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Osho on What is the relationship between virtue and punishment?

What is the relationship between virtue and punishment?

True virtue is a rebellion against the collective hypocrisy of society; it is often punished, while counterfeit virtue is rewarded.

— Osho
According to Osho, society rewards compliant, counterfeit virtues, but it punishes authentic virtue because real goodness arises from individual insight and defies collective hypocrisy. True virtue demands courage and rebellion; hence the genuinely virtuous are often persecuted, while conformists are crowned. Punishment is the social cost of integrity, whereas respectability is the reward for spiritual surrender and hypocrisy.

If you follow your real inner truth, many people may dislike it and punish you, while those who pretend to be good get praise.

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