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When we deny our inner sickness and idolize extreme, unnatural behavior, madness spreads as fear and violence; peace starts by honestly seeing we’re unwell and living in simple balance.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, today terror, terrorism seems to have spread over the whole world. What is the root source of this sickness and derangement in human beings? How was it produced? What is the diagnosis and the therapy? Can we hope that humanity will ever be free of terrorism?
And what a joke it is. When you worship madness, you announce that you too wish to live that madness. Granted, today you are helpless; granted, today you don’t have the courage; granted, the circumstances are not favorable—then tomorrow, or in the next life. But your worship shows the direction of your life and the longing within you. The simple, ordinary person, in whose life there is no excess—you won’t even notice him. He won’t come into your sight. And he alone is healthy. He will be blissful, peaceful, at ease—but not celebrated. In other words: we must change the values of our reverence. We have given too much honor to the egotistical. And the pathways of ego are very subtle. There is no greater illness than ego. From childhood we feed every child poison—our own children—with love, of course. Our intentions are not bad. I do not doubt your…
Beloved Osho, I've heard that in europe the threat of terrorism is striking fear in everyone. Airplanes are delayed by extraordinary security measures, many of the seats are empty, and some airports are closing. People are even thinking twice about going out in the evening. And all this is more prevalent since the recent bombing of libya. Is the rise of terrorism over the last decade in some way symbolic of what is happening to society in general?
One of them was that possibly this man has killed according to his past life and his background. When he was young, his mother died. And when he heard that his mother had died, he said, "Shit! That woman will not leave me even while dying! It is Sunday, and I have booked tickets for the theater with my girlfriend. But I knew she would do something to destroy my whole day -- and she has destroyed it." His mother has died and he is saying that she has destroyed his Sunday! He was going to the theater with his girlfriend, and now he has to go to the funeral. And the people who heard his reaction were shocked. They said, "This is not right, what are you saying?" He said, "What? What is right and what is wrong? Couldn't she die on any other day? There are seven days…
Question: BELOVED OSHO, THEN AN OLD MAN, A KEEPER OF AN INN, SAID, SPEAK TO US OF EATING AND DRINKING. AND HE SAID: WOULD THAT YOU COULD LIVE ON THE FRAGRANCE OF THE EARTH, AND LIKE AN AIR PLANT BE SUSTAINED BY THE LIGHT. BUT SINCE YOU MUST KILL TO EAT, AND ROB THE NEWLY BORN OF ITS MOTHER'S MILK TO QUENCH YOUR THIRST, LET IT THEN BE AN ACT OF WORSHIP, AND LET YOUR BOARD STAND AN ALTAR ON WHICH THE PURE AND THE INNOCENT OF FOREST AND PLAIN ARE SACRIFICED FOR THAT WHICH IS PURER AND STILL MORE INNOCENT IN MAN. WHEN YOU KILL A BEAST SAY TO HIM IN YOUR HEART: BY THE SAME POWER THAT SLAYS YOU, I TOO AM SLAIN; AND I TOO SHALL BE CONSUMED. FOR THE LAW THAT DELIVERED YOU INTO MY HAND SHALL DELIVER ME INTO A MIGHTIER HAND.
Beloved Osho, all over the world people are being tortured. At the present time -- especially in third world countries -- reports are surfacing every day of unbelievable atrocities committed by man against man. From where does this desire to torture others arise? Do such perverted acts stem from a deep sense of frustration and the need to take revenge against society? Please comment.
Man's whole history is a history of torture, murder, rape. But in the past it was not possible to know about the whole world, what was happening; people knew only about local things. Now the earth has become so small that within minutes, wherever anything happens, it spreads all over the world. The media has made people aware of man's reality. In the past it remained hidden. Now it has surfaced. There are reasons why man is so inhuman. The reasons are many, but the few most important ones should be understood. One, all the religions of the world have been teaching unnatural things to humanity -- celibacy, renouncing the pleasures and comforts of life, living in poverty. For centuries they have been telling these things to people, and they have kept the people uneducated, illiterate. But an explosion in the contemporary world of education has created a tremendous problem.…
Beloved Osho, why is the world so sick today? Why are misery and tension increasing?
It is the outcome of all the idiotic ideas that have dominated humanity in the past. It was bound to happen. All the religions are responsible for it. What they have done, whether knowingly or unknowingly, is the cause of the misery, suffering and anguish of the whole of humanity. Let us think of the most fundamental causes one by one. The first: All the religions have been imposing the idea that God has created the world and God is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent. He knows all, he is all-powerful, he is everywhere. This idea prevented man from doing anything to life to make it better, beautiful. When somebody all-knowing, all-powerful, everywhere present, is looking after the world, then what can you do? How far can you see? What can be your contribution? If God is the creator of the world, you cannot improve upon it. If you do anything you…