• I want every one of my sannyasins to be utterly unique.
    - Osho

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Question 1:

Osho,

Are children really so intelligent as you always say they are?

 

 

Gautami, Intelligence is not something that is acquired, it is inbuilt, it is inborn, it is intrinsic to life itself. Not only children are intelligent, animals are intelligent in their own way, trees are intelligent in their own way. Of course they all have different kinds of intelligences because their needs differ, but now it is an established fact that all that lives is intelligent. Life cannot be without intelligence; to be alive and to be intelligent are synonymous.

 

But man is in a dilemma for the simple reason that he is not only intelligent, he is also aware of his intelligence. That is something unique about man, his privilege, his prerogative, his glory, but it can turn very easily into his agony. Man is conscious that he is intelligent; that consciousness brings its own problems. The first problem is that it creates ego.

 

Ego does not exist anywhere else except in human beings, and ego starts growing as the child grows. The parents, the schools, colleges, university, they all help to strengthen the ego for the simple reason that for centuries man had to struggle to survive and the idea has become a fixation, a deep unconscious conditioning, that only strong egos can survive in the struggle of life. Life has become just a struggle to survive. And scientists have made it even more convincing with the theory of the survival of the fittest. So we help every child to become more and more strong in the ego, and it is there that the problem arises.

 

As the ego becomes strong it starts surrounding intelligence like a thick layer of darkness. Intelligence is light, ego is darkness. Intelligence is very delicate, ego is very hard. Intelligence is like a rose flower, ego is like a rock. And if you want to survive, they say — the so-called knowers — then you have to become rock-like, you have to be strong, invulnerable. You have to become a citadel, a closed citadel, so you cannot be attacked from outside. You have to become impenetrable.

 

But then you become closed. Then you start dying as far as your intelligence is concerned because intelligence needs the open sky, the wind, the air, the sun in order to grow, to expand, to flow. To remain alive it needs a constant flow; if it becomes stagnant it becomes slowly slowly a dead phenomenon.

 

We don’t allow children to remain intelligent. The first thing is that if they are intelligent they will be vulnerable, they will be delicate, they will be open. If they are intelligent they will be able to see many falsities in the society, in the state, in the church, in the educational system. They will become rebellious. They will be individuals; they will not be cowed easily. You can crush them, but you cannot enslave them You can destroy them, but you cannot force them to compromise.

 

In one sense intelligence is very soft, like a rose flower, in another sense it has its own strength. But that strength is subtle, not gross. That strength is the strength of rebellion, of a non-compromising attitude. One is ready to die, one is ready to suffer, but one is not ready to sell one’s soul.

 

And the whole society needs slaves; it needs people who function like robots, machines. It does not want people, it wants ancient mechanisms. Hence the whole conditioning is: make the ego strong. It serves a double purpose. First: it gives the person the feeling that now he can struggle in life. And secondly: it serves the purposes of all the vested interests. They can exploit him; they can use him as a means to their own ends.

 

Hence the whole educational system rotates around the idea of ambition; it creates ambitiousness. Ambitiousness is nothing but ego. “Become the first, become the most famous. Become a prime minister or a president. Become world known Leave your name in history.” It does not teach you to live totally, it does not teach you to love totally, it does not teach you to live gracefully, it teaches you how to exploit others for your own purposes. And we think that the people who are clever are the ones who succeed. They are cunning, but we call them clever. They are not intelligent people.

 

An intelligent person can never use another person as a means; he will respect the other. An intelligent person will be able to see the equality of all. Yes, he will see the differences too, but differences make no difference as far as equality is concerned. He will have tremendous respect for others’ freedom — he cannot exploit them, he cannot reduce them into things, he cannot make them stepping stones to the fulfillment of some absurd desire to be the first. Hence we go on conditioning children, and the question arises…

 

Your question is relevant, Gautami, because it is not only I who am saying that children are intelligent, it has been said by Buddha, by Lao Tzu, by Jesus, by all the awakened ones. Jesus says: Unless you are like a small child there is no hope for you. Again he says: Unless you become like small children you cannot enter into my kingdom of God. Again and again he repeats one of his most famous beatitudes: Blessed are those who are the last in this world, because they will be the first in my kingdom of God. He is teaching non-ambitiousness — to be the last. He says: Blessed are the meek, for theirs is the kingdom of God — the meek, the humble, the people who are standing last in the queue. It was natural, very natural that the society he was born in was against him because he was destroying the very roots of their ambitiousness.

 

And Jews have always been very ambitious people, so much so that for centuries, against all hazards, they have carried the idea in their minds that they are the chosen people of God. A thousand and one calamities have happened because of this stupid idea; if they can drop it they will be more acceptable in the world. But they cannot drop it — their whole ego is involved in it. And it is an ancient ego, at least three thousand years old. Since Moses they have been carrying the idea that they are the chosen people of God.

 

And here comes this man who says, “Be the last”! “We are meant to be the first, and he says, ‘Be humble and meek’! And we are the chosen people; if we are humble and meek then those who are not chosen will become the first!” And Jews are earthly people; they don’t bother much about the other world. They are worldly. “Who knows about the other world? He is saying, ‘If you are the last here you will be the first in my kingdom of God.’ But where is your kingdom of God? It may be just a fiction, just a dream.”

 

Jesus looks like a dreamer, a poet maybe, but he is destroying their very foundation. They cannot forgive him; they have not even forgiven him yet. They still carry the idea that “we are the chosen people.” They have suffered much for it; the more they have suffered the stronger the idea has become — because if you have to face suffering you have to become more and more egoistic, more rock-like so that you can fight, struggle, so that nobody can destroy you. But they have also become very closed.

 

Jesus was creating an opening for them; they refused him. He was telling them to come into the open sky. He was telling them to be just ordinary: “Drop this nonsense of being special.” If they had listened to Jesus their whole history would have been different, but they could not listen.

 

Hindus have not listened to Buddha for the simple reason — the same reason — that Hindus are also carrying the idea they are the holiest people in the world and their land is the holiest land. Even gods long to I e born in India! No other country is so holy. And Buddha said, “This is all nonsense!” They had to reject him. Buddhism was thrown out of this country. No society can tolerate such people, who are telling the truth, because they seem to sabotage the very structure.

 

But now the time has come when we have suffered enough. All over the world, in different ways, people have suffered much, and it is time to have a look at history and its stupidity and its ridiculousness and drop the whole idea of these egoistic patterns.

 

Watch small children, Gautami, and then you will not ask me — you will see their intelligence. Yes, they are not knowledgeable. If you want them to be knowledgeable, then you will not think that they are intelligent. If you ask them questions which depend on information, then they will look not intelligent.

 

But ask them real questions which have nothing to do with information, which need an immediate response, and see — they are far more intelligent than you are. Of course your ego won’t allow you to accept it, but if you can accept it it will help tremendously. It will help you, it will help your children, because if you can see their intelligence you can learn much from them.

 

A Sufi mystic, Hasan, was dying. When he was dying a man asked him, “Hasan, you have never told us who your Master was. We have asked again and again; you always somehow managed not to answer it. Now you are leaving the world. Please tell us who your Master was. We are very curious.”

 

Hasan said, “I never answered the question for the simple reason that there has not been just a single Master in my life, I have learned from many people. My first teacher was a small child.”

 

They were puzzled. They said, “A small child! What are you saying? Have you lost your senses because you are dying? Have you gone mad, crazy?”

 

He said, “No, listen to the story. I went into a town. Although I had not known the truth up to that time, I was very knowledgeable. I was a scholar. I was well known all over the country; even outside the country my name was spreading. People had started coming to me thinking that I knew it. I was pretending that I knew it, and I was pretending without knowing that I was pretending — I was almost unconscious. Because people believed that I knew they convinced me that I must be right, I must be knowing, otherwise why should so many people be coming to me? I had become a teacher. Without knowing, without experiencing anything of truth, without ever entering into my own inner world, I was talking about great things. I knew all the scriptures; they were on the tip of my tongue.

 

“But for three days I was moving in a country where nobody knew me and I was very much hankering to find somebody to ask me something so that I could show my knowledge.”

 

Knowledgeable people become very exhibitionistic; that is their whole joy. If a knowledgeable person has to remain silent he would rather commit suicide. Then what is the point of living in the world? He has to exhibit his knowledge. Only a wise man can be silent. For the wise man to speak is almost a burden; he speaks because he has to speak. The knowledgeable person speaks because he cannot remain silent. There is a vast difference; you may not be able to know it from the outside because both speak. The Buddha speaks, Jesus speaks, and Hasan was also speaking. And they all say beautiful things. Sometimes the knowledgeable people say wiser things than the wise people because the wise persons may speak in contradictions, in paradoxes, but the knowledgeable person is always logical, consistent; he has all the proofs and arguments, he has all the scriptures to support him.

 

But for three days he had to keep silent. It was almost like fasting, and he was feeling hungry — hungry for an audience, hungry for somebody. But he had not come across anybody who knew him so nobody asked anything.

 

He entered this town. It was just getting a little dark, the sun had just set. A small child was carrying an earthen lamp, and he asked the child, “My son, can I ask you a question? Where are you taking this earthen lamp?”

 

And the child said, “I am going to the temple. My mother has told me to put this lamp there because the temple is dark. And this has been my mother’s habit: to always put a lamp there in the night so at least the god of the temple does not have to live in darkness.”

 

Hasan asked the child, “You seem to be very intelligent. Can you tell me one thing — did you light this lamp yourself?”

 

The child said, “Yes.”

 

Then Hasan said, “A third question, the last question I want to ask you: if you lit the lamp yourself, can you tell me where the flame came from? You must have seen it coming from somewhere.”

 

The child laughed and he said, “I will do one thing — just see!” And he blew the flame out and he said, “The flame has gone just in front of you. Can you tell me where it has gone? You must have seen!”

 

And Hasan was utterly dumb; he could not answer. The child had shown him that his question, although it looked very relevant, meaningful, was absurd. He bowed down to the child, touched his feet.

 

He said to the inquirer, “That child was my first Master. That very moment I realized all my metaphysics, all my philosophy was meaningless. I didn’t know a thing on my own. I didn’t even know from where the light comes into a lamp, where it goes to when the light has been put out — and I have been talking about who made the world, how he made the world, when he made the world! For that moment I have always remembered the child. He may have forgotten me, he may not even recognize me, but I cannot forget that incident.

 

“And since then thousands of people have taught me. I have avoided the question again and again because there is not a single person I can call my Master. Many have been my Masters, I have learned from many sources, and from each source I have learned one thing: that unless you know through your own experience, all knowledge is futile.

 

“Then I dropped all my learning, all my knowing; all my scriptures I burned. I dropped the idea of being a scholar, I forgot all my fame. I started moving like a beggar, absolutely unknown to anybody. And slowly slowly, going deeper into meditation, I discovered my own intelligence.”

 

Even though the society destroys your intelligence it cannot destroy it totally; it only covers it with many layers of information. And that’s the whole function of meditation: to take you deeper into yourself. It is a method of digging into your own being to the point when you come to the living waters of your own intelligence, when you discover the springs of your own intelligence. When you have discovered your child again, when you are reborn, then, only then will you understand what I have been meaning by emphasizing again and again that children are really intelligent.

 

But start watching children, their responses — not their answers but their responses. Don’t ask them foolish questions, ask them something immediate which does not depend on information and see their response.

 

The mother was preparing little Pedro to go to a party. When she finished combing his hair she straightened his shirt collar and said, “Go now, son. Have a good time… and behave yourself!”

 

“Come on, mother!” said Pedro. “Please decide before I leave which it is going to be!”

 

You see the point? The mother was saying, “Have a good time… and behave yourself.” Now, both things cannot be done together. And the child’s response is really of tremendous value. He says, “Please decide before I leave which it is going to be. If you allow me to have a good time, then I cannot behave; if you want me to behave, then I cannot have a good time.” The child can see the contradiction so clearly; it may not have been apparent to the mother.

 

A passerby asks a boy, “Son, can you please tell me what time it is?”

 

“Yes, of course,” replies the boy, “but what do you need it for? It changes continuously!”

 

A new transit sign was put in front of the school. It read: “Drive Slowly. Do Not Kill a Student!”

 

The following day there was another sign under it scribbled in a childish writing: “Wait for the Teacher!”

 

Little Pierino comes home from school with a big smile on his face.

 

“Well, dear, you look very happy. So you like school, do you?”

 

“Don’t be silly, mom,” replies the boy. “We must not confuse the going with the coming back!”

 

While slowly walking to school the little boy prays, “Dear God, please do not let me arrive at school late. I pray you, God, let me arrive at school on time…”

 

At this moment he slips on a banana peel and slides on the path for a few meters. Pulling himself up he looks at the sky annoyed and says, “Okay, okay, God, there is no need to push!”

 

A little boy is having a test with a psychologist. “What do you want to do when you grow up?” asks the shrink.

 

“I want to become a doctor or a painter or a window washer!” replies the boy.

 

Puzzled, the psychologist asks, “But… you aren’t very clear, are you?”

 

“Why not? I’m very clear. I want to see naked women!”

 

The father was telling stories to his sons in the living room after dinner. “My great-grandfather fought in the war against Rosas, my uncle fought in the war against the Kaiser, my grandfather fought in the war of Spain against the Republicans and my father fought in the Second World War against the Germans.”

 

To which the smallest son replied, “Shit! What’s wrong with this family? They can’t relate to anybody!”

 

- Osho, “Tao: The Golden Gate, Vol 1, #7, Q1”

 

 


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    Never fight over children because then the child starts feeling ’What is happening?’

    [A sannyasin asks about returning to the West to take custody of her son, as she and her husband are divorcing.] This is my suggestion: if you feel that you are too disturbed you can go and do whatsoever you want to do. But this is my suggestion – that going and fighting for the son is not going to h...
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    on Child Upbringing

    Question 4 : Osho, Is it not possible to raise children in such a way that they never become interested in the dirty things of life? Chandrakand, WHAT do you mean by “dirty things of life”? Life is all beautiful! Even dirt is not dirty, even dirt has its own splendor. Because life is divine — how can...
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    10. Truth and Science

    Truth and Science In a small village one moonless night everyone was fast asleep when the sound of weeping and crying suddenly broke the stillness. It awakened everyone, and the villagers, confused and shaken, ran towards the small hut from which the shouting came. From within they heard, “Fire! I am...
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    The education in religion is education in courage, awareness and peace

    Then what should we do for education in religion? The seed of religion is there in everybody because life is there in everybody. We should create opportunities for the growth of that seed, and remove the obstacles on the path of that growth. If this can be done, the seed sprouts on its own, out of it...
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    Every child is brought up, conditioned, in a certain religion

    Question 1 Beloved Osho, Are you trying to destroy all of our previous ideas about religion? There is no other way to be religious. All that you have heard about religion, read about religion, has to be totally dropped. Unless you are clean, with no writing on your consciousness, you will never know ...
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    6. Fire of Rebellion

    Fire of Rebellion Discourse date: Fri, 12 February 1969 00:00:00 GMT This discourse was given before teachers under the title: The Birth of New India! Zarathustra was coming down a hill. He was rushing downwards as if he had heard some very important news from down the hill. He reached the plains, ru...
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    The more disciplined the child, the more stupid he will be

    Every child is born clever. No child is ever born idiotic. To become an idiot one needs to be educated. To convert people to idiocy, schools and colleges and universities are needed. It is a great achievement. Idiocy is not natural; it has to be learned, it has to be earned. Great effort has to be ma...
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    The five dimensions of education

    Question 1: Osho, What would be the form of education in the new commune? Maneesha, the education that has prevailed in the past is very insufficient, incomplete, superficial. It only creates people who can earn their livelihood but it does not give any insight into living itself. It is not only inco...
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    Every child is born clever. No child is ever born idiotic

    Every child is born clever. No child is ever born idiotic. To become an idiot one needs to be educated. To convert people to idiocy, schools and colleges and universities are needed. It is a great achievement. Idiocy is not natural; it has to be learned, it has to be earned. Great effort has to be ma...
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    Sex Education : Do not teach children that sex is sin. Instead, it is necessary to explain to them that sex is part and parcel of life

    Sex Education Sex does not rear its head as soon as a child is born. There is still time for that. The body gathers energy, the cells gain strength, and the day comes when the body is fully ready. The energy will slowly muster itself, and then it will push open a door that has been shut for the first...
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    If you allow children, they can become very dictatorial; they can really exploit you

    [A sannyasin, present with his five-year-old son says: I would like to talk about the relationship with my son. He is a very beautiful and rich child, but I feel he demands too much energy from me and needs much attention. I am in a struggle between feeling guilty and sacrificing myself. Is it possib...
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    It is not judging the person, it is judging the act.

    Question 3 Beloved Osho, You often tell us that we should not judge ourselves or other people. I am a teacher and because of my job I have to judge the students. Now that I am going back to Italy, I am worried about how I shall manage with my job. Can you give me some help? KaloShreeman, my saying th...
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    2. The Politics of Misery

    The Politics of Misery Question 1 Osho, Does a child not have as much right to privacy and freedom from parental conditioning as the parents expect for themselves? It is one of the most fundamental problems facing humanity today. The future depends on how we solve this problem. It has never been enco...
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    The point is we should drop the old idea that you have to produce your son yourself.

    I was thinking, Why are they in the majority? -- but then I found that the first marathon race has created the whole trouble. And this situation will continue unless we are more intelligent and stop this accidental birth -- what I call accidental birth. Now we are at a stage where genetic engineering...
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    Osho talks about children in the new commune

    Children are immensely intelligent, they just need a chance! They need opportunities to grow, the right climate. Every child is born with the potential of enlightenment, with the potential of becoming awakened, but we destroy it. This has been the greatest calamity in the whole history of man. No oth...
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    3. Education: Love-Oriented

    Education: Love-Oriented Date unknown This discourse was given before students under the title: Youth and Rebellion. I am pleased at the prospect of speaking to the youth and the students. The first thing about the youth that comes to my mind is what today I would like to say to you in detail. For th...
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    8. The Face of God

    The Face of Godliness Question : How can one ensure that our children maintain their original face? The original face of every child is the face of God. Of course my God is not a Christian, a Hindu, a Jew. My God is not even a person but only a presence. It is less like a flower and more like fragran...
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    My parents are so disappointed in me

    Question 2 Osho, My parents are so disappointed in me, they worry all the time. they have made my being here possible, so how can i turn from them? what do i owe to my parents? The trouble with the family is that children grow out of childhood, but parents never grow out of their parenthood! Man has ...
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    22. Conscious Innocence: Paradise Regained

    Conscious Innocence: Paradise Regained Question : Why is childlikeness compared to meditation? When man is reborn, only then he understands what is the beauty and the grandeur of childhood. The child is ignorant; hence he is unable to understand the tremendous innocence that surrounds him. Once a chi...
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    about having a baby

    [A sannyasin, who is leaving, refers to a letter she had written earlier: I asked if I could have a baby and you said I could. Then I began to think that Osho is putting a responsibility on me and was I ready for it.] If you can avoid it that is very good. When people ask, they create trouble for me....
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    (ref) Mystic Rose For Children

    Mystic Rose For Children The following is a meditation suggested by Osho for children and their teachers to do together at the beginning of each school day. Stage 1 Ten minutes gibberish. With eyes closed, make any nonsense sounds you like; sing, cry, shout. Let your body do whatever it wants; jump, ...
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    Does education lead to meditation? please explain education and religion.

    Question 3 Does education lead to meditation? please explain education and religion. Ordinarily that which is called education is almost against meditation. It should not be so but it is so. The original meaning of the word 'education' is not against meditation. The original meaning is: to draw out. ...
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    on Responsibility of a Mother, on Good Mother

    [A sannyasin brings her baby and says she has been screaming a lot which upsets her.] That is part of being a mother…. It is not an easy job…. But now it is too late! Every woman wants to become a mother without knowing the responsibilities. It is a long commitment. And remember: never think of what ...
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    1. Teacher, Society and Revolution

    Teacher, Society and Revolution Date unknown. This discourse was first published in KRANTINADA MONTHLY 1968 to 1969. I would like to tell you a few things which I see about teachers and the society. Perhaps there will be no agreement between the way you think and the way I think. Perhaps I may be opp...
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    What would be the form of Education in the New Commune? (The Five-Dimensional Education)

    Question 1: Osho, What would be the form of Education in the New Commune? Maneesha, the education that has prevailed in the past is very insufficient, incomplete, superficial. It only creates people who can earn their livelihood but it does not give any insight into living itself. It is not only inco...
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    Should Childten be told all the facts of Life, Irrespective of their age?

    Question 8: Osho, Should Childten be told all the facts of Life, Irrespective of their age? Govinddas, IT HAS always been a problem down the ages — what to tell children and what not to tell. Parents have been very much concerned. In the past the strategy was not to tell about the facts of life, to a...
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    on Mother Child Relationship, When you are screaming at them, you have to love them also

    [The new sannyasin says she is concerned about screaming at her son. Osho asks her to give an example, and she replies: He comes up to his sister and he pinches her and she shrieks. It makes me nervous and so I scream at him to stop it.] No, don’t be worried about screaming – not at all. It is natura...
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    There is nothing to judge

    Question 3 Beloved Osho, You often tell us that we should not judge ourselves or other people. I am a teacher and because of my job I have to judge the students. Now that I am going back to Italy, I am worried about how I shall manage with my job. Can you give me some help? Kalo Shreeman, my saying t...
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    Without training the intellect the children will remain like animals

    Question : Beloved Osho, If intellect is such an obstacle in the journey towards self-realization, is not then training and sharpening of it just useless? Is it not possible that because of their innocence and expressiveness, children should be helped To move into meditation directly, without imparti...
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    7. Kick Your Own Butt!

    Smack Your Own Butt! Question : How can the birth of a child be made as gentle as possible? When the child comes out of the womb, it is the greatest shock of his life. Even death will not be this big a shock, because death will come without warning. Death will come most probably when he is unconsciou...
    CategoryThe New Child
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    1. Conditioning: A Substitute for Intelligence

    Robots Are Obedient - Rebels Are Dangerous Conditioning: A Substitute for Intelligence Question : Are idiots trained or born? It is a complicated question. Almost ninety percent of idiots are trained. Ten percent are born. And the ten percent are born because of those ninety percent who have been tra...
    CategoryThe New Child
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    7. Total Education

    Total Education Discourse date: Fri, 21 January 1968 00:00:00 GMT This discourse was given to teachers at Poddar College. Of the misfortunes that have befallen mankind, the greatest are the ones which we have been regarding as blessings. Because of regarding them as benedictions, as blessings, it has...
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    Parents : Osho on Parents

    Osho on Parents On one hand we go on teaching people to be true, and on the other hand, in a subtle way, we go on teaching them not to be true. Each child is made neurotic by the parents, by the society; and we know that we are doing it, and we know that others have done the same to us. Stop doing it...
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    2. Towards the Birth of a New Man

    Towards the Birth of a New Man (Date unknown - This discourse was given to a congregation of teachers and students published in booklet of same name.) I am very pleased to be present among you. Certainly, on this occasion, I would like to share some of my heartfelt views with you. It is painful to se...
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    What is Education?

    Question 4: What is Education? Parmar, man is born as a seed. He is born as a potentiality. He is not born as an actuality. And this is very special, this is extraordinary, because in the whole of existence only man is born as a potentiality; every other animal is born actual. A dog is born as a dog,...
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    Children - Osho Quotes on Children

    Osho Quotes on Children We go on forcing children to go to sleep when we think it is time. But sleep is not to be manipulated by time, sleep is something inner. When the child feels sleepy he will go to sleep, but mother and father go on forcing the child to go to sleep, as if sleep can be ordered. C...
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    on Parenting – Overprotection always creates a problem, but underprotection also creates a problem

    [An indian sannyasin, here on visit from kenya, said that she was concerned about what she felt was her overprotective attitude to her eighteen-year-old son. He also felt he was overprotected and that he was not allowed to do those things that other boys of his age were doing. She added that he had f...
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    10. Seven-Year Free-wheeling Cycles

    Seven-Year Cycles Question : What is the right way to help the child grow without interfering in his natural potentialiity? Every way to help a child is wrong. The very idea of helping is not right. The child needs your love, not your help. The child needs nourishment, support, but not your help. The...
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    11. Teenage Revolution

    Teenage Revolution Question 5 : At this young age there is a lot of shyness and insecurity about making decisions. Parents are not often helpful. How to develop the inner strength? All shyness is basically concerned with sex. Once children are perfectly free to have sexual relationships, you will see...
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    Parenting : Osho on Parenting

    Osho on Parenting In a better world no parent will give you any belief. Certainly he will give you courage to inquire, courage to adventure. He will sharpen your intelligence so that when you come across a lie you can see it and when you come across a truth you can immediately recognize it, but he wi...
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    If you are a parent you will need this much courage - not to interfere.

    If you are a parent you will need this much courage -- not to interfere. Open doors of unknown directions to the child so he can explore. He does not know what he has in him, nobody knows. He has to grope in the dark. Don't make him afraid of darkness, don't make him afraid of failure, don't make him...
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    Osho Quotes on Education

    Osho on Education "This i call education: to make people more intelligent." - Osho, "The Secret, #2" “Nobody is inferior, and nobody is superior. One is just oneself, incomparable.“ - Osho, "The Golden Future, #23" “Never compare. Each child has to be respected on his own. Each child has to be respec...
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    19. The Generation Gap - Mutual Disrespect

    The Generation Gap - Mutual Disrespect Question : What is this generation gap? I hear so much about it these days. Two old men of eighty were sitting in their club when one said, "Do you think there is as much love, as much fun going on as there used to be?" "Yes, certainly," said the other, "but the...
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    4. Religion: One of the Biggest Crimes Against Humanity

    Religion: One of the Biggest Crimes Against Humanity Question : Are you trying to destroy all of our previous ideas about religion? There is no other way to be religious. All that you have heard about religion, read about religion, has to be totally dropped. Unless you are clean, with no writing on y...
    CategoryThe New Child
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    8. The Light of Disbelief

    The Light of Disbelief Discourse date: Fri, 14 August 1969 00:00:00 GMT This discourse was given to students. Just as an individual becomes old, the society also becomes old. Just as an individual dies, the society dies and civilizations also die, but no individual can refuse to become old or refuse ...
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    Guidance to seven months pregnant sannyasin

    [The new sannyasin is seven months pregnant.] Then just be here and absorb as much of my energy as possible. Be open and vulnerable. But go to meditations – even if you can’t do them. Just sit by the side. Be a part, just silently participate. Go to the music group and sit silently by the side. Let t...
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    18. Teaching - A Put Down or a Lift Up

    Teaching - A Put Down or a Lift Up Question 3 : You often tell us that we should not judge ourselves or other people. I am a teacher, and because of my job I have to judge the students. Now I am worried about how I shall manage with my job. Can you give me some help? My saying that you should not jud...
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    Meditation advise for Pregnant Women, Meditation during Pregnancy

    [The woman says: I feel that I’m pregnant since we’ve been here. Is there any meditation or thing to do that will be helpful for the baby or for us?] Just remain as happy and loving as possible. Avoid negativities – that’s what destroys the mind of the child. When the child is in formation he not onl...
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    9. Transformation Through Awareness

    Transformation Through Awareness Discourse date: Fri, 2 September 1969 00:00:00 GMT The original title was: Education: Means and Ends Question 1: Do you think it is necessary to give a new type of education so that people may understand differentiations? can objectivity and subjectivity be separated?...
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    Pregnancy is not equivalent to motherhood

    [A sannyasin says she’s pregnant. She’d decided to have an abortion and thought she was happy with the decision, but since then, whenever she thinks about it she feels a tremendous amount of sadness.] Mm mm. This will be a momentary sadness. If you want to become a mother then you want to get into de...
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    5. Knowledge is That Which Liberates

    Knowledge is That Which Liberates Discourse date: Fri, 23 September 1968 00:00:00 GMT Sa Vidya Ya Vimuktaye. Knowledge is that which liberates. This morning I would like to say a few things to you on this subject. This is a marvellous saying. It is the most original definition of knowledge. This is t...
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    Children need privacy : Parent & Child

    A child needs immense privacy, as much as possible, a maximum of privacy, so that he can develop his individuality un-interfered with. But we are trespassing on the child, continuously trespassing. The parents are continuously asking, 'What are you doing? What are you thinking?' Even thinking! “A chi...
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    If the child is afraid of the parent, love is not possible.

    [A sannyasin, weeping, says: Something that came up during primal was that even though I see what my parents did to me I'm still doing the same thing to my kid. So many times my own needs get in the way of what she needs. I can't seem to give her any help. And I think I'm doing her harm.] Mm mm. One ...
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    on Youth and Education system, Our education destroys our genius

    I am pleased at the prospect of speaking to the youth and the students. The first thing about the youth that comes to my mind is what today I would like to say to you in detail. For the old the past exists; that is already gone, and their whole world is behind them. Children imagine about and desire ...
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    20. Meditation: Nature's Gift

    Meditation: Nature's Gift Question : Surely, meditation is for mystics. Why do you propose it for ordinary people and their children? It is for mystics, surely, but everybody is a born mystic - because everybody carries a great mystery within him which has to be realized; everybody carries great pote...
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    What is learning?

    Question 2 Osho, What is learning? Vedant, LEARNING, in the first place, is not knowledge. Let us start from negating, from eliminating; let us first say what learning is not. Learning is not knowledge. Learning has become too much identified with knowledge. It is just the opposite of knowledge. The ...
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    Nobody can fulfill the idea of the parents

    [A sannyasin says she is afraid of meeting her parents.] I will take care -- just go and don t be afraid. It is always difficult to meet the parents, the most difficult thing, because between children and parents so many barriers exist; they have been created by the parents. The children are always a...
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    What it means to be a teacher to children

    [The sannyasin who started the ashram school says: I just don’t understand what it means to be a teacher to children here… ] Yes, that is right — it will be a totally different thing! It will be a totally different thing…. It can’t apply here. A few things to remember, and then you can work them out…...
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    Children should come out of a tremendous love

    First move as deeply into love as possible. Till then avoid having children, because children should come out of a tremendous love, otherwise not. You can give birth to ordinary children, who are just by-products of a physiological and biological meeting of man and woman, but they are anonymous. When...
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    15. Education: A Preparation Towards Being Yourself

    Education: A Preparation Towards Being Yourself Question : What is education? Man is born as a seed. He is born as a potentiality. He is not born as an actuality. And this is very special, this is extraordinary, because in the whole of existence only man is born as a potentiality; every other animal ...
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    If something is wrong with the child, it must have come from the parents

    Compassion is pure soul, it is pure sky: it has no matter around it. It is the ultimate blooming of the flower. Even the flower disappears in it, only fragrance remains. Shanti means silence, deva means god – god of silence. Help him to become as silent as possible. By being silent yourself, he will ...
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    Sex Education : Sex education is one of the fundamental causes of the rift between the generations.

    Sex Education The teacher of a class of ten-year-olds is too shy to conduct the sex-education class and so she asks her class to make this a homework project. Little Eddy asks his father, who mumbles something about a stork. His grandmother says he came from a cabbage patch. His great-grandmother blu...
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    Parents - Osho quotes on Parents

    Osho Quotes on Parents Each child is made neurotic by the parents, by the society; and we know that we are doing it, and we know that others have done the same to us. Stop doing it to yourself and stop doing it to others. Become alert. Just be real. I emphasize reality more than truth. Because truth ...
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    To be a mother means a great revolution, and a radical change

    [A sannyasin says: I’m going to be a mother… Yes, I want it.] Do you understand what it means? If you want it, it is okay, mm? But one should be more conscious about it. To be a mother means a great revolution, and a radical change. To be a woman is one thing, and to be a mother is totally another. Y...
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    21. A Sufi Story

    A Sufi Story I have told you a Sufi story... A woman was very much impressed by a Sufi mystic, and she was very worried about her only son. She was living for him; the father was dead. That boy was her life, and she wanted him to become something. The boy was too attached to eating sweets and all kin...
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    Are children really so intelligent as you always say they are?

    Question 1: Osho, Are children really so intelligent as you always say they are? Gautami, Intelligence is not something that is acquired, it is inbuilt, it is inborn, it is intrinsic to life itself. Not only children are intelligent, animals are intelligent in their own way, trees are intelligent in ...
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