From Ignorance to Innocence - Osho - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 17. JESUS, THE ONLY FORGOTTEN SON OF GOD
He is all-knowing. You cannot be; whatsoever you know, howsoever you know, you can never be
all-knowing. Existence is so vast and man is so tiny, so small, that to conceive that your small brain
will be able to know all – past, present, future – seems to be a fool’s dream. Even a fool will not
dream such a thing.
But to live in a world surrounded everywhere with darkness is difficult. You cannot be certain even
of what you know, because the unknown is so vast, that who can say that if you know a little more,
your known will not be found invalid.
In fact that has been the case. The more man knew, the more he became aware that the knowledge
that was knowledge yesterday, today has become ignorance. What about today’s knowledge?
Perhaps tomorrow this too will become ignorance.
It became a great psychological need to have someone who knows all.
The priests did a great job, perhaps the greatest job ever done, and did it perfectly well:
They invented God.
It helped in many ways. Man became more certain of himself, more stable, less afraid, because
there is an all-knowing God, all-pervading God, everywhere present. All that you have to know is
the key to turn God in your favor. And the key was with the priest, who was ready to part with it.
Every religion has been pretending that they have that key which unlocks all the doors, the master
key.
And if you attain the master key, you will be just like gods; you will be all-knowing, you will be present
anywhere you want, you will be all-powerful.
You just see in these three words, man’s three needs.
His knowledge is very limited, very poor. What really do we know? Even small things can make you
aware of your ignorance.
Our power... what power do we have? Perhaps man is the only animal in the world who has no
power. Can you fight with a lion? – with a tiger? Forget about lions and tigers, can you fight with a
dog or a cat? You will be surprised – what to say about a cat, if even a hundred thousand flies attack
you, what are you going to do? You have never thought about flies attacking, but if they attack, if
some fly turns political, you will be helpless, you cannot survive.
Forget about flies; in fact there are plants in South Africa which catch birds and animals, suck them
completely and throw them away. There are science fictions about plants attacking men. They can
catch men, they are big enough. If you are in their vicinity their branches can just catch hold of you
like the trunk of an elephant, and crush you completely. And they have ways to suck your blood.
Very perfect surgery – all over your body their branches will start penetrating you. And how thick is
your skin? lust a little scratch is enough and blood is available. And those trees live on blood; they
are man-eating trees – the man is still alive.
From Ignorance to Innocence 231 Osho