Everybody wants freedom as far as talking is concerned, but nobody really is free and nobody really wants to be free, because freedom brings responsibility. It does not come alone. And to be dependent is simple: the responsibility is not on you, the responsibility is on the person you are dependent on.
So people have made a schizophrenic way of life. They talk about truth, they talk about freedom, and they live in lies, they live in slavery -- slavery of many kinds, because each slavery frees you from some responsibility. A man who really wants to be free has to accept immense responsibilities. He cannot dump his responsibilities on anybody else. Whatever he does, whatever he is, he is responsible.
And from the very beginning, you are not made ready for responsibility. That is the strategy of the society. They only talk about freedom; they want you to have freedom, but you are not prepared for responsibilities. That is a real trick, because freedom comes only with responsibility. And they have trained you that it is better to live a life where somebody else is responsible, so you are not caught; you are never in a problem. You simply follow the order.
You never go against obedience, which is a good name for slavery. You follow the order of the elders, which is another name for slavery. But it helps you that all the responsibility is on them. And they go on talking about freedom.
This whole society is hypocritical -- about each and every thing. If you want to be a real, authentic human being, you will have to be an outsider; you cannot be an insider. You have to be a foreigner everywhere. You have to be a stranger. Nobody will trust you, nobody will be friendly to you; you will be left alone in this big world.
If you think about the prospect it looks dismal, but the reality is totally different. If you live it, it is the only way of light, it is the only way to live. Whatever freedom brings with it is good. Whatever truth brings with it is good. But that experience of tremendous beauty and goodness cannot be just a concept; you have to live it and taste it.
-Osho, "The Path of the Mystic, #16"