Religion Can Only Be Caught and Not Taught

7/27/2019 Religion Can Only Be Caught and Not Taught

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Osho,

Is it not good to teach the children something of religion? Will it not benefit them tohelp them know something about Jesus Christ?

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RELIGION CANNOT BE TAUGHT to children or to grown-ups. It cannot even be taughtto grown-ups, so how can it be taught to children? Religion as such cannot be taught:RELIGION CAN ONLY BE CAUGHT. If you live a religious life... and by 'religious life' Idon't mean the life of a Christian or a Hindu; by 'religious life' I mean a life full of love,prayer, celebration, joy, cheerfulness, gratitude. IF YOU LIVE A RELIGIOUS LIFE, THECHILDREN ARE BOUND TO CATCH IT. Teaching is needed because you don't live areligious life, so you tell them theories. Those theories are not going to help at all. Whena child is thirsty, don't talk about H2O -- give him water. He needs water! Don't tell him,

"H20 is the formula which contains water, which contains all the oceans -- don t beworried. Just remember H20 is equivalent to water."

But the child will say, "How can I drink H20?"

And then the ridiculous thing happens: the child will think if you repeat H20, H20,H20, H20, then maybe someday, by repeating it constantly, intensely, chanting it againand again, using it as a mantra, and the miracle will happen...

PEOPLE ARE CHANTING: "Rama, Rama, Rama," "Ave Maria," "Jesus," "Allah" -- athousand and one formulas. You can go on chanting... they are all H20, H20, H20. YOUARE SIMPLY WASTING YOUR TIME -- not only wasting your time, you are destroyingyour intelligence too.

THE MAN WHO GETS INTO SUCH A REPETITIVE ROUTINE BECOMES STUPID. Heloses the sharpness of his intelligence. What are you going to teach to the children?What is religion after all? Is there some way to teach it? Yes, you can teach Christianity -

- because Christianity is a doctrine; and you can teach Buddhism -- because Buddhism isa doctrine. A doctrine can be taught, but religion has nothing to do with doctrine --RELIGION IS NOT A DOCTRINE: IT IS AN EXPERIENCE.

You cannot teach it, but you can create the context, YOU CAN LIVE IN SUCH A WAYTHAT THE CHILD SLOWLY SLOWLY IMBIBES THE SPIRIT. And children are very


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vulnerable, very flexible, and very attentive too! And they are always ready to learn. Ifsomething of immense beauty is felt by them, they learn it, they drink it, they digest it.

BUT YOU TEACH THEM STUPID DOCTRINES. For example, that Christ was born of avirgin mother -- now the child will laugh at you, because now children know much morethan you think.

A small boy gave the following summary of his Sunday school lesson:

"There were these Jews who had broken out of a prison camp in Egypt. They ran and ranuntil they came to a wide lake. The prison guards were closing in so the Jews jumpedinto the water and swam out to some boats that were waiting for them. The guards gotin submarines and tried to torpedo the boats, but the Jews set off depth charges and

blew up all the submarines and made it safe to the other side. Everybody called theadmiral by his first name, Moses."

The boy's father asked, "Son are you certain that is what your teacher told you?"

"Dad," responded the boy, "if you can't believe my story, you would never believe theone the teacher told!"

NOW, TELLING CHILDREN STUPID STORIES YOU ARE NOT HELPING THEM TOBECOME RELIGIOUS; on the contrary, you are helping them to become anti-religious.

When they grow up, they will know that all those religious doctrines were fairy-tales.

Your God, your Jesus Christ, all will turn into Santa Claus later on in the child's mind --deceptions, fables, to keep children occupied. And once the children know that what youhave been telling them as absolute truth is just lies and nothing else, YOU HAVEDESTROYED SOMETHING VERY VALUABLE IN THEIR BEING. They will neverbecome interested in religion at all.

My own observation is that the world is becoming more and more irreligious because ofreligious teaching. NO CHILD SHOULD BE TAUGHT ANY RELIGIOUS DOCTRINE.

Yes, when you are praying, let the child be present there. When you are dancing, let thechild be present there. And the child will soon join you -- how can the child resist joininga dance? Let the child know that life has grace in it; LET THE CHILD KNOW THAT


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LIFE IS NOT ONLY SUFFERING BUT MUCH ECSTASY TOO. Let the child know thatlaughter is good, divine, that love is good, godly.

AND THESE THINGS ARE NOT TO BE TAUGHT: THEY HAVE TO BE IMBIBED BYTHE CHILD. You have to create the vibe. And then sooner or later the child will startbecoming aware of many more things which cannot be seen just by the physical eyes.Because you will have given him more sensitivity.

Otherwise you can go on teaching him, and nobody even remembers. HOW MUCH DO YOU REMEMBER THAT WAS TAUGHT TO YOU?

Nobody even remembers; everything is thrown in the garbage.

THREE ITALIANS WERE DRIVING FAST ON THE EXPRESSWAY when their car

collided with a truck and they were instantly killed. Finding themselves at heaven'sdoor, they knocked and God answered.

"What do you want?" God asked.

"We want to come in," they replied.

God said, "Before you can enter you must answer a question." He pointed to one Italianand said, "You, Vito, tell me, what is Easter about?"

Vito paused, then with an Italian accent answered, "Thatsa when there are lotsa paradesalla over America! Fireworks are shot at night and the people go ona picnics. Itsacelebrated in July."

"Sorry, Vito," God said, "but you must go to Hell."

Pointing at Pietro, God said, "You, Pietro, tell me what Easter is about?"

Pietro smiled and replied, "I know, God, thatsa when some time ina November thefamily gathers together and eatsa turkey, pumpkin pie, potatoes...."

"Sorry, Pietro," God said, "you must go to Hell."

Looking at Giuseppe, God said, "You, Giuseppe, you have been an altar boy for tenyears. You go to church every Sunday. You tell me what Easter is about."

Giuseppe replied, "Thatsa when the people who did not like your poor son and what hesaid hung him upa on a cross. For three hours your son he hang there before he died.Thena his mother and friends, they take him down from the cross, wrap his body up andput the body in a cave and they roll a huge stone in front of the cave. For three days yourson was in the cave and on the third day he wakes up from the dead, rolls back the stone,goes out of the cave. Hea no seea his shadow, so he goes back in for sixa more months."


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YOU CAN GO ON TEACHING... NOBODY IS LISTENING. Children are helpless; theyhave to go to the Sunday school, so they go. They have to listen, so they listen -- but theyare not there. And later on they say and they know that all that was just nonsense. Theymay not say, but they know certainly that that was all nonsense.

THIS IS NOT THE WAY TO HELP THE WORLD BECOME MORE RELIGIOUS. This isthe way we have tried for centuries -- and we have failed. Instead of the earth becomingmore religious, it has become more and more irreligious every day. As the teaching hasspread, as there have been more and more missionaries and more and more teachersand more and more people indoctrinating others, the world has turned more and moreirreligious -- not only irreligious but anti-religious too.

It is time to understand that something IS basically wrong. THIS IS NOT THE WAY TOTEACH RELIGION; RELIGION CAN ONLY BE CAUGHT AND NOT TAUGHT. Yes, ithappens with a Jesus, because Jesus creates the space where it can happen.

A disciple once asked Jesus, "What is prayer?"

Do you know what he did? He simply fell on his knees and started praying; tears startedrolling down his cheeks. This is creating a space. Now he is creating PRAYER itself!What is the need to say anything?

Seeing it, the disciple fell on his knees -- for the first time he felt the tremendous beautyof surrender, and a great joy in feeling grateful to God. Tears started flowing down hischeeks too. They were both crying -- in joy, in gratitude.

Finally, Jesus asked him, "Now do you know what prayer is."

And he nodded; he said, "Yes, Master. Now I know what prayer is."

THIS IS THE WAY TO TEACH. Not giving theoretical answers, not giving absurd,outdated, metaphysical doctrines, which may have looked relevant one day, but nowthey look simply stupid. Now say to a child that God created the world just fourthousand and four years before Jesus Christ, and the child will smile at you. And thechild knows that "Either you are befooling me, or you are in utter ignorance."


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THE WORLD HAS EXISTED FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS. In fact, there has never beena beginning. God is not the creator in reality but the creativity. To say to a child that Godfinished the world in six days and then rested on the seventh day because he was tired --now, that means that since then he has not bothered about us at all.

A MAN WENT TO HIS TAILOR and asked him, "How long is it going to take for my suitto be ready? You have been promising it already for six weeks, and you say again andagain, 'Come again, come again...' And do you know? -- God created the world in only sixdays? And in six weeks you have not been able to even create my suit."

And do you know what the tailor said? The tailor said, "Yes, I know -- and look at theworld, then look at my suit, and you will see the difference. The world is in a mess. Thisis what happens when you create something in six days."

God is still creating. In fact, to think of God as a separate person from existence is notexperiential. Those who have experienced, they say GOD IS THE VERY CREATIVITYOF EXISTENCE -- HE IS NOT A CREATOR. Existence creates itself; it is a self-creatingprocess. And it is unending and eternal.

AND HOW ARE YOU GOING TO DESCRIBE GOD? -- a very very old man with a longwhite beard, sitting on a throne up in the heaven. And do you know what ideas come tochildren's minds? You will be surprised.

CARL GUSTAV JUNG IN HIS MEMOIRS WRITES... he was the son of a clergyman, sohe used to listen to the sermons about God sitting on the throne and watchingeverybody from there. And Jung says, "The idea that always came to my mind was: if hestarts urinating, then what will happen? Sitting on top... and sometimes he must feellike pissing, then what?"

Children are children! When you talk to children, be very alert. They have their own

ideas...

And he would start giggling at the whole idea, because the father knew nothing about it.

One day, the father asked, "Why do you giggle whenever talk about God sitting on thethrone?" So he told the father. The father said, "Shut up! Never think such things!"


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And Jung said, "This is nothing -- I think even worse things." And Jung relates that thatidea persisted, persisted... Even when he became older, once in a while whenever hewould see in a church a picture of God up there, immediately the idea would come.

YOUR TEACHINGS CANNOT BE OF ANY HELP -- ONLY YOUR LIFE. Live! If youreally love your children, live in such a way that they start feeling that there ARE thingswhich are not visible but still they are. You need not convince them. They don't ask forproofs, they don't understand proofs. They are not asking for arguments -- they areasking for existential experiences.

And they are always ready to go on any adventure -- more ready than you. You may beafraid for safety, security, and a thousand and one things -- children are never afraid.CHILDREN ARE MORE FEARLESS THAN YOU. They can have a more immediate

contact with God than you can ever have.

BUT WE GIVE THEM SO MANY ROTTEN THEORIES... And in the name of religion,too, we go on teaching them a kind of ambitiousness, competitiveness: "Be better thanothers! Be more religious than others! Be holier than others! Be purer than others, morevirtuous, more righteous! Then God will reward you. And if you are not, you will bepunished in Hell."

THIS IS PSYCHOLOGICAL CONDITIONING, MAKING THEM AFRAID AND MAKINGTHEM GREEDY -- and you call this religion? To make a person fearful is religion?Religion is when a person becomes fearless. To make a person greedy for rewards in theother life is religion? Religion is when there is no greed.

AND YOU MAKE THEM COMPETITIVE: "Compete with others! Be more virtuous,more saintly. Look at other boys, how well-behaved they are and how religious theyare!" You are creating in their mind a subtle ego, a pious ego, so when the boy goes tothe church he feels holier than everybody else. He looks all around -- he knows he is

higher. He has risen on the ladder; soon the paradise will be his.

THIS IS POISONING YOUR CHILDREN WITH COMPETITIVENESS. Thiscompetitiveness is there in the marketplace, it is in the monastery too. In themarketplace it can be forgiven, but not in the monastery. When people are rushing for


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money, it's okay, understandable, that they will be competitive. But for virtue too, thesame rush?

AND ONCE THE GOAL BECOMES TOO IMPORTANT, THEN MEANS LOSE ALLIMPORTANCE. When the end becomes all-important, then any means will do, fair orfoul, but one has to attain to the end.

This is not creating religiousness. A RELIGIOUS MIND IS NON-COMPETITIVE,UTTERLY UNAMBITIOUS. He has nowhere to go -- no hell to fear, no heaven to attain.He is RIGHT now in God, in THIS very moment. His this moment is all and all. And henever compares himself with anybody else. Your saints go on comparing: Who is higher?Who is a bigger saint? And all these so-called saints are just stupid children, stillthinking in terms of what they have learnt in their schools, still not out of their teens.

I have heard:

There was a deaf and dumb couple who had just got married and were on theirhoneymoon. They took off their clothes to have some fun when the wife signalled in signlanguage, "Did you bring the safes?"

"Oh no," replied the man in sign language, "I forgot."

And she said, using her fingers, "You will have to get dressed and get some because I am

not going to do it without safes."

"But I am deaf and dumb," cried the man. "How am I gonna get the man at thedrugstore to understand what I want?"

"Oh, that's easy," replied the wife. "You just go to the counter, lay down a ten dollar bill,take your prick out and lay it on the counter and the man will know what you want." Theman went out and came back a half an hour later looking very sheepish.

"Well, did you get them, did you get the safes?" asked the expectant wife.

The man just hung his head and said no.

"Well, did you do what I said?" asked the now-frustrated wife.

"Yes," he replied.

"So, what happened?"


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"Well, I went to the counter and put down the ten dollars. Then I pulled out my prickand put it on the counter. Then the man behind the counter put ten dollars on thecounter and pulled out his prick and put it on the counter."

"So, what happened?" asked the curious wife.

"Well," replied the husband, "his was bigger so he took all the money!"

COMPETITION, COMPETITION, COMPETITION... EVERYWHERE COMPETITION.And this story is not just a story: if you ask Sigmund Freud he will say exactly this thatthat is from where competition arises. Small boys become very much worried abouttheir genital organs: "Who has the bigger one?"

All competition is rooted there, originates there! And then it spreads all over your life. ITIS SEXUAL BASICALLY. Then it takes many forms, many masks and facades: Who hasthe biggest car? It is nothing but the same story: Whose prick is bigger? Who has thebiggest house? It is the same story again. These are different symbols for the samesexual competition.

And who is the greatest saint? -- the story is not different...

OSHO

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Religion Can Only Be Caught and Not Taught