Loyalty

Beloved Osho, to me, the concept of loyalty has overtones of duty and honor and belief -- all of which represent static, unquestioning attitudes that are rooted in outmoded sentimentality. I love and trust you as my master, and I cannot imagine the rest of my life having any significance except that it be in the service of that love and trust. But that is not my being loyal: it's something I consciously affirm in my life, moment to moment. Would you please talk on loyalty?

But the kings and the politicians, the presidents and the prime ministers don't go to war. The simple people, who have nothing to do with killing others, go to war to kill and to be killed. They are rewarded for their loyalty; they are given the Victoria Cross or other kinds of awards -- for being inhuman, for being unintelligent, for being mechanical. Maneesha, you asked me, "To me, the concept of loyalty has overtones of duty, and honor, and belief." It has not only overtones. It is nothing but the combination of all these diseases -- belief, duty, respectability. They all are nourishment for your ego. They are all against your spiritual growth, but they are in favor of the vested interests. The priests don't want you to ask any question about their belief system because they know that they have no answers to give. All belief systems are…

Can you say something more about obedience? Is it not good to serve obediently in a noble cause?

The noble cause was education. It involved three people: the professor, who was the authority figure in charge of the proceedings; the learner or victim; and the experimental subject, who was asked by the professor to act as teacher and to punish the learner each time he gave the wrong reply. Punishment was by electric shocks of growing severity, administered by the teacher on the professor's orders. The learner or victim was strapped into a kind of electric chair. The teacher was seated in front of an impressive shock-generator which had a key-board of thirty switches ranging from fifteen volts to four hundred and fifty volts. There were also verbal inscriptions on the machine ranging from 'slight shock' to 'intense shock' to 'danger: severe shock'. In fact, the whole gruesome set-up was based on make-believe: the victim was an actor, the shock-generator was a dummy. Only the teacher, at whom…

They have sent a monk here today asking for the video; the whole seminary wants to see it. I am sending it with Prasad, and he has to inform them that this is only the beginning. I have been speaking continually since then, answering their questions. If they have any more questions, he should collect them. He should not enter into any dialogue, he should only collect the questions. I am going to answer them. The first question today is: THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH DEFENDS TRUTH, HONESTY, AND LOYALTY ....

And it is strange: on the one hand they say, "Know thy place. God makes everyone as they are ...." Do you see the contradiction? If God has made you a laughing, enjoying, rejoicing person, then this principle does not apply. It only applies to the sufferers: "Don't change your place, suffer. God makes everyone as they are." If it is true, then God has made many people loving, laughing, rejoicing, dancing. Who are you to prevent them? But no, it is not applicable as far as joy is concerned, only suffering. What can be the reason behind it? The reason is clear. Only the people who are miserable will seek the advice of the priests and the popes. Only the people who are miserable can be enslaved, can be told that "You are sheep and we are the shepherds." Only miserable people need salvation. A happy person, a blissful…

Question: BELOVED OSHO, WOULD YOU TALK TO US ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LOVE AND TRUST? IT SEEMS TO ME THAT TRUST IS OF GREATER SIGNIFICANCE IN OUR RELATIONSHIP TO YOU THAN LOVE. WHEN I SAY, "OSHO, I LOVE YOU," I'M SPEAKING OF A FEELING THAT IS COLORED AND DEFINED BY OTHER LOVE RELATIONSHIPS, A FEELING THAT IS LIMITED BY MY STATE OF UNENLIGHTENMENT. I SPEAK AS IF I HAVE SOME COMPREHENSION OF WHAT MY LOVE TOWARDS YOU IMPLIES. WHEN I SAY, "OSHO, I TRUST YOU," I AM SAYING, "DO WITH ME WHATEVER NEEDS TO BE DONE. LEAD ME INTO UNIMAGINED AND UNIMAGINABLE PLACES: I AM YOURS." TRUST SEEMS TO EMBRACE THE UNDERSTANDING THAT IT IS AVAILABLE EVEN TO THINGS BEYOND ITS COMPREHENSION. LOVE, UNENLIGHTENED LOVE, ALSO SEEMS OUTGOING, SOMEWHAT AGGRESSIVE; THE "I" VERY CONSCIOUS OF ITSELF AS AN ENTITY.