According to Osho, prevent faith from becoming blind by testing it within yourself: true faith is a living fire that purifies and transforms—bringing joy, clarity, fearlessness, compassion, and growth. Ignore the object or outer ‘proofs’; watch the results in your being. If a belief breeds inertia, fear, hatred, sorrow, or shrinks your aliveness, abandon it as superstition.
See if your faith makes you kinder, braver, and more alive—if not, it’s just blind belief.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
A friend has asked, Osho, what should one do so that faith does not turn into blind belief?
I have heard: Saint Francis was a supremely faithful man and would trust anyone. His disciple was Leo. They were traveling. Whoever came along, Francis would take him along. Often someone would stay for a night and then steal their belongings and go. He would stay one night, and by morning their bedding, their bag—the few things they had—would be gone. Leo, his disciple, was very troubled. He said that at least some checking should be done. You take anyone along and then suffer. Give up this trust in people. So many have deceived you, and still your trust in people does not leave you. Saint Francis said, they are all testing my faith. There are two ways. A man stays the night and leaves stealing. One way is: the things are gone anyway—which are of little value—and along with them let faith also go, which is of great value.…
A friend has asked: Osho, what is the difference between sin and virtue? And as long as the mind is filled with sin, how can there be faith, devotion, feeling? How will prayer happen while the mind is full of sin? So first let the mind be filled with virtue; then prayer will happen!
It sounds right. It seems reasonable. Yet it is not right—and it is full of unawareness. It sounds right to say, “As long as the mind is full of sin, how can there be prayer!” But that is like a physician saying, “As long as you are sick, how can I give you medicine! First get well and healthy, and then take the medicine.” But once you are well, why would you need medicine? If you decide to pray only after you’ve dropped all sin, you will never get the chance to pray. As long as there is sin, you won’t pray. And when there is no sin left, why pray? What would be the meaning of prayer then? Prayer is the medicine. Therefore, one has to pray while still a sinner. And another thing: how will sin go? It cannot go without prayer. Those who try to remove sin…
Question: First question: Osho, can doubt arise even in faith? Santosh Saraswati! In faith it is impossible for doubt to arise. If doubt arises in faith, then it was never faith. You must have mistaken belief for faith, acceptance for faith. It must have been blind—without eyes. Blind faith is what is called belief. And blind faith has no value—not even worth two cowries. Compared to blind faith, a doubt with eyes is worth a hundred thousand times more, because what truly has value is the eyes. Faith and doubt come later; first come the eyes. If your doubt has eyes, a faith with eyes will also come. But for centuries man has been told: Do not doubt; doubt is sin. Suppress doubt, sit on its chest, throw it into the unconscious—throw it as deep as you can, so deep that you don’t even remember you ever had doubt.
Osho, what is the relationship between meditation and patience?
If you sit to meditate to remove mental restlessness, you will keep looking back again and again: “Has it gone yet?” And the irony is that when you begin to meditate, restlessness will increase. Because what has been repressed will start surfacing; catharsis will begin. The rubbish you have kept hidden within and never allowed to express—meditation will break open those doors too. It will clean the house. Dust piled up for years, for births, will rise again; there will be gusts and storms. For a while even the little peace you had will be lost. Then you will panic: “I came for peace, and even what I had is gone.” Without patience, you could even become unhinged, because meditation brings such a great storm. The disease is not from a day or two; it’s from lifetimes. Meditation will break through all the layers to reach your innermost core. In…
A friend has asked: Osho, can a true religion be born out of a synthesis of all religions? If Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, Sikhs, and all religions were to come together and a synthesis found among them, would that not be the true religion?
It is those divided into religions who have obstructed the birth of religion. Atheists have not prevented religion from developing in the world. Atheists have done nothing so far. You should know: atheists have no organization, no church or temple, no scripture, no flag. They have never gathered and done anything. There is not even a single charge against atheists that they have set fires, burned houses, killed people, burned people. Atheists have not harmed religion. The harm has been done by those “religious” who are Hindus, Muslims, Jains, Christians. Why? By creating these divisions they have prevented the advent of that religion which can never be divided. Do you think there can be many kinds of truth? Do you think there can be many truths about the soul? Many truths about God? Do you think Hindus have one mathematics and Muslims another? There was a time—here in India—when Jains…