Osho Rajneesh Book "The Long, the Short and the All"

The Long, the Short and the All

Truth and science
Date Unknown

THE EXPERIENCE OF TRUTH is neither a thought nor a feeling. It is a vibrating and a throbbing of

all the vital components of your entire being. It is not in you; you are in it. It is your whole being, not

just an experience that is happening to you. It is in you yourself, but it is larger than you because

the whole of existence is included in it as well.

YOU ASK ME FOR A DEFINITION OF TRUTH? There is no definition of truth. How can one’s self

define one’s self? Pilate asked Christ, ”What is truth?” and Christ simply looked at him and remained

silent. Truth has no words, no sounds. Truth is an experience of the extreme depths of the self. It is

total identification with what is.

TRUTH IS NOT THE OPPOSITE OF UNTRUTH. The opposite of untruth is still untruth. All extremes are untruths. Truth is the mean between extremes. In other words, truth transcends all extremes.

AS I SEE IT, mankind has lost all sense of direction. And this has happened because man has

chosen investigation of the physical world over exploration of his own inner being. Nothing should

be more important to a man than himself. His first and fundamental inquiry should be into himself.

Unless a man knows himself all his knowledge lacks authenticity. In the hands of an ignorant

man nothing can be creative, but even ignorance can become a creative tool in the hands of a

knowledgeable one. If a man can understand himself, can master himself, only then will his other

achievements have real merit. Unless this happens he is simply digging his own grave.

That’s what we are doing. We are digging our own graves. Previous civilizations were destroyed

by external attack; ours is threatened by a great internal danger. If the civilization of the twentieth

century is annihilated, it will be by suicide. This is what we will have to call it, if there is anyone left

to call it anything. It is possible this final war may never be written into human history. It will take

place outside history’s ken, because it will destroy all of humanity. Those who came before us made

history, we are preparing to unmake it.

We are in control of infinite material power, but we know nothing of the depths of the human heart,

we know nothing of the poison and the nectar that lies hidden there, side by side. We know the

atomic structure of matter but nothing of the atomic structure of the soul. And this is our great

misfortune. We have achieved power, but no peace, no enlightenment.

There is great power in the hands of the unenlightened, of the unawakened. But these are the people

who should not be allowed to possess power; if it is misused, power can wreak great evil. Our whole

search has been for power. And this is man’s mistake. He is in danger from his own achievements,

from his own successes. The world’s great thinkers and scientists should be made aware of the

pitfalls of this preoccupation with the question of power. It is just this sort of blind, thoughtless

investigation that has brought us to the brink of the present crisis. The aim should be peace, not

power. And if the aim becomes peace, then the focus will be on the mystery of man himself, not into

the secrets of nature. There has been much research and exploration into unconscious matter, but

the time has come when we must concentrate on man himself, on his mind.

The science of the future will be the science of man, not the science of matter. This change musts

occur before it is too late. Those scientists who are committed to the investigation of the inanimate

are orthodox men, with minds bound by tradition and convention. Men of awareness must come

forth to alter the direction of scientific research. Science must strive for knowledge of man himself.

In their efforts to master the material world modern scientists have attained results unprecedented

in human history; there is no reason they cannot be equally successful in achieving the same insight

into man. Man can be known. He can be mastered; he can be transformed. I see no reason to be

discouraged. We can come to know ourselves, and on this knowledge we can build a totally new

consciousness.

A new man can be born; a new life can begin. This has been attempted by various religions in the

past, but to see it through, to perfect it, a scientific approach is needed. What religion has begun,

science can complete.

In relation to the world of matter, the attitudes of conventional science and orthodox religion have

always been dissimilar. In fact, religion has not been concerned with matter at all. In this area,

science reigns supreme. But this does not mean religion has nothing of value to contribute.

Traditional science must be abandoned and science and religion must join forces. Only this kind

of marriage can save mankind. What we have acquired through our knowledge of matter is nothing

compared to what we will gain by knowledge of the self. In the past, religion has only made it

possible for this knowledge to be possessed by a very select few, with a scientific approach, this

knowledge can be available to all.

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