Unlearning

You told us yesterday that only through undoing and through unlearning can we find our true being. What are we to do when our profession requires a lot of knowledge?

Fulfil it! But let it be a profession, don't allow it to become your soul! Of course information is needed. A doctor has to know about 707 arteries, 433 muscles, 71 bones, 230 nerves, and thousands of things in the body; and above it all, about ten thousand drugs. Otherwise he cannot be a doctor. But this is not the problem. He should know it, but this is not knowledge, this is information -- useful, utilitarian, but this is not a growth in his being. Keep it separate. It should remain part of the memory. You are not to be burdened by it. And the memory has tremendous capacity; no computer yet invented has that much capacity. One man's memory, given enough time, can memorize all the books that exist in the world today. One man's memory can contain the whole world of books. It has tremendous capacity. The only…

Osho, Why does unlearning seem even more difficult than learning?

A scholar is an egotist—supremely so. He may think, “I am very humble.” He may even display humility: “I am the dust of your feet.” But look into his eyes—he is saying, “See how humble I am! Is there anyone more humble than I?” And if a scholar says to you, “I am the dust of your feet,” and you reply, “Brother, that much we know—you are worse than the dust of our feet,” watch how angry he gets! He’ll buzz with rage: “What did you say?” And if you say, “We’re only affirming what you yourself said,” know that he never said it to be affirmed. He said it so you would protest, “No, no—dust of our feet? You are the peacock-plumed crown! You are the diadem! You are the Kohinoor diamond! Dust of our feet? Never! It is your humility that proves you are our crown!” Three Christian…

It is asked: Osho, if we drop acquired knowledge—if we let go of what we have learned—won’t it create dullness and inactivity?

I have heard: In a school a teacher was teaching his students mathematics. He asked the children: “In a small pen, in a little garden, eleven sheep are penned. Five of them jump out—how many sheep are left inside?” A child waved his hand, a very small child waved his hand first. The teacher asked: “What is the answer?” The child said: “Not a single sheep will be left.” The teacher said: “You are absolutely crazy! Five sheep went out and eleven were inside—none will be left inside?” The child said: “You may know mathematics; I know sheep. We have sheep at home. If even one sheep jumps out, none will remain behind. You may know mathematics, but I know sheep—there are sheep in my house.” Can we not say the same about man—that he has behaved like sheep? Can we say we are thoughtful like humans, or do we…

Osho, are those pieces of information harmful even if we remain only the witness-knower?

The reason is that what is hidden within us—if we keep bringing things from outside into the inside, that inner treasure will be buried all the more. Suppose there is a diamond lying in this room. And we keep bringing in from outside all the world’s pebbles, stones, and furniture, piling them up; and we say we are trying to find that diamond, that in the effort to find it we are bringing these things in. Anyone would tell us we are mad. The diamond will get lost even more. The more things in the room, the more difficult it becomes to search for the diamond. Kindly take the furniture out of the room. Bring out even what is already lying inside—so that in the end only the diamond remains within, and you can see where it is and what it is. When we say that knowledge is a quality…