According to Osho, both the revolutionary claim that humans are naturally good and the reactionary claim that humans are naturally evil are prejudices. In truth, man is born innocent—a tabula rasa. When we nurture and protect this innocence (rather than imposing “culture”), authentic grace and true culture emerge from within, supported by meditation and awareness.
People aren’t born good or bad; they’re born innocent, and if we gently protect that innocence instead of forcing ideas, their natural goodness grows.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Reaction appears to be like a rebellion, but it is not. It is a pseudo-rebellion, a false coin, a counterfeit, and it can never be satisfying. Again and again you will feel that you have been against the society, but you have not been able to get rid of it. It is said of Mulla Nasrudin, that from his very childhood he was thought to be a difficult child; they called him contrary. If you say to him 'Sit down' he will not sit down. If you want him to sit down, tell him to stand -- and immediately he will sit down. Contrary. One day he was crossing a small stream with his father. On his donkey they had loaded bags of sugar, which were leaning too much to the right and there was fear that they might fall into the river.
Osho, most of the youth of Italy’s New Left are beginning to relate to you. Would you call this an evolution of the Left, or a distortion of the right understanding of your experiment?
Therefore, Silvano, many young people of Italy’s New Left have taken sannyas. The very father of the Left’s revolution in Italy has also become a sannyasin. The air in Italy is very heated—because no one can quite believe what is happening! Those from whom bombs were expected are meditating! Those from whom killings were expected are singing songs of love! Those expected to become guerrillas have put on saffron robes! They are dancing, humming songs; they are losing themselves in the mystery of the starry sky! Therefore there is anger toward me as well. Their comrades simply cannot believe what has happened! But this fire will spread, because behind this fire there are historical grounds. All revolutions so far have failed; now only one hope remains: perhaps rebellion may succeed. Let each person make a revolution within his own life. Let each person begin to live in his own way;…
Question: Second question: Osho, are you against social revolution? I, against revolution! But there is no such thing as social revolution. I am in favor of revolution—of radical revolution. Yet “social revolution” as such does not exist; all revolution is individual. Revolution is only individual. “Social revolution” is a trick played upon revolution. Those who want to escape real revolution take shelter behind the slogan of social revolution. The same old disease: “When society changes, then we will change. How can we change right now? The whole society is wrong—how can we change?” When will society change? It hasn’t till now. Revolutions upon revolutions have happened, and man remains the same. Not a flicker of transformation has occurred in consciousness. Whether a man is Russian or American, Indian or Chinese—there is no difference: the same greed, the same lust, the same anger, the same everything.
Beloved master, what is the difference between a rebel and a revolutionary?
Hence a Gautam Buddha or a Kabir or a Chuang Tzu hurts you because he has blossomed, and you are just standing there. Springs come and go, nothing blossoms in you; no birds come and make their nest on you, and sing their songs around you. It is better to crucify a Jesus and poison a Socrates -- just to remove them -- so that you need not feel in any way spiritually inferior. The world has known only very few rebels. But now is the time: if humanity proves incapable of producing a large number of rebels -- a rebellious spirit -- then our days on the earth are numbered. Then this century may become our graveyard. We are coming very close to that point. We have to change our consciousness, create more meditative energy in the world, create more lovingness. We have to destroy the old man and…
Question: BELOVED OSHO, WHAT IS YOUR NOTION OF REBELLION AND OF A REBEL? The revolutionary is also conditioned by the past. He may not be conditioned by Jesus Christ or Gautam Buddha, but he is conditioned by Karl Marx or Mao Tse-tung or Joseph Stalin or Adolf Hitler or Benito Mussolini... it does not matter who conditions him. The revolutionary has his own holy bible -- DAS KAPITAL; his holy land -- the Soviet Union; his own mecca -- in the Kremlin... and just like any other religious person, he is not living according to his own consciousness. He is living according to a conscience created by others. Hence, the revolutionary is nothing but a reactionary. He may be against a certain society, but he is always for another society. He may be against one culture, but he is immediately ready for another culture.