From Ignorance to Innocence - Osho - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 23. CONSCIENCE: A COFFIN FOR CONSCIOUSNESS
Anything that has an end beyond it is just for the mediocre mind. And anything which has its end in
itself is for the really intelligent person.
But you will see the mediocre person becoming the president of a country, the prime minister of
a country; becoming the richest man in the country, becoming the pope, becoming the head of a
religion. But these are all mediocre people; their only qualification is their mediocrity. They are third
rate and basically they are schizophrenic. They have divided their life in two parts: ends and means.
My approach is totally different:
To make you one single whole.
So I want you to live just for life’s sake.
The poets have defined art as for its own sake, there is nothing else beyond it: art for art’s sake. It
will not appeal to the mediocre at all because he counts things in terms of money, position, power.
Is your poetry going to make you the prime minister of the country? – then it is meaningful. But in
fact your poetry may make you just a beggar, because who is going to purchase your poetry?
I am acquainted with many kinds of geniuses who are living like beggars for the simple reason
that they did not accept the mediocre way of life, and they did not allow themselves to become
schizophrenic. They are living – of course they have a joy which no politician can ever know, they
have a certain radiance which no billionaire is going to know. They have a certain rhythm to their
heart of which these so-called religious people have no idea. But as far as their outside is concerned,
they have been reduced by the society to live like beggars.
I would like you to remember one great, perhaps the greatest, Dutch painter: Vincent van Gogh. His
father wanted him to become a religious minister, to live a life of respect – comfortable, convenient
– and not only in this world, in the other world after death too. But Vincent van Gogh wanted to
become a painter. His father said, ”You are mad!”
He said, ”That may be. To me, you are mad. I don’t see any significance in becoming a minister
because all I would be saying would be nothing but lies. I don’t know God. I don’t know whether
there is any heaven or hell. I don’t know whether man survives after death or not. I will be continually
telling lies. Of course it is respectable, but that kind of respect is not for me; I will not be rejoicing in
it. It will be a torture to my soul.” The father threw him out.
He started painting – he is the first modern painter. You can draw a line at Vincent van Gogh: before
him painting was ordinary. Even the greatest painters, like Michelangelo, are of minor importance
compared to Vincent van Gogh, because what they were painting was ordinary. Their painting was
for the marketplace.
Michelangelo was painting for the churches his whole life; painting on church walls and church
ceilings. He broke his backbone painting church ceilings, because to paint a ceiling you have to
lie down on a high stool while you paint. It is a very uncomfortable position, and for days together,
months together.... But he was earning money, and he was earning respect. He was painting angels,
Christ, God creating the world. His famous painting is God creating the world.
From Ignorance to Innocence 324 Osho