Criminals

 

 

If you look into the ways the politicians go on doing things you will be surprised. But they succeed only with intellectuals, because intellectuals are really not intelligent people. If they were intelligent then nobody could manipulate them, neither the communist nor the capitalist; nobody would be capable of manipulating them. It would be impossible; they would see things clearly.

 

Intelligence is of the soul.

 

Intellect is of the mind.

 

Mind is just garbage. Mind is that which has been given to you by others. The whole collection, the whole junkyard all kinds of people have been throwing in you -- that is your mind. That mind continuously suffers from an inferiority complex, is bound to suffer: it has nothing of its own, it has no ground underneath its feet.

 

The mind wants power, prestige.

 

It can have power through politics, which is the criminal's way. If your mind has a criminal tendency then you will follow the path of politics. Politicians and criminals are not basically different people.

 

Politicians are successful criminals.

 

Criminals are unsuccessful politicians.

 

Criminals are poor, pitiable. They had tried but they failed. Politicians are of the same tribe, with only one difference: they have succeeded.

 

And in this world success makes everything right. What you have done, how you have arrived, what method and means you have used -- who bothers about it? When you are successful it is enough proof that you are a man of tremendous capacity. Your success is the proof.

 

And when you have failed, your failure is also a proof that you were hankering for the moon; you were just foolish. Try to walk on the earth, don't try to fly towards the moon; otherwise you will fall and get multiple fractures. That's what poor criminals have got -- multiple fractures.

 

But the mind of the politician and the criminal is the same. Those who are not courageous enough will go in a way which can lead either to the world of criminals or to the world of politicians. Of course, of the hundred people who will walk on the path, ninety-nine will go to the world of criminals; ninety-nine will be in the jails. One percent will also be in jail, but of a different kind: it is called the White House.

 

All kinds of black deeds -- naturally you have to call the house the "White House" to hide them.

 

-Osho, “From Darkness to Light, #5“