Will to Power

Beloved Osho, recently you spoke about the will to power. You explained the importance of having this will, this longing, to become a master over one's self. You also often declare that every desire is the basic reason for man's frustration. Can you please explain the difference between will and desire?

Gyan Saahaba, the difference between will and desire is great, although they appear almost similar. Desire is always for things. More money, more prestige, more respectability, more knowledge, more virtue, a better place in the afterlife -- these are all desires. Desires can be millions, because there are millions of things in the world which can become objects of desire. A desire always needs an object. Will is not objective; it does not want something else to be added to it. Will is simply your very life force, which wants to assert itself in its totality, in its wholeness, to bring all the flowers that are hidden in you, to be yourself. The will knows only one thing and that is you and your golden future. You, right now, are only seeds. But you can become great trees, reaching to the stars. Vincent van Gogh, one of the most significant…

Beloved master, all my life I have been intrigued by power and the recognition I can take from it. Now, that seems very confined and petty. Yet, I sense also that there is a more authentic type of power, not dependent on other people or their reactions -- more within myself. Can you please talk about my attraction towards this?

It needs a deep insight to understand that whether you torture others or you torture yourself, there is no difference at all -- except that the other can defend himself. At least there is that possibility. If you start torturing yourself, there is nobody to defend you. You can do anything with your own body. This is simply masochism. It is not, in my understanding, finding the source of your inner being. Hence I would not like to call it power, because that word is contaminated. I would like to call it peace, love, compassion... you can choose the word. But power has been in the hands of violent people; whether they were violent with others or with themselves does not matter. I think the people who were violent with others were more natural and the people who were violent with themselves were absolutely psychotic. But the people who have…

Osho, just as you distinguish between thought and the power of thought, isn’t there the same distinction between desire and willpower?

Certainly. As long as there are thoughts, you do not have the power of thought. There is a crowd of thoughts, not the power of thought. The power of thought arises only when the crowd of thoughts has departed. Then within you there is the pure energy of thought—uncovered by thoughts, laid bare; a burning fire of thought-power, with no ashes of thoughts upon it, only the glowing ember. Exactly the same holds for desires and willpower. The more the desires, the less the willpower. The fewer the desires, the greater the willpower. If you drop all desires, then whatever you will, the very moment you will it, it will be fulfilled. Your willpower will become that immense. When you do not desire, you have such vast energy that the very act of willing brings fulfillment. This is the secret of life: those who are eager to have their desires…

Question: BELOVED OSHO, OF SELF-OVERCOMING THAT YOU MAY UNDERSTAND MY TEACHING ABOUT GOOD AND EVIL, I SHALL RELATE TO YOU MY TEACHING ABOUT LIFE AND ABOUT THE NATURE OF ALL LIVING CREATURES. I HAVE FOLLOWED THE LIVING CREATURE, I HAVE FOLLOWED THE GREATEST AND THE SMALLEST PATHS, THAT I MIGHT UNDERSTAND ITS NATURE. I CAUGHT ITS GLANCE IN A HUNDREDFOLD MIRROR WHEN ITS MOUTH WAS CLOSED, THAT ITS EYE MIGHT SPEAK TO ME. AND ITS EYE DID SPEAK TO ME. BUT WHEREVER I FOUND LIVING CREATURES, THERE TOO I HEARD THE LANGUAGE OF OBEDIENCE. ALL LIVING CREATURES ARE OBEYING CREATURES. AND THIS IS THE SECOND THING: HE WHO CANNOT OBEY HIMSELF WILL BE COMMANDED. THAT IS THE NATURE OF LIVING CREATURES. BUT THIS IS THE THIRD THING I HEARD: THAT COMMANDING IS MORE DIFFICULT THAN OBEYING.