What should I do with my dreams of wanting to be loved and accepted?

I notice that deep down I want to be loved, accepted, like the greatest man on earth, that I want to be the most famous person. And I feel hurt when someone rejects me. What to do with these dreams?

If you understand that they are dreams then wash your face and have a cup of tea. What is there to be done about it? Dreams are dreams -- why be bothered? But you don't understand that they are dreams. This is borrowed. You know that they are not dreams -- that s why you are worried. Otherwise why be worried? If in a dream you see that you have fallen ill, when you wake up in the morning do you go to the doctor? In my dream I was very ill and now some medication is needed. You never go. You realize it was a dream -- finished! What is the point of going to a doctor? But you have not yet understood that these are dreams. These are realities for you -- hence the problem. I NOTICE THAT DEEP DOWN I WANT TO BE LOVED. If you want…

Beloved Osho, I am aware of my need for approval and acceptance from others. I don't want to be driven by this need. How does it resolve?

Drop all this nonsense! You are already approved of, otherwise you could not have been here. God has accepted you, given birth to you. If van Gogh paints, whatsoever painting he creates is already approved of -- otherwise he would not have created it in the first place. If Picasso paints something, in the very painting, the painting is approved of. The painter has put his heart into it. Just go deeper into your own being -- God has put all the treasures that you need there. He has approved of you, accepted you. He is happy that you are! But you don't look there. You are asking from others like a beggar: Approve of me! -- and they are also beggars just like you. Beggars asking beggars. Even if they approve of you a little, they will wait for you to approve of them. It is going to be…

[A sannyasin and her two children are leaving. She asks about being frightened of other people. Osho had previously told her to be alone, but she wants love from other people.] That is where the problem is: you want love from other people, and that is the wrong beginning; that is getting out of the bed from the wrong side. The desire to get love from others creates problems You should long to love others. The desire should come to love, to give love; only then will the problem disappear. And that's why I have told you to remain alone. If you remain alone long enough the desire to love people is bound to come, because it is there in our hearts. Imposed on it is the other desire which is very superficial. It is like you eat your food every day at a certain time.

I have spent all my life trying to meet somebody who will really love me and who will accept to be really loved by me. All my attempts have been painful failures and I feel utterly desperate and rejected. What is wrong with me? How can I feel the love inside of me? How can I really meet and love myself?

You say: I HAVE SPENT ALL MY LIFE TRYING TO MEET SOMEBODY WHO WILL REALLY LOVE ME... And what do you mean by 'really love me'? You must have an idea -- that is the second thing that went wrong. You have some idea of what real love is. You must be a perfectionist, and in life nothing is perfect. That's why things are beautiful! If in life things were perfect, life would have been utter boredom. Bertrand Russell seems to be right when he says, "I would not like to go to heaven if there is any heaven, because there you will find only perfect people, and life will be utterly boring." Just think of living with perfect people... everybody is perfect. That means there will be no growth any more, no evolution; nothing new will ever happen now. The people who live in heaven, if there is any…

Beloved Osho, why is it that I feel I need to have approval and be recognized, in my work especially? It puts me in a trap -- I cannot do without it. I know I am in this trap but I am caught in it and I cannot seem to get out of it. Can you help me be able to find the door?

While I was teaching in the university, the same thing came about from a different angle. Now I was asking the students questions to bring to their attention that all the knowledge that they have gathered is borrowed, and they know nothing. I told them that I don't care about their degrees, I care about their authentic experience -- and they don't have any. They are simply repeating books which are out of date; long ago they have been proved wrong. Now the authorities of the university were threatening me, "If you continue in this way, harassing students, you will be thrown out of the university." I said, "This is strange -- I was a student and I could not ask questions to the professors; now I am a professor and I cannot ask questions to the students! So what function is this university fulfilling? It should be a place…