Why does truth hurt?

Question: BELOVED MASTER, WHY DOES TRUTH HURT? And he asks, "How can you tell others to work?" For a man who has never done anything, everything seems to be possible. Even the impossible seems to be possible. I have never worked, not for a single day. That's why I can say to you to do ANYTHING, because I don't know the trouble. I have no experience about it. Truth hurts. And then it comes in many ways, it expresses itself in many ways. Patipada, remember, if anything hurts then meditate over it. There must be something of truth in it, something true. If anything hurts, respect it, go deep into it. Find out why it hurts, and you will be rewarded. You will grow through that. Lies are sweet; they don't hurt. So beware of sweet lies.

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.

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.

Beloved Osho, I was blind. You gave me light for which I am extremely grateful. Until now, I did not ask a single question, but now I cannot hold back. Osho, it seems that some men of truth, after contemplating the consequences of telling the truth, came to observe, "say the truth, but say the pleasant truth. Don't say the truth that is unpleasant." Osho, please say something about it.

And in the evening a third man came. He was neither a theist nor an atheist; he was just an innocent seeker. He said to Buddha, "I don't know whether God exists or not. But there is a great urge in me to seek the truth. Can you be of any help?" Rather than answering him, Buddha closed his eyes. There was utter silence... and Ananda was surprised. Seeing Buddha closing his eyes and sitting in silence, that man also closed his eyes and sat in silence. Almost an hour must have passed. Then the man opened his eyes, touched Gautam Buddha's feet and said, "Your answer is so precious that I will keep it in my heart forever." Now it was too much, and as the man left, Ananda was furious. He said to Gautam Buddha, "What is going on? In one day you have contradicted yourself again and…

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…