What is understanding and what is misunderstanding?

Question: OSHO, WHAT IS UNDERSTANDING AND WHAT IS MISUNDERSTANDING? Dharmaraj, Mind is misunderstanding -- any kind of mind, good or bad, educated or uneducated, cultured or uncultured, Christian or Hindu; it does not matter what kind of mind it is. Mind as such is misunderstanding. Mind means you are carrying a priori conclusions; you are not seeing that which is, you are seeing that which you want to see. You are not seeing but projecting. Your mind is a projector; it uses everything as a kind of screen, it projects itself on the screen. In the dim light you can see a rope as a snake. the snake does not exist; it is your fear projected, the rope becomes a screen. But for you the snake becomes as real as if it was really there. It can affect you -- it will affect you.

Question: BELOVED OSHO, WHAT IS MISUNDERSTANDING? Devageet, misunderstanding is obviously the mother superior of mistakes. Man lives almost half awake, half asleep. Hence whatever he understands is only half. With each of his understandings there is a shadow, a deep unconsciousness which continues to misinterpret, to distort, to confuse whatever small light, whatever small consciousness he has got. His consciousness is certainly very small -- just a thin layer, not more than skin-deep. And his unconsciousness is long, deep, nine times more than his consciousness. That dark night is within you. It has never seen the light of the day. So whatever your consciousness tries to see, to hear, your unconsciousness, which is nine times more -- its weight, its pressure is tremendous -- distorts it. You think you have understood something, but it is always finally a misunderstanding.

Question: BELOVED OSHO, IS MISUNDERSTANDING NATURAL TO THE HUMAN MIND? Milarepa, misunderstanding is certainly natural to the human mind. Mind is a misunderstanding, and through mind whatsoever you understand is misunderstanding. Understanding arises only when mind is absent, because what is mind after all? -- just a collection of thoughts, none of which is your experience. Through that screen of collected thoughts, whatever you see you interpret. You never see what is there, you only see what your mind can interpret. And all interpretations are misunderstandings. When there is no interpretation, you simply see the fact, the truth... that which is. Then the mind does not distort, does not color, does not give meanings to it. You don't have any mind; you are just an opening, a mirror reflecting reality as it is. What are the differences in the world between people?

Question: BELOVED MASTER, WHAT IS MISUNDERSTANDING? Sahajananda, misunderstanding happens only to knowledgeable people, it never happens to the innocent. It never happens to those who know that they know nothing; only to them understanding happens. But to those who think they know already, their very knowledge is a disturbance, a distraction. It is knowledge that creates misunderstanding. If you are already carrying something in your mind, and then you listen to me, there are only two possibilities: either you find me agreeing with you or you find me disagreeing with you. If you find me agreeing with you, you must have misunderstood, because I cannot agree with you. It is impossible, I can agree with you only if you are also awakened, if you are also in the same space, only then.

Osho, “understanding” — what kind of phenomenon is it?

On the second day he saw—he is doing it all day; three or four times a day, for an hour each time—he saw that this anger is toward no one; this anger is within me. And today was his third day. He came and said, “I am astonished: the moment it became clear that it is toward no one, that it is within me, it was as if something inside took its leave—everything has become quiet. I am utterly unable now: if someone abuses me at this moment, I will not be able to get angry. At least not at this moment. Because it is as if a great weight inside has been thrown out. Everything is empty.” Understanding means: whatever happens within you happens knowingly, in your awareness, in your wakefulness, in your consciousness. Whatever! And then much will stop happening by itself. And what stops—that is sin. And…