Ideals

Osho, you said that all ideals are wrong. But is the ideal of attaining one’s destination, one’s destiny, equally wrong?

An ideal is wrong; it makes no difference what you make an ideal of. “Ideal” means: it will happen in the future. “Ideal” means: tomorrow. “Ideal” means: it is not available today. An ideal is postponement—for the future. What is your destiny does not need to be made into an ideal; it is bound to happen—it has, in a way, already happened. Destiny means your intrinsic nature. That which is wholly available to you in this moment is your destiny. All ideals are anti-destiny. The very meaning of an ideal is that you want to be what, in your heart of hearts, you know you cannot be. A rose becomes a rose; a lotus becomes a lotus. Nowhere in the lotus’s heart is there an ideal, “I must become a lotus.” If the lotus tried to become a lotus, it would go mad—and fail. What you are, you already are—from…

What is wrong, in imitating the great ideals taught down the centuries?

It is not a question of great ideals or petty ideals, it is a question of imitating. What you imitate is immaterial; the important thing is that you imitate. If you imitate you become a carbon copy. If you imitate you have betrayed your authentic being. If you imitate you are no more your being, you are no more your soul, you are no more yourself. You have committed suicide -- and this suicide is far more suicidal than when you destroy your physical body. This is destroying your very psychology. Imitation means you will not live according to your own spontaneity, you will live according to somebody else as your image; you will follow somebody else's character, behavior, way of life. You will have to impose. What will you do if you want to follow Christ; if you want to imitate Christ, what will you do? You will act…

A friend has asked— Yesterday I said, “Do not accept any ideals.” He has asked: Osho, couldn’t the very search into anything—violence, sin, or untruth—also become an ideal?

No. Knowing the fact is not an ideal. Knowing the fact is a fact. There is a thorn in my foot. To know that a thorn is in my foot is simply the discovery of a fact, an awareness of a truth. But the thorn is in my foot and I am reading a book that says one should walk only on paths where the foot is never pricked by thorns—this is to live in the world of ideals. And because there is a thorn in my foot, I read this book to forget the thorn. We dream of a path on which there are no thorns. An ideal means: that which is not, but should be—that which should be. A fact means: that which is—that which is. There is hatred, there is anger, there is sorrow, there is violence. Nonviolence is an ideal; freedom from anger is an ideal.…

Cannot people learn by imitating others?

A man purchased a Picasso painting. It was very costly, one million dollars, but he knew perfectly well that it is authentic -- he knew it because he was an eye witness when Picasso was doing it. When he had purchased he was so happy -- he was a friend to Picasso -- he went to show him the painting and to tell him that, "I have purchased your painting. Of course it has cost me a fortune, but I am immensely happy that I have got one of your original paintings with me." Picasso looked at the painting and said, "This is not original -- this is a copy." The man was shocked. Then he has been robbed of one million dollars! He said, "But what are you saying? -- because I have seen with my own eyes! I was staying with you in those days when you were…