Alienation
Uproot a tree and it will start dying. Its greenness will be gone, soon the foliage will wither away, flowers will not come any more. The spring will come and go but the tree will know nothing of it; it has become alienated from existence. It is no longer rooted in the earth, it is no longer related to the sun, it no longer has any bridge. It is surrounded by walls, all bridges are broken.
That's what has happened to the modern man: he is an uprooted tree. He has forgotten how to relate with existence, he has forgotten how to whisper with the clouds and the trees and the mountains. He has completely forgotten the language of silence... because it is the language of silence that becomes a bridge between you and the universe that surrounds you. The universe knows no other language. On the earth there are three thousand languages; existence knows no language except the language of silence.
An English general was talking to a German general after the Second World War. The German was very puzzled; he said, "We had the best equipped army in the world, the best war technology, the greatest leader that history has ever known, the best of generals, and such a devoted army. Why? -- why couldn't we win? It seems simply Impossible that we have been defeated! It is unbelievable -- although it has happened -- but we cannot believe it!"
The English general laughed and said, "There is one thing you have forgotten: before starting any battle we used to pray to God; that is the secret of our victory."
The German said, "But we also used to pray to God, every morning!"
The English general laughed and he said, "We know that you used to pray, but you pray in German and we pray in English -- and who told you that God knows German?"
Everybody thinks his language is the language of God. Hindus say Sanskrit is the holy language, the divine language -- DEVA VANI -- God understands only Sanskrit. And ask the Mohammedans -- then God understands only Arabic; otherwise, why should he have revealed the Koran in Arabic? And ask the Jews -- then God understands only Hebrew.
God understands no language because God means this total existence. God understands only silence -- and we have forgotten silence. because we have forgotten silence, forgotten the art of meditation, we have become alienated. We have become small, dirty, muddy pools and we don't know how to go and be one with the ocean. We go on becoming dirtier every day, shallower every day, because the water goes on evaporating. We are just muddy, our life has no clarity. Our eyes cannot see and our hearts cannot feel.
-Osho, “Be Still and Know, #5”