Why do I like to criticize people and complain against life?

Beloved Osho, why do I like so much to criticize people and complain against life?

The old man said, "Just remember one thing: don't assert anything from your side, so nobody can criticize you. Let them assert things; you just criticize and complain. And always be aggressive, never be defensive. Don't take a defensive attitude. Attack, be aggressive, criticize each and everybody, and they will all worship you." And the idiot becomes the wise man. It does not need much intelligence to criticize or to complain. And cheaply you become wise; cheaply you become very intelligent. One of my professors... He used to teach me logic. Within a few days I found out that even if I mentioned the name of a book which did not exist, a fictitious writer, he would immediately criticize it: "I have read that book, and there is nothing in it." I went to the vice-chancellor and I told him the whole thing. I said, "This is sheer dishonesty, because…

Beloved master, why is it that nobody likes to be criticized, and yet everybody loves to criticize others?

Gayatri, the ego is very sensitive and very fragile, and is very afraid of criticism. The ego depends on others' opinions. It has no reality of its own. It is not a real entity, it is not substantial -- it is just a collection of others' opinions. Somebody says, "You are beautiful," and you collect it. Somebody says, "You are intelligent," and you collect it. And somebody says, "I have never come across such a unique person," and you collect it. And then one day a person comes and he says, "You are repulsive!" Now how can you accept criticism? It goes against the image that you have been creating of yourself. You will retaliate, you will fight tooth and nail. But whatsoever you do, the mind has taken the impression of this opinion too. Then somebody says, "You are ugly," and somebody says, "You are stupid." And there are…

It has something to do with your energies; it is not just a mind thing. It is not a critical attitude, it is a critical personality; and these are two different things. To change a critical attitude is not so difficult. To change a critical personality is difficult; it is almost in-born. You have carried it from your past lives, it is in your blood and bones. But once understood, then there are possibilities. Just do one thing: every day for one hour, sit silently and be critical about anything that happens in the mind. For one hour, allow your critical character to have full sway. Be possessed by it! Write, say, think, and don't be moderate in any way. You have to go into that criticalness totally, to the very extreme, about anything and everything.

Beloved Osho, I am constantly criticizing myself and judging other people. This makes me feel divided and tense, and I cannot establish a real contact with people or nature. I want to open my heart and I don't know how to do it. Please, could you say something about this?

I said, "You are right: that was the place from where it came and through where it got out. And if you really want the proof...." I pulled out the snake from my bag and I showed him that this is the snake. "You are such a fearless man, and this is only a rubber snake. And it just touched your face -- two, three times, not much -- and such a scream came out of you. I was not expecting that it would create so much fear in you." He was so ashamed that that very evening he resigned and escaped from town, because everybody was asking him, "What happened with the snake? Was it real? -- because somebody said that it was just a rubber snake and that some boy in your class had accepted your challenge." The whole town was talking, and it became so difficult for…

Yogis still condemning others, eating meat, drinking wine, taking drugs? By the hundreds they go to hell, shree gorakh raja speaks plain truth. Aloneness the siddha knows, needing two is sadhu, the true seeker, needing four-five the householder, ten-twenty the worldly man. Greatness is when greatness effaced, consider this word of truth: one who becomes tiny the master seeks out, lifts the load off his head.

Criticism is an exploration into what truth is, into how is truth is. Criticism can be very hard because a sword sometimes must be used to cut falsehood. There are stones of falsehood so the hammers and chisels of truth have to prepare them. Ultimately Gorakh is making blows with hammer and chisel. And after Gorakh comes Kabir who keeps a sharper blade -- on his sword there is more of an edge. Kabir's blows are such that they cut to bits. But they don't cut you to bits, they cut your falseness. When you attack a thief it is condemnation and when you attack stealing it is criticism. When you start hating the sinner it is condemnation and when you hate the sin it is criticism. A yogi cannot condemn. Only a completely unconscious person enjoys condemning. What is the psychology of condemning? Most people in the world have…