According to Osho, human stupidity is our stubborn clinging to roles, beliefs, and institutions over living truth and love. It makes us serious, dutiful, and bored, preferring ideology to reality—so even God’s facts must be hidden. Because of this conditioning, teaching humans to love each other becomes an endless task; intelligence is playful, free, and loving.
Stupidity is holding so tightly to labels and rules that we forget to be kind, honest, and playful.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, why is it that only humans repress, manipulate, kill, try to conquer the natural flow in nature, the tao? Why are we so stupid?
Hindus and Mohammedans, whenever they are in a murderous mood, become united amongst themselves; otherwise they go dull, dead -- they start vegetating again. It is very strange. Why people are so much interested in destruction? If you are going on the street and you see two people fighting -- you may be going for a very urgent work -- you will forget all about the urgent work; you will stop there. First you will see the fight; you cannot leave that place. The urgent work can wait; in fact there is no more any urgency than to watch the fight. Why? Why a crowd gathers when two persons are fighting? You become identified with the fight. And this happens in many ways. Just a football match or a hockey match and you see thousands of people shouting, going almost mad, jumping, ready to kill each other. Why so much…
Is all mind made out of the same material -- stupidity?
Yes. Mind is stupid. There is no mind which is intelligent. Mind cannot be intelligent; mind is stupidity. To say "stupid mind" is not right; it is repetitive because "stupidity" and "mind" both mean the same thing. Why is mind stupidity? Because mind is nothing but the past. the collected dust that you have gathered on the way -- layers and layers of dust. That hinders your intelligence. It is just like a mirror covered with dust: mind is dust; mirror is consciousness. When all dust is washed away, intelligence arises: when there is no mind you are intelligent; when there is mind you are stupid. Of course, there are two types of "stupid" -- ignorant stupids, knowledgeable stupids: people who don't know anything that are stupid and people who know too much and are stupid. And remember, the second type is more dangerous than the first because the second…
Beloved master, please could you tell me the difference between innocence and stupidity?
And Karl Marx with a big smile said, "You don't know -- I have found a way. Now there is no need to be worried about earning money. If I smoke one cigarette, so much money is saved in comparison to the older brand; the more I smoke, the more money is saved. So now I am not going to do anything except smoke, because you have always been asking me for money, money, money. Now have as much money as you want!" The wife could not understand how the money could be saved by smoking. But this is an economic theory, it does not correspond to reality. She had to inform his closest friend, Friedrich Engels, "He has gone mad. In his room he is sitting and smoking continuously -- to save money!" Engels came, and he asked, "What is the matter?" Marx said, "Now I can explain to…
Osho, I still don't believe that sex is stupid.
Yogesh, you are not a Buddha, you are not awakened. How is it possible that you can do something which is not stupid? So whatsoever you are doing is bound to be stupid - it is out of unawareness. You go on doing things, not exactly knowing why. How did you learn them? From whom did you learn them? Why did you learn them? There are millions of stupid people just like you, and you go on imitating them, you go on learning things from them. Sex is one of the greatest intoxicants. It is in your very biology. It releases a certain drug in your very bloodstream and you become possessed; you are no longer in your senses, you don't know what you are doing. You are being forced to do it. Some unknown force - call it nature, biology, chemistry, hormones - whatsoever you want to call it…
Are some people more stupid than others?
But the king forgot. So before asking, "How old are you?" he asked, "How long have you been the spiritual guide of this town?" Now, Nasrudin had fixed answers. He said, "Seventy years." The king looked a little puzzled because the man looks not more than seventy, so has he been a religious teacher from his very birth? Then he said, "I am surprised. Then how old are you?" Nasrudin said, "Thirty years." Because this was the fixed thing: that first he has to say "seventy years," then he has to say "thirty years." The king said, "Are you mad?" Nasrudin said, "Sir, we both are mad -- in our own ways! You are asking wrong questions -- and I have to answer right answers! This is the problem. I cannot change, because those people are here, those who have trained me. They are looking at me. I cannot change,…