The Empty Boat - Osho.pdf - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 4. APOLOGIES
Beware of Dale Carnegies; these are dangerous people, they destroy all that is real and authentic.
They show you how to win friends, they teach you tricks, techniques, they make you efficient, they
give you the knowhow.
But love has no knowhow, it cannot. Love needs no training, and friendship is not something which
you have to learn. A learned friendship will not be a friendship, it will just be an exploitation – you
are exploiting the other and deceiving him. You are not true, this is a business relationship.
But in America everything has become business, both friendship and love. Dale Carnegie’s books
have sold millions of copies, hundreds of editions, next in popularity only to The Bible.
Now nobody knows how to be a friend, it has to be learned. Sooner or later there will be colleges for
love, training courses, even by post, lessons you can learn and apply. And the problem is that if you
succeed then you are lost forever, because the real will never happen to you, the door is completely
closed. Once you become efficient in a certain thing, the mind resists. The mind says: This is the
short cut, and you know it well, so why choose another path?
Mind is always for the line of least resistance. That is why clever people are never able to love. They
are so clever they start manipulating. They will not say what is in their heart, they will say what will
appeal. They will look at the other person and see what he wants to be said. They will not say their
heart, they will just create a situation in which the other is deceived.
Husbands deceiving wives, wives deceiving husbands, friends deceiving friends.... The whole world
has become just a crowd of enemies. There are only two types of enemies: those you have not
been able to deceive and those you have been able to deceive. This is the only difference. Then
how can ecstasy be in your life?
So this is not a learning process. Authenticity cannot come through schooling, authenticity comes
through awareness – if you are aware, if you live in a conscious way. Look at the difference: to
live consciously means to live openly, not to hide, not to play games. To be alert means to be
vulnerable, and whatever happens, happens. You accept it, but you never compromise, you never
purchase anything by giving up your consciousness. Even if it means that you are left totally alone,
you will accept being alone, but you will be consciously alert, aware. Only with this alertness does
real religion start happening.
I will tell you a story. It happened once, in ancient times, that there was a king who was also an
astrologer. He had a very deep interest in studying the stars. Suddenly he felt panic in his heart
because he became aware that it was going to be dangerous to eat the coming year’s harvest.
Whoever ate it would go mad. So he called his prime minister, his adviser and counsellor, and told
him that this was certain to happen. The stars are clear, and because of the combination of cosmic
rays, this year’s harvest would be poisonous. It happens rarely, once in thousands of years, but it
was going to happen this year, and anyone who ate of this year’s harvest would go mad. So he
asked his adviser, ”What should we do?”
The prime minister said, ”It is impossible to provide for everybody from last year’s harvest, but one
thing can be done. You and I can both live on last year’s harvest. The remainder of last year’s
harvest can be gathered, requisitioned. There is no problem, it will be enough for you and I.”
The Empty Boat 72 Osho