Why are only intelligent people able to realize true religion?

Beloved Osho, why are only intelligent people able to realize true religion? Does the mediocre mind make it impossible to come to know oneself?

Every religion expects you to believe; the unbeliever is condemned. And without doubt you cannot increase your intelligence. This is the trouble. All the religions are helping you to remain mediocre, stupid, by emphasizing belief: belief in God, belief in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.... Believe, because those who believe will attain to paradise. All the religions are giving you good awards -- just believe. Just the other day I came to know that in New York the anti-abortionists were having a conference: abortion should be no longer legal, it should become a crime. All the religions of the world agree on such points. It is very strange: they don't agree on any theological points, but on this point Hindus agree, Mohammedans agree, Christians agree, Jews agree, everybody agrees -- abortion is a sin. Mother Teresa was in the conference, speaking against abortion, and she said, "There is violence…

We are born with a great potential, but it is only a potential. We can die without realising it, we can miss the target -- if we don't move consciously, with awareness. If we just remain driftwood at the mercy of the wind, and the waves, if we remain accidental, then there is every possibility we will miss. And that's why you see so many people in such misery, the misery has no outer cause, it is rooted in their missing the target. They are all feeling something is being missed. They are not even aware what it is exactly, but one thing is certain everybody who is miserable feels that something of which we have been carrying the seeds has not grown. Something has not blossomed. The seed is bound to be miserable; only a flower can dance in the wind, in the rain, in the sun.

So I cannot call it a religion the way Christianity is, the way other religions are. They can manage to give you a catechism which the middle class people will understand. For example, middle class people can even understand the atheist who says God does not exist. They may not agree with him, but they can understand what he is saying. They can understand the priest who says God exists. They understand, the statements are simple. My position is a little more delicate. I say there is no God, but there is godliness. So I destroy God as a person. He becomes more like a fragrance than a flower. I am not a theist because I don't believe in God as a person creating the world. I am not an atheist because I am taking God higher than he has ever been.

Slowly slowly I had to come to the conclusion that something is basically wrong, because why are only stupid people attracted towards religion? The intelligent person avoids religion. If he is courageous he denies religion, he becomes against religion, he becomes atheistic. If he is not courageous he only pays formal homage to religion -- but just formal, so that nobody takes note of the fact that he is not part of the crowd. He does not want to disturb his ordinary life. He wants the crowd to know that he is with them. But his belief in god is formal, his going to the temple and the church is formal. he goes because others go. He goes because it is helpful, convenient, otherwise you fall apart form the crowd, and you have to manage to be with the crowd.

Can you please speak on your vision of an intelligent person?

For thousands of years every society has been telling children, "Respect your parents," because they are afraid of children -- they may not respect their parents. And I am not saying disrespect your parents. I am simply saying: the first respect has to be towards yourself. Out of that respect you can respect your parents, your teachers -- you can respect everybody. But if you don't respect yourself your respect for anybody else is going to be pseudo; deep down there will be hatred. Each child hates... deep down he knows that "The parents are my enemies." He can see how his intelligence is being cut. Just the other day Laxmi was telling me that a few of our sannyasins had made a small drama, and Veereshwar, who is a Ph.D., was quoting me -- he was the chief actor. And Subhuti was there and he reported to Laxmi, "Of…