Osho – Absolute

Osho – Absolute

Never use the word 'absolute'; avoid it as much as possible—because it is the word 'absolute' that creates fanatics. Nobody has the absolute truth. Truth is so vast! All truths are bound to be relative. It is the word 'absolute' that has dragged the whole of humanity into misery. The Mohammedan thinks he has the absolute truth in the Koran; he becomes blind. The Christian thinks the absolute truth is in the Bible. The Hindu thinks the absolute truth is in the Gita, and so on and so forth. And how can there be so many absolute truths? Hence, the conflict, quarrel, war, religious crusades, jihads: "Kill others who are claiming that their truth is absolute—our truth is absolute!"

Down the ages, more murders, more rapes, more lootings, have been committed in the name of religion than in the name of anything else. And the reason? The reason is in the word 'absolute'.

Always remember: whatsoever we know and whatsoever we can ever know is bound to remain relative. To remember it will give you compassion. To remember it will make you liberal. To remember it will make you more humane. To remember it will help you to understand other viewpoints.

Truth is vast—simple but vast, as vast as the sky. The whole universe contains it, and the universe is unlimited, infinite. How can you conceive the whole truth? How can you have the absolute truth in your hands? But that is how the ego functions.

The ego is very tricky. The moment you start feeling something true, the ego immediately jumps in and says, "Yes, this is the absolute truth." It has closed your mind; now no more truth will be available. And the moment you assert, "This is absolute," you have falsified it.

A man of truth is always relative.

Excerpted from 'The Book Of The Books', Vol. 3 by Osho