From Ignorance to Innocence - Osho - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 29. POSITIVE THINKING: PHILOSOPHY FOR PHONIES
or by wireless much is changed. It is phony; ”phony” comes from ”phone”. Strangely, ”persona” and
”phony” mean exactly the same. You don’t see who is speaking, you only hear the voice. That too
has gone through a change, through the mechanism; it is not exactly the same voice.
Dale Carnegie’s philosophy creates phonies, but the real purpose is to influence people. Why? To
win friends, but why? What is the need? Two things have to be understood. First, influencing people
is only a means to win friends. The word win has to be underlined. It has the whole of politics in it.
The more people are under your influence, the more powerful you are. Your power depends on how
many people are supportive of you, how many people you have influenced so much that they will be
ready to do anything for you.
Hence, the politician speaks in a language which is always vague – you can interpret it the way you
like – so that many people can be influenced. If he is very clear and what he says is absolutely
scientific – without any vagueness, certain; if it has only one meaning, then perhaps he will succeed
in annoying people.
That’s what I have been doing my whole life – how to lose friends, how to create enemies.... If
somebody wants to learn it, they can learn it from me. And the reason is that I don’t want to
influence anybody. The very idea is ugly, and against humanity. To influence means to interfere, to
trespass, to drag you on a path which is not yours, to make you do things which you have never
thought of before.
To influence a person is the most violent act in the world.
I have never tried to influence anybody.
It is another thing if somebody saw some truth in what I was saying or I was being, but it was not my
effort to influence him. If, in spite of me, he was able to see something, then the whole responsibility
is his.
Jesus says to his people, ”On the judgment day I will sort out my sheep and tell God that these are
my people – they have to be saved. For others I am not concerned.” If there is something like a
judgment day – there is none, but just for the argument’s sake – if there is something like a judgment
day, and if I am to do the sorting out, I will not be able to find a single sheep, because I have never
influenced anybody. And when you influence somebody, certainly you become the shepherd and
that person becomes just a sheep. You are reducing human beings to sheep; you are taking their
humanity away. In the name of saving them you are destroying them.
Don’t be influenced by anybody.
Don’t be impressed by anybody.
Look, see, be aware – and choose.
But remember, the responsibility is yours.
You cannot say, ”Lord, I followed you – now save me.”
From Ignorance to Innocence 428 Osho