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In reality, until you free yourself from your own problems, you will not be able to clearly see or correctly understand the problems of the world. As long as there is such disorder in your own home, as long as your own inner being is in such turmoil, how can you see and understand global problems? You do not even understand yourself yet. (Osho) ...Start with this—any other beginning will be a bad beginning. People whose heads are full of chaos begin to help others and offer them solutions. These people have created more problems in the world than they have solved. These are the true same-//wicked ones: politicians, economists, so-called servants of the people, missionaries. They are the real wicked ones: they have not yet sorted out their own inner world, but are already ready to interfere with the consciousness of other people and solve their problems. In reality, in this way, they escape from their own reality—they do not want to face it. Instead, they will occupy themselves with someone else somewhere else—this allows them to distract themselves, to keep themselves busy. Remember: you are the main problem of the world. YOU are the problem, and until you solve this problem, everything you do will only complicate the situation. First, put your own house in order, create a cosmos there—for as long as chaos reigns there. There is an old Indian fairy tale, a very old story, but it contains great meaning:
A certain great but foolish king complained that his feet hurt when he walked on the ground because it was terribly uneven. Therefore, he ordered all the roads of the kingdom to be covered with cowhides to protect his feet. But the court jester laughed at this—he was a wise man. He said: "This venture of the king is absurd." The king became terribly angry and said to the jester: "Then show me a better solution, otherwise you will be executed." And the jester said: "My Lord, order small pieces to be cut from the cowhide and wrap them around your feet." Thus, shoes were created.
There is no need to cover the entire earth with cowhides: it is enough to cover one's own feet, and then the whole earth will be covered. And that is where all the wisdom lies. Yes, there are problems, I agree. There are many problems. All of life is like hell. Suffering, poverty, violence are everywhere; all kinds of madness flourish—this is true. And yet I insist that all problems begin in the soul of man. Problems exist because chaos reigns inside every person. Universal chaos is a cumulative phenomenon: we all bring our own chaos into it. The world is nothing other than relationships. We are all connected to one another. If I am a neurotic and you are a neurotic, our relationship becomes very nervous. Our neurosis is not even doubled, but multiplied.
And since all people are neurotics, the whole world is neurotic. Adolf Hitler did not fall upon us from the sky—we created him. The war in Vietnam was not sent down by the heavens—we unleashed it. This is our own pus flowing outward; this is our own chaos collecting its toll from us. You must start with yourself: you are the problem of the world. So do not run away from the reality of your inner world—this is the most important thing. You ask: "Can it be said that a person who has attained enlightenment is no longer interested in the problems by which humanity lives?" No. In fact, only then do they truly begin to interest him. But this is an interest of a completely different kind: the person begins to seek their true cause. Now, when you show interest, you pay attention to the symptoms. But when Buddha or Christ shows interest, he looks at the root. You may disagree with this because you do not see the cause—you only see the symptoms. The person is interested in problems, but now he knows what their cause is and tries with all his might to eradicate it. Poverty is not the cause; the cause is greed. Poverty is a consequence. You fight poverty all the time—it will not help. The cause is greed; greed must be eradicated.
War is not the problem; the problem is individual aggression. And war is simply the result. You organize protest marches, but wars do not stop. None of this matters—protest marches and such things; you only flatter yourself with this. For some people, it is simply entertainment—such people can be seen at any demonstration. They are ready to protest for any reason; they organize demonstrations and protest actions all over the world. For them, it is entertainment; they like it. In my childhood, I liked it myself. I participated in all the demonstrations, and even the city administration began to worry. They said: "You are seen at every demonstration—be it a communist, or socialist, or anti-communist demonstration... you participate everywhere." I answered them: "I just like it. I am not interested in political philosophy—it's just great to shout; I like the process itself." You can do whatever you want, but it still changes nothing—wars continue. And if you look at the protesters, you will see that among them are many aggressive people; you will not see peace on their faces. They are ready to fight. Protest marches for peace can turn into riots at any moment. These are aggressive people—in the name of peace, they exhibit aggression. They are ready to wage war: if they had power and if they had an atomic bomb, they would drop the atomic bomb so that peace could be established. That is what all politicians say: they say they fight for world peace.
The problem is not in war, and Bertrand Russell will not help here. The problem is in the inner aggression of people. People have no peace within, therefore wars continue—otherwise, people would simply go mad. Every ten years a need for war arises to rid humanity of neurosis. You may be surprised, but during the First World War, psychologists discovered a rare and strange phenomenon. During the time the war lasted, the percentage of people who went mad dropped almost to zero. Suicides were not committed, murders were not committed, and people even stopped going mad. This is strange—what is the connection with war? Perhaps murders were not committed because all the murderers went to fight, but what happened to the suicides? Perhaps they also joined the army, but in that case, what happened to the people who go mad? Why did they suddenly stop going mad? And during the Second World War, the same picture was observed again, only on an even larger scale. And then the connection was established; it became clear what the matter was. Neurosis accumulates in humanity; it suffers from a kind of madness. And every ten years, all this begins to burst outward. Therefore, when there is a war—that is, when all of humanity as a whole goes mad—there is no need to go mad on an individual basis. What is the point? When there is total madness all around anyway, what is the point for a person to go mad alone? When one nation kills another, what is the point of killing oneself or one's neighbor? One can simply watch television or read about these horrors in the newspaper. The problem is not in war; the problem is individual neurosis..
.Osho ("Book of Awareness")
A certain great but foolish king complained that his feet hurt when he walked on the ground because it was terribly uneven. Therefore, he ordered all the roads of the kingdom to be covered with cowhides to protect his feet. But the court jester laughed at this—he was a wise man. He said: "This venture of the king is absurd." The king became terribly angry and said to the jester: "Then show me a better solution, otherwise you will be executed." And the jester said: "My Lord, order small pieces to be cut from the cowhide and wrap them around your feet." Thus, shoes were created.
There is no need to cover the entire earth with cowhides: it is enough to cover one's own feet, and then the whole earth will be covered. And that is where all the wisdom lies. Yes, there are problems, I agree. There are many problems. All of life is like hell. Suffering, poverty, violence are everywhere; all kinds of madness flourish—this is true. And yet I insist that all problems begin in the soul of man. Problems exist because chaos reigns inside every person. Universal chaos is a cumulative phenomenon: we all bring our own chaos into it. The world is nothing other than relationships. We are all connected to one another. If I am a neurotic and you are a neurotic, our relationship becomes very nervous. Our neurosis is not even doubled, but multiplied.
And since all people are neurotics, the whole world is neurotic. Adolf Hitler did not fall upon us from the sky—we created him. The war in Vietnam was not sent down by the heavens—we unleashed it. This is our own pus flowing outward; this is our own chaos collecting its toll from us. You must start with yourself: you are the problem of the world. So do not run away from the reality of your inner world—this is the most important thing. You ask: "Can it be said that a person who has attained enlightenment is no longer interested in the problems by which humanity lives?" No. In fact, only then do they truly begin to interest him. But this is an interest of a completely different kind: the person begins to seek their true cause. Now, when you show interest, you pay attention to the symptoms. But when Buddha or Christ shows interest, he looks at the root. You may disagree with this because you do not see the cause—you only see the symptoms. The person is interested in problems, but now he knows what their cause is and tries with all his might to eradicate it. Poverty is not the cause; the cause is greed. Poverty is a consequence. You fight poverty all the time—it will not help. The cause is greed; greed must be eradicated.
War is not the problem; the problem is individual aggression. And war is simply the result. You organize protest marches, but wars do not stop. None of this matters—protest marches and such things; you only flatter yourself with this. For some people, it is simply entertainment—such people can be seen at any demonstration. They are ready to protest for any reason; they organize demonstrations and protest actions all over the world. For them, it is entertainment; they like it. In my childhood, I liked it myself. I participated in all the demonstrations, and even the city administration began to worry. They said: "You are seen at every demonstration—be it a communist, or socialist, or anti-communist demonstration... you participate everywhere." I answered them: "I just like it. I am not interested in political philosophy—it's just great to shout; I like the process itself." You can do whatever you want, but it still changes nothing—wars continue. And if you look at the protesters, you will see that among them are many aggressive people; you will not see peace on their faces. They are ready to fight. Protest marches for peace can turn into riots at any moment. These are aggressive people—in the name of peace, they exhibit aggression. They are ready to wage war: if they had power and if they had an atomic bomb, they would drop the atomic bomb so that peace could be established. That is what all politicians say: they say they fight for world peace.
The problem is not in war, and Bertrand Russell will not help here. The problem is in the inner aggression of people. People have no peace within, therefore wars continue—otherwise, people would simply go mad. Every ten years a need for war arises to rid humanity of neurosis. You may be surprised, but during the First World War, psychologists discovered a rare and strange phenomenon. During the time the war lasted, the percentage of people who went mad dropped almost to zero. Suicides were not committed, murders were not committed, and people even stopped going mad. This is strange—what is the connection with war? Perhaps murders were not committed because all the murderers went to fight, but what happened to the suicides? Perhaps they also joined the army, but in that case, what happened to the people who go mad? Why did they suddenly stop going mad? And during the Second World War, the same picture was observed again, only on an even larger scale. And then the connection was established; it became clear what the matter was. Neurosis accumulates in humanity; it suffers from a kind of madness. And every ten years, all this begins to burst outward. Therefore, when there is a war—that is, when all of humanity as a whole goes mad—there is no need to go mad on an individual basis. What is the point? When there is total madness all around anyway, what is the point for a person to go mad alone? When one nation kills another, what is the point of killing oneself or one's neighbor? One can simply watch television or read about these horrors in the newspaper. The problem is not in war; the problem is individual neurosis..
.Osho ("Book of Awareness")