Cleverness

Beloved master, why are you so much against cleverness? Does it not pay in life to be clever?

Ageha, cleverness is only a beautiful name for cunningness. Hence I am against it. I am not against being intelligent, but an intelligent person need not be clever. It is only the unintelligent person who has to be clever; because he is missing intelligence he has to replace it with something else. Cleverness is plastic intelligence, cultivated intelligence. It is a poor substitute. And I know in life -- at least in the short range -- it pays, but never in the long range. And the wise person has to think of the long range. You can be cunning, and for the moment it may pay, but sooner or later you will have to pay for it. You are sowing seeds which are wrong and you will have to crop the reap... or is it "reap the crop"? You can't avoid the consequences; the consequences are bound to come. Homer…

A seeker said to buddha: 'I do not ask for words; I do not ask for silence.' buddha just sat quietly. The seeker said admiringly: 'the compassion of the world-honoured one has opened the clouds of my illusion and has enabled me to enter on the path.' making his salutations, he departed. Ananda then asked buddha: 'what was it this stranger realised that he so praised you?' the world-honoured one replied: 'a high class horse moves even at the shadow of the whip.'

Both are very dangerous qualities. Cleverness is always a barrier. And it is not intelligence -- it is a false substitute. An intelligent person is innocent. You can cheat an intelligent person very easily, but you cannot cheat a clever person because the clever person himself is a cheat. So never think that cleverness is of any value; it is based on fear. The logic behind cleverness is: if you don't cheat others, others will cheat you. So remain clever and always protect yourself, and before somebody attacks you, attack them, because attack is the best defence. This is the logic of cleverness: always pretend that you know, even when you don't. I had a teacher in my university days. He was a professor of indian philosophy. I became aware that he was not very intelligent but just trying to be clever, so I started playing a game. I would…

The other day in discourse you referred to the jews as being very intelligent people. At other times you have described the jew negatively as the cunning businessman. Intelligence seems to have a positive and a negative aspect. Please comment.

The really intelligent person is one who discovers the inner treasures, who discovers the inner eternity, who discovers God. That's my definition of the intelligent person: one who discovers God. Unless you have discovered God don't think of yourself as an intelligent person. You may be intellectual but you will not be intelligent. And to be intellectual is easy. You can go to the university and you can get a degree, a diploma. You can study the books, you can visit the libraries, and you can become acquainted with great words, great systems of thought. You can become a good talker, a good conversationalist, a good writer, author, philosopher, but still you will not be an intelligent person, remember. Intelligence is possible only through meditation. When mind dissolves in meditation, when thoughts are no longer your constant obsession -- when you can put the thoughts aside whenever you want and…

Beloved Osho, yesterday I was told that I am intelligent. I felt as if I had been called something terrible... As if it was even dangerous. Would you please shed some light on the fear of intelligence?

Avirbhava, to feel terrible for being called "intelligent" proves you really to be intelligent. The first and the most important part of intelligence is innocence. That's why you felt terrible -- because in the world innocence and intelligence have been divided, not only divided but put diametrically opposite to each other. If intelligence remains innocent it is the most beautiful thing possible, but if it is against innocence then it is simply cunningness and nothing else; it is not intelligence. The moment innocence disappears, the soul of intelligence is gone; it is a corpse. It is better to call it simply "intellect". It can make you a great intellectual, but it will not transform your life and it will not make you open to the mysteries of existence. They are open only to the intelligent child, and the really intelligent person keeps his childhood alive to his last breath. He…