According to Osho, violence is not rebellion at all but the continuation of humanity’s past barbarism: an irreverence toward life that poisons any hoped-for future. True rebellion is creative, loving, and meditative; right ends demand right means. The rebel would rather die than kill, trusting consciousness over force, because sowing violent seeds can only yield another violent society.
Hurting others isn’t real rebellion—it just repeats old harm; real rebellion is kind, peaceful, and aware.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved master, can you please say something about violence as the expression of rebellion?
Milarepa, violence can never be a part of the rebellious spirit for the simple reason that violence is the whole past of humanity -- and the rebel wants to discontinue with the past. Violence has been the way of life for millennia. Directly or indirectly we have lived under violence. Our armies, our police, our jails, our judges, our wars, our so-called great religions, all have lived in violence. And violence, reduced to its essentials, is irreverent towards life. To me the religious man, the religious consciousness, is nothing but a deep reverence for life itself, because there is no God beyond life, there is no paradise beyond consciousness. Violence is a violation of both life and consciousness -- it is destructive. The rebel is a creator; his whole philosophy is that of creativity. We have lived in destructiveness far too long, and what is the achievement? That's why I…
Question: BELOVED OSHO, WHAT IS YOUR NOTION OF REBELLION AND OF A REBEL? Giulia, my notion about the rebel and rebellion is very simple: a man who does not live like a robot conditioned by the past. Religion, society, culture... anything that is of yesterday does not in any way interfere in his way of life, in his style of life. He lives individually -- not as a cog in the wheel, but as an organic unity. His life is not decided by anybody else, but by his own intelligence. The very fragrance of his life is that of freedom -- not only that he lives in freedom, he allows everybody else also to live in freedom. He does not allow anybody to interfere in his life; neither does he interfere in anybody else's life.
Beloved master, what is rebellion? And what is the difference between reaction and the action of the rebellious man?
Joseph Stalin became the leader of the revolutionaries. Stalin was not his real name, "Stalin" was given to him by the people. It means "man of steel." And certainly he proved to be a man of steel, with no heart. He killed almost one million people after the revolution. Just suspicion was enough; there was no need for any trial, for any investigation. The communist party suspects that somebody is against the revolution -- there is no proof, but the man has to be immediately destroyed. The Russian revolution has proved one thing absolutely: that czars were never so violent; they had never killed one million people. And the society was not so deeply enslaved -- that's why the communist revolution was possible. Now in Russia no revolution is possible, people are completely enslaved. Even to think against the status quo today is betraying the religion of communism. People are…
Osho, how can rebellion be receptive, feminine, yes-saying? It feels so much like a no to all these old things. Is it just awareness and love that is it?
REVOLUTION IS NO, REBELLION IS YES. Revolution is negative, rebellion is positive. Revolution says no to all that is wrong and should not be. Rebellion says yes to all that is beautiful, good. Revolution is past-oriented, rebellion is present-oriented. They are not synonymous. Revolution is destructive, rebellion is creative. Revolution can never be feminine, receptive, yes-saying. That is impossible. But rebellion is always feminine, always receptive, always yes-saying. I am talking about rebellion, I am not talking about revolution. Revolution is political, rebellion is spiritual. Revolution is of the crowd, rebellion is individual. You can be a rebel and you don't need anybody else to be with you -- you alone can be a rebel. But you alone cannot be a revolutionary; you will need a great organization, you will need a great army behind you. And the problem is -- one of the most significant things to be understood…
Question: Second question: Osho, is religion rebellion? Religion is rebellion; a sect is not. A sect is status-quo-ism. A sect means: religion has died. Rebellion has died; it has become an organization. The breaths of revolution have stopped; a corpse lies there. The privacy of every sannyasin must be protected. At no price should he let the inner flame of rebellion be diminished. Revolution is collective; rebellion is individual. Revolution is future-oriented; rebellion is in the present. Revolution says: tomorrow, when we are organized and when we change society, then the golden age will come, then we will create a new world. Revolution looks toward tomorrow. Remember, society looks toward yesterday; the revolutionary looks toward the coming tomorrow. The rebel lives in today—he has no anxiety about the yesterday that has passed, nor any concern about the tomorrow to come. Tomorrow will come of itself.