According to Osho, Switzerland has no war heroes—and that’s a virtue. Heroes are mostly products of war; without war, ordinary peaceful people suffice. He honors Switzerland’s long peace and low crime, suggesting we drop hero-worship and see the nation’s quiet humanity as the true 'hero'—Switzerland itself, not a singular figure.
There isn’t one Swiss ‘hero’; the country’s peaceful way of living is the real hero.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
What do you know about switzerland?
I have never been there. Only one thing I know: I have many Swiss sannyasins -- thousands -- and beautiful communes in Switzerland. I have seen my sannyasins from Switzerland: they are the cleanest...! Switzerland is a little piece of the Himalayas -- smaller mountains, but still the same quality and the same scenery. It must be a beautiful country; I have seen the beauty of its people. And I respect Switzerland: for one hundred and forty years they have not fought a single war. That shows they are not psychologically sick. They are living in an earthly paradise; if they can also learn how to live in the inner paradise, they will be the most happy people in the whole world. And I am going to go there. Every government is worried. Cabinet meetings for an entry visa? -- nobody has ever heard of it. And parliaments deciding whether…
Switzerland is a rich and beautiful country, but there are so many people suffering for many reasons, and they even enjoy this. Why can't they use their freedom and prosperity to be happy?
Humanity can be divided into two parts: the first is sadist, the second is masochist. The sadist enjoys torturing others; the masochist enjoys torturing himself. This is a very ugly situation, but for centuries we have been cultivating this split. The people who are masochists have become great saints. Their only quality, their only genius, was that they tortured themselves. It was thought and propagated by the religions of the world that to torture oneself is the way to God. There is no logic in it because why, if there is any God, would he like his children to torture themselves? -- unless he himself is a sadist and enjoys people being tortured by others or by themselves. These philosophies of masochism have been predominant. The people who had no other talents, no other creative possibilities, easily chose to torture themselves -- fast, beat yourself, find out new ways of…
[NOTE: This is a typed tape transcript and has not been edited or published, as of August 1992. It is for reference use only. The interviewer's remarks have been omitted where not relevant to Osho's words] INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTIAN SIDEL, SONNTAGSBLICK, ZURICH, SWITZERLAND Q:* I WANT TO ASK SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT SWITZERLAND. YOU LOVE THE SWISS PEOPLE? A:* I hate all divisions in humanity -- Swiss, Italian, German, Indian. Mankind is one. The whole earth is one. The people are all lovable, everywhere. There is no need to discriminate. Of course I love people who live in Switzerland, but I will not call them Swiss people. Q:* THE SWISS PEOPLE THERE ARE FAMOUS BECAUSE OF THE CLEAN COUNTRY AND THEY ARE CALLING THEMSELVES A COMMUNE TOO. DO YOU THINK THERE IS A SIMILARITY BETWEEN YOUR COMMUNE AND SWITZERLAND, BECAUSE YOU ARE PREPARING YOUR COMMUNE VERY CLEAN TOO?
Osho, are you in favor of hero-worship? Does hero-worship bring understanding or exaggeration?
Third, I oppose it because hidden within the feeling of worship is the notion that someone else will do something for me. That through worship, something will be done for me. If I worship Rama, Rama will do something for me. If I call out to Christ, Christ will do something for me. In this world, no one can do anything for anyone else. And those who get the idea that someone else will do something for them become deprived of what they themselves could have done. They fall into deep laziness and negligence. All devotees, all worshipers, ultimately fall into inertia; they themselves do nothing. They say, “There is God, there is the guru, there is the tirthankara, the avatar—when he does it, it will happen.” Unknowingly, what they could have done becomes impossible, because their mind clings to a prop: someone will do it. Fourth and finally, I…
The man who had suggested it was his own servant, absolutely uneducated. Two poles: Edison, the man who invented one thousand scientific gadgets -- the gramophone, the radio, the electric bulb... In fact without Edison you would be in difficulty living because all gadgets are his. And the servant was utterly uneducated. The next day, when the servant came, he was puzzled. He asked Edison "What have you done? Why have you made two holes?" He said "But I have got two cats and how can two cats pass through one hole?" The servant could not believe him: what nonsense was this? In any real situation you will be able to see who is intelligent. The challenge has to be new otherwise the scholar will win the race.