Why does trouble arise when truth and lies meet?

Question: BELOVED OSHO, WHY, WHEN TRUTH AND LIES MEET, DOES TROUBLE ARISE? Waduda, man almost lives in lies, because they are comfortable, convenient. You don't have to make much effort to find a lie. The whole of society is ready to give you all kinds of lies -- but truth is an individual search. Lies are a social invention. So whenever truth is discovered, there is trouble. You have lived all your life in lies -- beautiful lies -- and suddenly you find your whole life collapsing. To choose truth, first you have to make an immense effort to find it. Second, when you find it, you suddenly also find that the whole of society is against you -- the whole world is against you.

Beloved Osho, I see that people go on saying that they want the truth -- nothing but the truth -- and freedom; they want to live in freedom. But when it actually comes down to it, nobody wants to hear the truth or live in freedom. They want to continue to live in lies and possess what they think they have. I see that in myself, and it is becoming less and less as I am walking the path with you. Why do we want to hold on to the ugly lies of life so much that we give up our trueness and our nature?

The court of the king was full. For the first time everybody was present; the queen was present, the princesses were present. The man said to the court and to the king, "I have brought the clothes. And for these clothes, the two, three million rupees that you have given are nothing. When you see the clothes you will see they are a thousandfold more costly. In fact you cannot appraise their cost on the earth; they are something that belongs to heaven. They are not found on the earth." The king was in a hurry. He said, "Open your box!" The man said, "The way it must be done has been explained to me. You give me your cap. First I will put your cap into the box, then I will take out the cap of God and put it on your head. Just one condition has to be…

Man lives in lies because to seek truth is troublesome; it is risky, it is dangerous. It is adventuring into the unknown, into the unchartered sea. And man is a coward, he clings to the familiar, to the known. He is not really interested in knowing the truth, he only wants consolations; comfortable lies will do. In fact truth is never comfortable in the beginning, it is very uncomfortable. Buddha is reported to have said that lies are sweet in the beginning, bitter in the end, and truth is bitter in the beginning and sweet in the end. And he is right, absolutely right. Truth is bitter, not because truth is bitter, truth is bitter because we have lived in lies for so long that when truth comes our lies are shattered, and that hurts. And truth never compromises.

Osho, in every dimension of life it is difficult to bow before truth and easy to bow before lies. Why this topsy‑turvy?

Mukesh, that’s why friendship with untruth is easy: untruth never asks to transform you. Untruth says you already are what you should be—indeed, you are even better. It builds bridges of praise for you. It gives you great consolation. And how many lies we have fabricated! So many that if you start searching, you will be shaken. Truth is one; lies are endless. Just as health is one and diseases are many, so truth is one. And truth will not flatter you; it will not cajole you. Truth will seem bitter, because you have become addicted to the sweetness of lies. Lies come sugar‑coated. Truth is as it is—naked. Those addicted to lies will avert their eyes from truth; truth will not go down on their tongues. Truth will taste very astringent, very bitter. Remember, we live by habit. I have heard: on a road at high noon a man…

Osho, why are the common masses against you, when what you say appears to us the very truth?

The king simply slipped away, took his fastest horse and rushed as fast as it was possible, away from the palace where the dream had happened. By the evening he had gone hundreds of miles, and he was very happy that he had come so far away: "Now it will be difficult for death to find me at the place, at the fixed time." The sun was setting. He had reached the outskirts of the city of Damishk. Just to rest... because the whole day he had not eaten, he had not even taken a cup of water. Time was so precious! Thirst is not going to kill you just in one day, hunger is not going to kill you just in one day. He was going to rest in a garden just outside of the city. He went into the garden and was tying the horse to a tree,…