Cunning device

Society has exploited the individual in so many ways that it is almost impossible to believe. It has created devices so clever and cunning that it is almost impossible even to detect that they are devices. These devices are to exploit the individual, to destroy his integrity, to take away from him all that he has-without even creating a suspicion in him, even a doubt about what is being done to him.

From the very childhood, every society, culture, religion teaches everybody comparison. And the child is bound to learn it. He is just a tabula rasa, a blank paper without any writing; so whatsoever the parents, the teachers, the priests write on him, he starts believing that is his destiny, his fate.

Man comes into existence with all the doors open, all directions available; all the dimensions are there for him to choose. But before he can choose, before he can be, before he can even feel his being, he is spoiled. And spoiled by those who think they love him: crushed, crippled, conditioned with all good intentions in the world. But what to do with good intentions? You are poisoning somebody with good intentions. Jealousy is one of the greatest devices. Look at it very closely: what does it mean? Jealousy means to live in comparison. Somebody is higher than you, somebody is lower than you. You are always somewhere in the middle rung of the ladder. Perhaps the ladder is a circle because nobody finds the end of it…

Drop competition, drop jealousy. It is absolutely a cunning device created by priests so that you can never be yourself-because that is the only thing all the old religions are afraid of.

Abridged From Personality to Individuality/OSHO Times International/www/osho.com