART OF ME THREW OUT LOVE AND TRUST TO EXISTENCE, AND WAS REWARDED WITH GREAT JOY AND WHAT SEEMED LIKE A CONSTANT AND CONTINUOUS SHOWER OF MIRACLES. THE EVENTS AND THE DISCOURSES OF THE LAST FEW WEEKS HAVE GREATLY SHAKEN MY TRUST AND INTENSIFIED THE SPLIT IN ME.
Beloved Osho, a little while ago the british government refused your admission to england, even for an overnight stay, on the basis that your exclusion from the country was "conducive to the public good." just a few weeks later, the head of that same government authorized the use of military bases by american bombers for the recent attack on libya. The prime minister justified the decision to assist america's bombing of middle eastern cities saying that it was her duty to "prevent the evils of terrorism." the notions of good and evil expressed by the british government are simply mind-boggling
One has to understand that everything is relative, not ultimate; hence what appears to be good to one person may look evil to another. And there is no contradiction: both may be right. What is good depends on your preconceived ideas; so does evil. The British government thinks my entry even for an overnight stay in England, is not conducive to the public good. The same government is ready to allow American bombers, missiles, to use their bases, to destroy a small country like Libya, and to the government this seems to be conducive to public good. There is no inconsistency. In their eyes their society, their culture, their religion, their country has to be saved at any cost, because they think they stand for good -- although the British government has tortured humanity more than any other government in the world. For three hundred years it has been the…