Freedom: The Courage to be Yourself (Insights for a New Way of Living Series) [Paperback]

Osho is one of the few spiritual teachers I feel a certain instinctive sympathy with (although I don't really support his philosophy). The reason, of course, is his iconoclastic, near-frivolous and yes, anti-religious attitude. It's a dish best served at Youtube, where Osho says that "thank God, God does not exist", "It's time for Mother Theresa to jump into a lake", "I don't allow meat at my ashram, but I allow alcohol, because that is vegetarian"... It's a real pity that Osho turned out so badly, creating what was just another cult, at "Rajneeshpuram" in Oregon. Does the name Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh ring a bell? Yes, that was Osho's name as a cult leader! I suspect Osho (who died in 1990) adopted his new name when the old one became too tainted.

Osho's books are less provocative than his speeches on the web. At least the ones I read so far. They are also difficult to pin down. The message sounds trivial, nebulous and yet, in some strange way, profound. "Freedom" combines Eastern meditation with Western self-help and positive attitude. However, the self-help and attitude-building isn't connected to a New Age prosperity gospel (as in "The Secret"). Rather, Osho sounds like a sixties hippie. He calls on people to become drop outs, to sing and dance, practice free love, and die with a smile on their face. The message is both life affirming and yet somehow anti-social. What Osho is really getting at, I think, is fear of "not belonging". His main enemy is conformism, in matters both big and small. Going with the crowd, what Osho calls "being a camel", is the greatest sin, but so is being a negative rebel, "being a lion". The positive rebel is innocent like a child and quite simply floats where the stream takes him.

All gurus are surrounded by tales about their childhood, when they supposedly did miraculous deeds, and Osho also tells such stories about himself, but in his case they are not about miracles but about anti-conformism. The book contains a story about how as a young child, Osho refused to get a haircut, although long hair was associated with effeminacy in patriarchal India. When his father forcibly cut his hair, Osho responded by shaving his head completely bald, which in India means that one's father has died! Somehow, I get the feeling that Osho loathed the strong conformism in a traditional society like India, and began preaching a message that sounds like a hedonist and individualist version of Buddhism.

In "Freedom", Osho also makes political, or rather anti-political, statements. He doesn't believe in changing society by political means. All revolutions are purely negative and are doomed to failure. He exemplifies this both with the Russian revolution, and with India's struggle for independence. Real change has to come from within. Only if people change on an individual basis, and then drop out and form communes, can society be changed in the bye and bye. Being a political activist or leader is pointless. Rather, be a nobody, be invisible, but practice love on an individual basis.

"Freedom" is part of a series of eight books, called "Insights for a new way of living". If you are looking for concrete self-help techniques, be they secular or spiritual, you will probably be disappointed. At least if the other seven books are anything like this one! Rather, the books attempt to ground a certain attitude, an attitude very different from dogmatic theology, hard-and-fast rules, and life denying asceticism. I'm not sure who the main beneficiaries may be. Perhaps people dissatisfied with traditional religion, crowd mentality and even "The Secret"!

It's a shame that Osho blew it in Oregon, but hopefully he will be reborn as a more positive and life affirming creature. A bonobo, perhaps? :-)