Words

 

 

The philosophers, the theologians, the logicians are the most stupid people in the world! And it is unfortunate, very unfortunate, that a man like Dionysius has to speak in the words of Christian philosophy, theology and logic. A Zen Master would have said the same thing in a very different way, very clearly, without using so many unnecessary words and without using the name of God at all.

 

Dionysius is in a difficulty: he wants to talk like a Zen Master -- he knows nothing of Zen but he has the same insight, the same experience -- he wants to say things straight, he wants to call a spade a spade, but it is very difficult. If you want to survive in a Christian world, in a Mohammedan world, in a Judaic world, then you have to use their language. So he has to go round and round. He says exactly that which he wants to say but has to use vague words, camouflages, facades, to protect himself. And I think he did well, because it was more necessary to survive and give the message that he had found within himself than to be a martyr.

 

Thousands of people have been burnt by Christians. The people who talk about love, the people who talk about peace, the people who think that Jesus came into the world to give the message of love, brotherhood -- they have killed more people than anybody else. And all their bloodshed was only a question of words -- words became so important.

 

With foolish people it happens always: the reality fades away and words take its place. The word "God" becomes more important than the reality of God; the word "love" becomes more important than the phenomenon of love. Then they can kill each other for the word.

 

It is unbelievable that for thousands of years people have trusted in words so much -- as if the word "fire" is fire, as if the word "water" is water! When you are thirsty, the word "water" is not going to help. Of course, if you are not thirsty then there is no difference between the word "water" and water itself.

 

But the philosophers are not thirsty -- they are not thirsty for truth. They are really on great ego trips. They are not exploring that which is; on the contrary, they are fabricating, manufacturing systems of thought of their own, and trying to impose their thoughts on reality. Hence they never go beyond the mind. And mind is always mediocre, mind is never intelligent -- it cannot be by its very nature

 

Mind cannot by any process be made intelligent because mind means memory. Mind means a mechanism that accumulates past experiences. Mind means the known, and intelligence means exploration of the unknown -- and not only of the unknown: when the intelligence reaches to its ultimate flowering it enters into the world of the unknowable.

 

So please forgive Dionysius for his way of expressing himself -- that is Christian, but his message is absolutely universal. We will have to sort it out, we will have to put the Christian words aside.

 

Did you hear about the philosopher who went to the local Saturday night dance and noticed a shy girl in the corner? He went over and asked her to dance. They spent the rest of the evening together and when it was time to leave the philosopher said, "How about coming to my place?"

 

"Oh, I can't!" replied the girl. "I have my menstrual cycle.'

 

"Oh, that doesn't matter," said the philosopher, "we can take my new Honda 5OO and pick up your menstrual cycle in the morning!"

 

The people who live in words are really ridiculous! [....]

 

Now Dionysius wants to say something like Gautam the Buddha. He wants to say the truth of ANATTA, non-being, but how to say it in a Christian way? It is difficult, very difficult; he has to be very subtle. Buddha could say it directly, that being is our invention, being is nothing but ego projected on higher planes. Existence is egoless, beingless; it is transcendental to being and non-being. You cannot say it is this or that: neither this nor that, NETI NETI -- you can only say that. Or, the best way is not to say anything at all, to be silent, because only silence can say something about it. The moment you use a word you falsify the truth, because no word can contain the whole truth; every word can contain only one aspect of the truth at the cost of other aspects. And that is not right for those who are enlightened, who know the truth in its totality. [....]

 

The best is with no words, but where to find people who can understand no words?

 

One of the most significant philosophers of this age, Ludwig Wittgenstein, says, "Do not say that which cannot be said." He is right, because saying that which cannot be said is dangerous. It is bound to be wrong, it is falsifying. It is exactly what Lao Tzu says, "Truth cannot be said. The moment you say it you falsify it." But Lao Tzu said it, and Wittgenstein could not control c either.

 

The Upanishads say: "Those who know, they are silent, and those who do not know, they speak." But the Upanishads are saying it, so where to put the Upanishads? Socrates says: "I know only one thing, that I know nothing." But that one thing he knows, and that one thing contains all.

 

It is true that if it can be said without words that is the best, but who will understand it?

 

There is a beautiful story about Mahavira. When he became enlightened, seven days he spoke without words -- but who will understand without words? Only a few gods who had come to see this miracle, that had happened on the earth, only they could understand. But it was almost useless, because they knew it already anyway. What he was saying they could only nod their heads to. They could say, "Yes, it is right."

 

Then Mahavira had to speak in a language that could be understood by mortal human beings. But his message was so condensed -- he was a lover of maxims. He wouldn't elaborate, he wouldn't explain; he would simply assert without any explanation. So only very few very evolved human beings could understand him and they became his interpreters, his GANDHARAS. He would speak to those eleven persons and then those eleven persons would go and speak to others.

 

Finally he decided that that too was not right, because the moment he said something it was falsified immediately -- it was no longer as beautiful as it was in silence. Then those GANDHARAS. those eleven interpreters, would hear; something more was lost because what THEY heard, they heard according to themselves. And when these GANDHARAS said it to the ordinary masses, something again was lost because they used THEIR language; they could not use Mahavira's language. And when the masses heard it, it was almost something totally different than what was said by Mahavira. So finally he had to speak directly.

 

All enlightened Masters would have liked to speak through silence, but where are people who will understand it? Then they have to speak the language of the people, and they have to prepare the people slowly so that one day they can understand the silence too.

 

That's what I am trying to do here: I am talking to you continuously only in order to help you one day to sit in silence with me. Nothing will be said, nothing will be heard: all will be said, all will be heard. [....]

 

Mind is knowledge, meditation is non-knowledge. Mind knows, meditation experiences. Mind can only give you a certain acquaintance but not the taste. If you want the taste of the Tao you have to move to no-mind, to meditation, to AGNOSIA.

 

A tremendous awareness is needed, an awareness that can help you to cut yourself off from the mind, from words, from theories, from philosophy, from theology, from religions, from priests: a tremendous awareness like a sharp sword that cuts ALL that binds you and makes you free.

 

To indicate that freedom Dionysius has used the most beautiful word I have ever come across: AGNOSIA. Be so silent, so unknowing, so non-existential, a deep emptiness, a nothingness, and then mysteries will be revealed to you. Then God can stand naked before you. But if you know something about God then you will never know him as he is.

 

It is said that the word "God" stands for three words. G stands for "that," O stands for "which" and D stands for "is." God is a code word; it means nothing, it simply represents THAT WHICH IS. But to know that which is you will have to come to a certain state: a state of absolute emptiness. What Buddha calls SHUNYATA nothingness, Dionysius calls AGNOSIA. I call it meditation, but these ate different words for the same phenomenon.

 

If you have attained to AGNOSIA YOU have found the place where he dwells, you have found the temple where he lives. And that tempi is not outside, it is within you. It is at the VERY core of your being.

 

-Osho, "Theologia Mystica, #4"