Spiritually Incorrect(r)
2 total works
"For five thousand years the politician and the priest have been in the same business." In this provocative volume, Osho invites us to look through his microscope and examine not only the profound influence of religion and politics in society, but also its influence in our inner world. To the extent we have internalized and adopted as our own the values and belief systems of the "powers that be," he says, we have boxed ourselves in, imprisoned ourselves, and tragically crippled our vision of what is possible. From Occupy Wall Street to the Arab Spring, from the election of the first Black president in the United States to the appointment of a new pope who promises to use St. Francis of Assisi as a role model (following endless scandals involving child abuse) the roles of priests and politicians in our public life have recently captured the attention of our times, often just initiating another round of hope and subsequent disillusionment. In other words, wittingly or unwittingly, we keep digging ourselves deeper into the mess we are in. A new kind of world is possible - but only if we understand clearly how the old has functioned up to now.
And, based on that understanding, take the responsibility and the courage to become a new kind of human being. "You have to be aware who the real criminals are. The problem is that those criminals are thought to be great leaders, sages, saints, mahatmas. So I have to expose all these people because they are the causes. For example, it is easier to understand that perhaps politicians are the causes of many problems: wars, murders, massacres, burning people. It is more difficult when it comes to religious leaders, because nobody has raised his hand against them. They have remained respectable for centuries, and as time goes on their respectability goes on growing. The most difficult job for me is to make you aware that these people - knowingly or unknowingly, that does not matter - have created this world."
And, based on that understanding, take the responsibility and the courage to become a new kind of human being. "You have to be aware who the real criminals are. The problem is that those criminals are thought to be great leaders, sages, saints, mahatmas. So I have to expose all these people because they are the causes. For example, it is easier to understand that perhaps politicians are the causes of many problems: wars, murders, massacres, burning people. It is more difficult when it comes to religious leaders, because nobody has raised his hand against them. They have remained respectable for centuries, and as time goes on their respectability goes on growing. The most difficult job for me is to make you aware that these people - knowingly or unknowingly, that does not matter - have created this world."
Osho thrusts his sword into the heart of the matter of what we collectively call "Human Rights." One of the struggles we face as human beings is how to cope with, how to bring light to, how to dissolve the roots of the perverse and incomprehensible horrors -- physical, psychological, spiritual -- that we seem capable of inflicting on one another. What are the roots of wars, of torture, of murder and hatred and our all-too-easy dehumanization of the "other"? He quotes the language of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to expose the hollowness of the words. Why is our human reality on this planet so far off from these beautifully worded declarations? Osho exposes the hypocrisy and the vested interests that underlie the core of that document and so many others like it. But he doesn't stop there. He challenges us to create a new language, a new narrative, a transformative and liberating vision of what it means to treat one another with awareness, with love, and with respect.
In our individual lives, as in the lives and generations of our society, there is a revolution, a transformation that happens alongside each change that happens in consciousness -- individual and collective -- as our technology continues to bring us (potentially) all together into a "global village." And alongside it, the change in consciousness that is now required of us, as a common humanity living on a smallish and rather beautiful, sacred planet. To see ourselves as God's creation, if you will. Or Gaia, or whatever term of oneness most appeals to you. This small volume is an opening to the revolution in consciousness that is so urgently needed for our times.
In our individual lives, as in the lives and generations of our society, there is a revolution, a transformation that happens alongside each change that happens in consciousness -- individual and collective -- as our technology continues to bring us (potentially) all together into a "global village." And alongside it, the change in consciousness that is now required of us, as a common humanity living on a smallish and rather beautiful, sacred planet. To see ourselves as God's creation, if you will. Or Gaia, or whatever term of oneness most appeals to you. This small volume is an opening to the revolution in consciousness that is so urgently needed for our times.