Stupid Religions by OSHO
08/16/2009 12:42 PM Filed in: religion
I ran across this excellent point by Osho. If you look carefully at what he says, it’s a good point he’s making about both religions and spiritual teachers in general. Trust in your spiritual teachers, but don’t “follow” them. A similar idea is contained in this quote I love by Matsuo Basho: “Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought.”
This is why the Indian conception of “God” contains so many Gods. In truth, there must be at least as many Gods as there are people’s conceptions of “It”.
Trust Is The Bridge Between You and Existence
"I call every organized religion stupid, because true religion can never be organized. True religion is always individual, it has nothing to do with the crowd. A Jesus can be religious but not the Christians. The Christians are only carbon copies. They have forgotten their own originality, their own individuality. Jesus was not following anybody. He was not imitating anybody.
That was his fault, that he did not allow the society to exploit his trust. He did not allow the crowd to reduce him into a false personality. He remained an individual. He risked his life but he did not compromise with the society. It was better to die on the cross than to live as a hypocrite. At least on the cross he was true, authentic -- himself. In the crowd, he would have lived, but not his own life. He would have been a cog in the machine -- without any individuality, without any intelligence of his own, without any realization of truth, significance, beauty and the immense grace of existence.
He could have saved his life but in fact, that would have been crucifixion. He accepted being crucified -- that was saving his life - fearlessly, trusting in existence, without any anger against the crowd. Even at the last moment on the cross, he was praying for the crowd: 'Father, forgive them. They know not what they are doing. They are unconscious people. One cannot expect from unconscious people anything more.'" -Osho
This is why the Indian conception of “God” contains so many Gods. In truth, there must be at least as many Gods as there are people’s conceptions of “It”.
Trust Is The Bridge Between You and Existence
"I call every organized religion stupid, because true religion can never be organized. True religion is always individual, it has nothing to do with the crowd. A Jesus can be religious but not the Christians. The Christians are only carbon copies. They have forgotten their own originality, their own individuality. Jesus was not following anybody. He was not imitating anybody.
That was his fault, that he did not allow the society to exploit his trust. He did not allow the crowd to reduce him into a false personality. He remained an individual. He risked his life but he did not compromise with the society. It was better to die on the cross than to live as a hypocrite. At least on the cross he was true, authentic -- himself. In the crowd, he would have lived, but not his own life. He would have been a cog in the machine -- without any individuality, without any intelligence of his own, without any realization of truth, significance, beauty and the immense grace of existence.
He could have saved his life but in fact, that would have been crucifixion. He accepted being crucified -- that was saving his life - fearlessly, trusting in existence, without any anger against the crowd. Even at the last moment on the cross, he was praying for the crowd: 'Father, forgive them. They know not what they are doing. They are unconscious people. One cannot expect from unconscious people anything more.'" -Osho
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