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Chapter 6 - The Irrational Rationalist
You have enough time. And don't be so afraid of committing mistakes! That is the only mistake one has to avoid -- the only mistake, I say, that a man can commit in life -- and that is: becoming afraid of committing mistakes. Then you never grow, then you never go anywhere, then you never do anything. Then by and by you will slip into dullness and deadness. You will become stuck, stagnant. Commit mistakes. What is wrong in committing mistakes?
Just remember one thing: don't commit the same mistake again. Commit new mistakes every day. Be inventive. Innovate. A man only learns when he commits many, many mistakes.
Go astray as far as you can go. God is everywhere. Where can you go? And the further astray you go, the deeper is your understanding of coming home; and when you come home, you understand what you were missing.
Nothing is wrong. You are too afraid and too cowardly. Drop this fear and drop this cowardliness.
Question
OSHO, PLEASE HELP ME.
I cannot do that. I am not your enemy. I am not a do-gooder. I don't "help", because the help, the very desire to be helped, is a desire to continue as you are. You want some props, some supports. You want consolation, comfort. No, I am the last person to give you any consolation. I am going to withdraw all props, so you fall flat on the ground. From there starts a new life, a new beginning.
Henry Thoreau once observed that if he knew for certain that a man was on his way to see him with the single purpose of trying to help him, he would run for his life.
That should be the attitude towards helpers. If somebody is coming to help you, escape!
Your life is in danger. Avoid the do-gooders, the so-called saints and mahatmas.
I am not here to console you, to comfort you, to make you secure. I am here to destroy you utterly, because only then is the new born -- the new man, the new consciousness. If I help, the old will continue. All help goes to help the old. All help keeps the old surviving; it nourishes it. No, I am not going to help in any way.
I know you want help. You don't want resurrection. You want help. You don't want death, you don't want a new life. But if you are around me long enough, by and by I will withdraw all your supports. I will even take the earth beneath your feet away, so you fall into the bottomless abyss of existence. You disappear into that abyss ... and in that very disappearance, God appears to you. When you are utterly helpless, God's help becomes available.
I am not going to help you. I am going to make you utterly helpless so that in your helplessness a prayer arises, so that in your helplessness, surrender becomes possible, and then comes God's help. Only God can help. And all other help is a barrier to God's help.
One beautiful story that I always love ... Krishna has just sat down to take his lunch and in the middle of the lunch he rushes towards the door, and his wife, Rukamani, says, "Where are you going?" But he is in such a hurry that he doesn't answer. At the door he suddenly stops, Osho - The First Principle
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