Reaction

Beloved Osho, why do I react against the management and the people in positions around you?

It is simple. Because you want to be in the management around me, in a powerful position, that's why you react. You are not a humble person. You are not here for meditation. Here too, you are a power seeker. It is so clear that if you cannot see it, then you must be utterly blind. Some kind of management is necessary; it is functional. It is a small place. If one thousand people enter into this house then some kind of management will be needed, and anybody who will be managing will look as if he has power. But what power? It is simply functional, it is utilitarian. And you are reacting to it. You can be put into management -- others will be reacting to you then. Then everybody can be put into management; then whom are you going to manage? So just don't be stupid. The people…

What is the difference between waiting for godot and waiting for god?

It is as if the sun has risen in the morning and you are sitting in your room with closed doors and windows, in darkness. Open the doors, you become available to the sun. The sun was already available -- just the meeting happens. You cannot wait for God. All waiting is for Godot. Godot means the one who never comes, who CANNOT come, whose arrival is impossible. And the only impossible thing is that which has already happened -- how can it happen again? You are alive, and you are waiting for life, Now, this is ridiculous. The real man of religion does not think in terms of God. He thinks in terms of life or, even better, of living -- because life can again become an abstract idea. Living, moment-to-moment living. In that very living, one knows what God is, because one knows who one is. Your idea…

Osho, you have said that an uncivilized man can change his face with effort, but a civilized, educated man can change faces with ease—meaning this ease of changing faces is a gift of civilization. In this context of shifting faces, I want to ask: what subtle distinction do you make between reactions and response? What are the keys to freedom from reactions and the attainment of responses? Please explain briefly.

A joke circulates about Bertrand Russell. “Joke” is the right word, because who knows whether it really happened. I’ve heard that at the time of his death the words “O God!” came out of his mouth. A priest was standing nearby—very astonished. He had approached full of fear, because Bertrand Russell did not believe in God; how then to ask him for repentance, for a final confession? He stood there, apprehensive. But when, at the last moment, “O God” came from Russell’s mouth, his courage rose. He asked, “Do you believe in God?” Russell opened his eyes and said, “Who are you?” “I’m a priest,” he replied, “standing here fearfully. I had come to have you repent, but I thought you don’t believe. It’s good you do—then make your confession.” Russell said, “It is not proper to send a guest away empty-handed; so I will repent.” And he said, “O…

Osho, do you feel that biological or physical diseases are also reactions to sociological or psychological backgrounds?

Sir, one more contradiction I am coming across is about free will and destiny. People say they are suffering because of old karmas, and others go completely opposite to that. It is very confusing whether there is anything like destiny or free will—whether there are past karmas or something else will happen in the future. This contradiction is, I think, a vital one in society today. Both are true, and there is no real contradiction between them. A contradiction appears—on the surface it is there—but inwardly there is none. I remember: a man once went to Caliph Ali and asked the same question—“Is man free in his actions, or is he bound? Is it destiny, or is it freedom? Are we doing what we must, or are we doing what we choose?” Ali looked at him for a while and said, “Do one thing: lift one foot and stand on…