The Spiritual Rebel

Selections from the "spiritually incorrect mystic" Osho

“Spirituality is rebellion; religiousness is orthodoxy.

Spirituality is individuality; religiousness is just remaining part of the crowd psychology. Religiousness keeps you a sheep, and spirituality is a lion’s roar.”

— Osho, “Come, Come, Yet Again Come, #2”

“The whole effort of a Jesus or a Buddha or a Bodhidharma is nothing but how to undo that which society has done to you. 

These are the most antisocial people in the world. They destroy whatsoever the society has created around you, all the fences around you, all the defenses around you, all the walls around you — they destroy, they go on destroying. They are great nihilists. They simply destroy — because that which is, need not be created. It is already there. It has not to be invented, it has only to be discovered.”

— Osho, “Zen - The Path of Paradox, Vol 1, #3”

“A rebel needs no master. If he needs a master, he is not a rebel. A rebel is a master unto himself. Rebellion is his religion, and there is no other religion for him. 

To follow a master, and at the same to think yourself a rebel, is a contradiction in terms.

A rebel can only be a friend. A rebel can learn from all the sources available, but a rebel cannot be a follower. He cannot be a believer. A rebel cannot afford a master. He has chosen his individuality, his freedom, and he is not going to be enslaved by any master. 

That's why I go on insisting to you that I am not your master, because I don't want anybody to be enslaved. It is a psychological slavery: whatever I say you believe, whatever I do you believe - and still you think you are a rebel? To be a rebel needs guts. Yes, you can be my friends - and I am available to you: whatever I know, whatever I have experienced, is always available to you. And I don't ask anything for it — your trust, your surrender, your faith, no! I cannot be inhuman to any human being.

In the past, your so-called masters have all been inhuman to you. What does it mean when Jesus says, "I am the savior"? What does it mean when he says, "I am the shepherd and you are the sheep"? What more humiliation do you want? And still there are millions of Christians who think that they are sheep, and their shepherd is hanging on the cross.

I am not your shepherd, you are not my sheep.

A rebel is a beautiful human being. A sheep? You have fallen far below being human. Have you seen sheep? They always move in a crowd — so close to each other, rubbing their bodies against each other. They cannot move alone. No sheep is a rebel — they feel comfortable and cozy only in a mob. Only lions move alone. Lions don't move in a crowd — they are rebels. I would like you to be lions, not sheep.”

— Osho, “From Bondage to Freedom, Discourse #16, Q2”

“Real spirituality is going through fire.

Real spirituality is rebellion against all that is rotten, against all that is past, against all that is being forced on you by others, against all conditionings. Real Spirituality is the greatest rebellion there is. It is risky, it is adventurous, it is dangerous.”

— Osho, “The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 11, #3”

“Who is a rebellious person? A rebellious person is one who has understood the whole nonsense of the society, and simply slips out of it.

He does not fight with it; on the surface he even continues to pretend that he belongs with you. He is a clever person — Gurdjieff used to call him “the sly person.” He is clever enough -- he is neither orthodox nor revolutionary, he is just rebellious. But his rebellion is so intelligent that he knows there is no point — if the society says “Walk on the left” he walks on the left, because there is no point in fighting in this — it is meaningless.

On the surface he goes on following the society; deep down he has slipped out of it, deep down he starts living his own life. He does not go into the marketplace to exhibit, because if you exhibit your happiness in the marketplace they are going to kill you; they will crucify you. They did the same to Jesus, they did the same to Socrates, to Mansoor — they are not going to leave you alone.

There is no need. When you are sitting with miserable people, keep a miserable face — even more miserable than they have — because it is just a game you are playing: you are not miserable, you can act it better then them — they are REALLY miserable. Keep a longer face than them. When alone, have a good laugh. Don't start fighting with the society otherwise you will be in trouble, and happiness will again be far away — as far away as before. First you were following the society and could not be happy. Now you fight the society, so the society throws you in a jail or in chains, or the society tries to crush you -- and again you are unhappy.

A rebellious person is a very very clever person. He slips out in such silent ways that he does not create any ripple on the surface... and he starts living his private life in his own way. That’s what I teach you: I don't teach you to be revolutionaries, I teach you to be rebellious. A religious person is a rebellious person.”

— Osho, “The Divine Melody, #10”

“Rebellion is individual action; it has nothing to do with the crowd.

Rebellion has nothing to do with politics, power, violence. Rebellion has something to do with changing your consciousness, your silence, your being. It is a spiritual metamorphosis.”

— Osho, “Satyam Shivam Sundram, #26”

“A really rebellious person is one who is neither for society nor against society, who simply lives his life according to his own understanding.”

— Osho, “The Art of Dying, #1”

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