The Distinction between Prayer and Meditation
Talk #6 from The Supreme Doctrine
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"This century started with a very strange declaration. The declaration was made by Friedrich Nietzsche. He said, 'God is dead, and hence man is totally free from now on.' The declaration looked very strange the..."
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"This century started with a very strange declaration. The declaration was made by Friedrich Nietzsche. He said, 'God is dead, and hence man is totally free from now on.' The declaration looked very strange the..."
Osho continues:
"Your belief is superficial; it doesn't go very deep.
"Your disbelief is also superficial. When belief itself is superficial, how can disbelief go very deep? When theists are very superficial, how can atheists be very deep? When the yes itself has lost its meaning, how can the no carry any meaning? All the meaning that atheism can carry comes from the depth of theism. When there are people who can say with their total being yes to God, only then does the no become meaningful. It is secondary.
"God is dead, and with God even the disbelief is dead. Belief is dead and with it the disbelief is also dead. This century and the modern mind are, in a way, in a very peculiar situation. It has never been so before. There have been persons who were theists who really believed that God exists. There were persons who were really atheists and who believed with the same intensity that God does not exist. But the modern mind is indifferent: it doesn't care. Whether God exists or not, it is irrelevant. No one is interested in proving it one way or the other.
"Really, this is the meaning of Nietzsche's declaration that God is dead. You do not care even to deny him. You do not care even to argue against him. The bridge is simply broken. We have no relationship with him – neither for nor against. Why has this happened? Why has this phenomenon become so prominent in the modern mind – this indifference? We will have to seek the causes.
"The first cause is that we have always been thinking of God as a person. To think about God as a person is false, untrue, and that idea had to die. The idea that God is a person – controlling, managing, creating, maintaining – is false. God is not a person. The idea became so significant because of our minds. Whenever we think about something, either we can think of it as a thing or as a person. Only two alternatives are open: when something exists, then it must either be a thing or a person.
"We cannot think, we cannot imagine, that things and persons are both manifestations of something deeper – hidden."
"Your disbelief is also superficial. When belief itself is superficial, how can disbelief go very deep? When theists are very superficial, how can atheists be very deep? When the yes itself has lost its meaning, how can the no carry any meaning? All the meaning that atheism can carry comes from the depth of theism. When there are people who can say with their total being yes to God, only then does the no become meaningful. It is secondary.
"God is dead, and with God even the disbelief is dead. Belief is dead and with it the disbelief is also dead. This century and the modern mind are, in a way, in a very peculiar situation. It has never been so before. There have been persons who were theists who really believed that God exists. There were persons who were really atheists and who believed with the same intensity that God does not exist. But the modern mind is indifferent: it doesn't care. Whether God exists or not, it is irrelevant. No one is interested in proving it one way or the other.
"Really, this is the meaning of Nietzsche's declaration that God is dead. You do not care even to deny him. You do not care even to argue against him. The bridge is simply broken. We have no relationship with him – neither for nor against. Why has this happened? Why has this phenomenon become so prominent in the modern mind – this indifference? We will have to seek the causes.
"The first cause is that we have always been thinking of God as a person. To think about God as a person is false, untrue, and that idea had to die. The idea that God is a person – controlling, managing, creating, maintaining – is false. God is not a person. The idea became so significant because of our minds. Whenever we think about something, either we can think of it as a thing or as a person. Only two alternatives are open: when something exists, then it must either be a thing or a person.
"We cannot think, we cannot imagine, that things and persons are both manifestations of something deeper – hidden."
More Information
| Publisher | Osho International |
|---|---|
| Duration of Talk | 66 mins |
| File Size | 14.47 MB |
| Type | Individual Talks |
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