Paganism

Beloved Osho, you said that italians are the most pagan among the european people. Do you think the catholic religion destroys the pagan soul less than other religions?

The virgin birth of Jesus Christ... there is no way to prove it; it is so unscientific. The concept of God as a trinity: God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost... and this "holy ghost" made the poor girl Mary, Jesus' mother, pregnant -- without any license -- and still he is holy? Then what is unholy? And in this trinity there is no place for any woman? A strange family, three men. It is just to humiliate womankind. Even Jesus' mother -- although they put up her statues, they worship her statues -- she is not part of their ultimate trinity. Their ultimate trinity is a gay group -- and I have every suspicion that the disease AIDS has come from the trinity. Everything has arisen from God -- why not AIDS? I know so many Italians that I feel perfectly at ease that they will be…

Osho, were pagans religious?

THE Christians have given such a condemnatory definition to the word pagan that it has become almost the meaning of the word. To be a pagan, according to the Christians, is to be irreligious. The reality is just the reverse. Christianity is a pseudo-religion. It is not even irreligious, because to me an irreligious person is at least authentic, but a pseudo-religious person is insincere, dishonest. He is a hypocrite. So first you have to drop the idea about pagans that Christianity has created. Christianity is only two thousand years old; pagans have lived for millions of years. Before any religion was born, the so-called great religions -- hinduism, Mohammedanism, Buddhism, Christianity -- before even their names were heard, the pagans were there all over the world. The pagan is not irreligious. He is not anti-religious, he is not pseudo-religious. He is not religious either; but in all these four…

Osho, I have been so much conditioned as a catholic that I see no hope for myself: can you still help me?

CATHOLIC OR COMMUNIST, Mohammedan or Maoist, Jaina or Jew, it makes no difference, it is all the same. Of course, Catholics do it more systematically than Hindus, more scientifically. They have developed a great expertise for how to condition people. But all the religions are doing it more or less, all the societies are doing it in their own way: everybody is conditioned. The moment you are born, conditioning starts, from your very first breath; it cannot be avoided. The parents will condition you, the children you play with will condition you, the neighborhood will condition you, the school, the church, the state. And consciously not much conditioning is being done, but unconsciously the child goes on and on accumulating it. The child learns by imitating. So don't be worried. This is the normal situation in the world: everybody is conditioned. And everybody has to come out of the conditioning.…

Question: BELOVED OSHO, DOES A PAGAN LIVING A NATURAL LIFE NEED RELIGION? The pagan is never a savior, for the simple reason that if somebody wants to be miserable, it is his birthright -- let him enjoy his misery! If he is enjoying his misery who are we to interrupt? If he wants to go to hell, then who are you to prevent him? He is not preventing you from going to heaven -- you just go and take your flock with you, but leave him alone. But saviors cannot leave people alone. That's why I say they are the most dangerous people on the earth: in the name of good they will interfere with your privacy. They won't allow you to live according to your own nature. They will force you according to their ideas of how a man should be.