< Previous | Contents | Next >
Chapter 1 - The Hidden Harmony
branches are different: on one branch the Devil, on another branch the divine -- but the root is the same: DEV. There must be a conspiracy, otherwise the game cannot continue. There must be a deep harmony -- that is the conspiracy. Here God says to Adam, "You are not to eat from this tree of knowledge." Now the conspiracy starts, the game starts; now, the first rules are being set.
Christianity has missed many beautiful things because it has tried to create an obvious harmony, and for twenty centuries Christian theologians have been worried about the Devil:
"How to explain him?" There is no need, it is simple, Heraclitus knows. It is very simple, no need to explain. But Christians have been worried because if the Devil is, God must have created him; otherwise, how is he there?
If the Devil is there, God must be allowing him to be there; otherwise, how can he be there? And if God cannot destroy him your God becomes impotent; then you cannot call him omnipotent. And if God created the Devil without knowing that he was going to be the Devil, then he is not omniscient, all-knowing. He created the Devil not knowing that this was going to disturb the whole world. He created Adam not knowing that he would eat the fruit of the tree. He prohibited it! -- then he is not omniscient, all-knowing. If the Devil is there, then God cannot be omnipresent because who is present in the Devil? Then he cannot be everywhere; at least he is not there in the Devil's heart. And if he is in the Devil's heart, then why condemn the poor Devil?
There is a conspiracy -- a hidden harmony. God prohibited Adam from eating just to tempt him. This is the first temptation, because whenever you say, "Don't do this," temptation has entered. The Devil comes only later on -- the first temptation is from God himself. Otherwise, in the garden of Eden there were millions of trees, so if Adam had been left to himself it is almost impossible that he would have found the tree of knowledge -- almost impossible, unbelievable!
Even up to now we have not been able to find all the trees of this earth. Many trees still remain unknown, uncategorized, many species still have to be discovered. And this earth is nothing -- the garden of Eden was God's garden: millions and millions of trees, infinite. Left to themselves, alone, Adam and Eve
would never have found it -- but God tempted them. This I insist: the temptation comes from God. And the Devil is just the other partner in the game.
He tempted, "Don't eat!" -- and immediately the tree was known, and then the desire must have come. Why does God prohibit? There must be something to it. And it is not prohibited to God, he himself eats from it; and just for us it is prohibited -- the mind has started to function, the game starts. Then, just as a partner in the conspiracy, the Devil comes, the serpent, and he says, "Eat it! -- because if you eat, you will be like gods." And that is the deepest desire in the human mind, to be like gods.
The Devil did the trick because he knows the conspiracy. He didn't approach Adam directly, he approached through Eve -- because if you want to tempt man, you can tempt him only through woman; otherwise, directly, there is no temptation. Every temptation comes through sex, every temptation comes through woman. Woman is more important for the Devil to play the game because it is impossible to say no to a woman who loves you. You can say no to the Devil, but to the woman...? And the Devil comes in the form of the serpent. That is just a phallic symbol, a symbol for the sex organ, because there is nothing like the serpent to represent the male sex organ -- they are exactly alike. And through woman it comes, because how can you say no to a woman?
Osho - The Hidden Harmony 16
< Previous | Contents | Next >