The first is life.

      Man has a right to dignity, to health, a right to grow, so that he can
blossom into his ultimate flowering. This ultimate flowering is his right.
He is born with the seeds, but the society does not provide him the soil,
the right caring, the loving atmosphere.

      On the contrary, society provides a very poisonous atmosphere, full of
anger, hatred, destructions, violence, war. The right to life means there
should be no wars anymore. It also means that nobody should be forced into
armies, forced to go to war; it is everybody's right to refuse. But this is
not the case.

      Thousands of people are in prisons ? particularly young people,
sensitive and intelligent ? because they refused to go to war. Their denial
has become a crime ? and they were simply saying that they don't want to
kill human beings.

      Human beings are not things you can destroy without a second thought.
They are the climax of universal evolution. To destroy them for any cause ?
for religion, for politics, for socialism, for fascism...it does not matter
what the cause is; man is above all causes, and man cannot be sacrificed on
any altar.

      The right to life is possible only in a certain, different atmosphere
that is not present on the earth at the moment. Animals are killed, birds
are killed, sea animals are killed, just for game. You don't have any
reverence for life. And life is the same whether it is in human beings or in
other forms. Unless man becomes aware of his violence towards animals,
birds, he cannot be really alert about his own right to life. If you are not
caring about others' lives, what right have you got to demand the same right
for yourself?

      But the whole of humanity is non-vegetarian; they are all eating other
life forms. There is no reverence for life as such. Unless we create an
atmosphere of reverence for life, man cannot realize the goal of getting his
fundamental right of life.

      Secondly, because the UN also declares life to be a fundamental right
for man, it is being misused. The pope, Mother Teresa, and their tribe are
using it for teaching people against birth control, against abortion,
against the pill. Man's mind is so cunning. It was a question of human
rights ? they are taking advantage of it. They are saying you cannot use
birth control methods because they go against life; the unborn child also
has the same right as you have. So some line has to be drawn, because at
what point...?

      To me, the pill does not destroy human rights; in fact it prepares the
ground for it. If the earth is too overcrowded, millions of people will die
of starvation; there will be wars.

      I am absolutely in favor of birth control methods. A child should be
recognized as a human being when he is born ? and then too, I have some
reservations.... If a child is born blind, if a child is born crippled, if a
child is born deaf, dumb, and we cannot do anything.... Just because life
should not be destroyed, this child will have to suffer ? because of your
stupid idea ? for seventy years, eighty years. Why create unnecessary
suffering? If the parents are willing, the child should be put to eternal
sleep. And there is no problem in it. Only the body goes back into its basic
elements; the soul will fly into another womb. Nothing is destroyed.

      If you really love the child, you will not want him to live a
seventy-year-long life in misery, suffering, sickness, old age. So even if a
child is born, if he is not medically capable of enjoying life fully with
all the senses, healthy, then it is better that he goes to eternal sleep and
is born somewhere else with a better body.

      The right to life is a complex thing. Nobody is entitled to kill
anyone, either, in the name of religion. Millions of people have been killed
in the name of religions, in the service of God. No one should be killed in
the name of politics. Again, the same has happened. Joseph Stalin alone
killed one million people, his own people, while he was in power. Adolf
Hitler killed six million people. And thousands of wars have happened.

      It seems that on this earth we are doing only one thing: reproducing
children because soldiers are needed, reproducing children because wars are
needed.

      It seems man is nothing but a necessary instrument for more
destruction, more wars.

      The population has to be reduced if man wants to be, to have his
dignity, honor, his right to live ? not just to drag, but to dance. When I
say life is a fundamental right, I mean a life of songs and dances, a life
of joy and blessings.

      My second consideration is for love.

      Love should be accepted as one of the most fundamental human rights,
and all societies have destroyed it. They have destroyed it by creating
marriage. Marriage is a false substitute for love.

      If two people want to live together, they don't need any permission
from any priest or any government. They need the permission of their hearts.
And the day they feel that the time has come to part, again they don't need
anybody's permission. They can part as friends, with beautiful memories of
their loving days. Love should be the only way for men and women to live
together. No other ritual is needed.

      Children should be accepted not as their parents' property ? they
belong to the whole humanity. You should not possess your children. You can
love them, you can bless them, but you cannot possess. They belong to the
whole humanity. They come from beyond; you have been just a passage. Don't
think more than that about yourself. Whatever you can do, do.

      Once love is free, it will prepare the ground for other fundamental
rights.

      The third most fundamental right... because these are the three most
important things in life: life, love, and death.

      Everybody should be given the fundamental right that after a certain
age, when he has lived enough and does not want to go on dragging
unnecessarily.... Because tomorrow will be again just a repetition, he has
lost all curiosity about tomorrow. He has every right to leave the body. It
is his fundamental right.

      It is his life. If he does not want to continue, nobody should prevent
him. In fact, every hospital should have a special ward where people who
want to die can enter one month before, can relax, enjoy all the things that
they have been thinking about their whole life but could not manage ? the
music, the literature...if they wanted to paint or sculpt....

      And the doctors should take care to teach them how to relax. Up to
now, death has been almost ugly. Man has been a victim, but it is our fault.
Death can be made a celebration; you just have to learn how to welcome it,
relaxed, peaceful. Let them live for one month at least like emperors, so
they can leave life with no grudge, with no complaint but only with deep
gratitude, thankfulness.

      The fourth: the search for truth.

      Nobody should be conditioned from childhood about any religion, any
philosophy, any theology, because you are destroying his freedom of search.
Help him to be strong enough. Help him to be strong enough to doubt, to be
skeptical about all that is believed all around him. Help him never to
believe, but to insist on knowing. And whatever it takes, however long it
takes, to go for the pilgrimage alone, on his own, because there is no other
way to find the truth.

      The search for truth...you should not teach anybody what truth is
because it cannot be taught. You should help the person to inquire. Inquiry
is difficult; belief is cheap. But truth is not cheap; truth is the most
valuable thing in the world. You cannot get it from others, you will have to
find it yourself.

      And the miracle is, the moment you decide that "I will not fall victim
to any belief," you have already traveled half the way towards truth. If
your determination is total, you need not go to truth, truth will come to
you. You just have to be silent enough to receive it. You have to become a
host so that truth can become a guest in your heart.

      Right now the whole world is living in beliefs. That's why there is no
shine in the eyes, no grace in people's gestures, no strength, no authority
in their words. Belief is bogus; it is making castles of sand. A little
breeze and your great castle will be destroyed.

      Truth is eternal, and to find it means you also become part of
eternity.

      Fifth: to find the truth, all education systems from the kindergarten
to the universities will create a certain atmosphere for meditation.

      Meditation does not belong to any religion, and meditation is not a
belief. It is a pure science of the inner. Learning to be silent, learning
to be watchful, learning to be a witness; learning that you are not the
mind, but something beyond ? the consciousness ? will prepare you to receive
truth.

      And it is truth that has been called by many people, "God," by others,
"nirvana." By others, other names have been given to it, but it is a
nameless silence, serenity, peace. The peace is so deep that you disappear;
and the moment you disappear you have entered the temple of God.

      But strange it is, that people are wasting almost one-third of their
lives in schools, colleges, and universities, not knowing anything about
silence, not knowing anything about relaxation, not knowing anything about
themselves. They know about the whole world ? it is very weird that they
have forgotten only themselves.

      And because it is not part of any religion, there is no problem ? it
should be all over the world, in every school, in every college, in every
university. Anybody who comes home from the university should come with a
deep, meditative being, with an aura of meditation around him. Otherwise,
what he is bringing is all rubbish, crap. Geography he knows: he knows where
Timbuktu is, he knows where Constantinople is, and he does not know where he
is himself.

      The first thing in life is to know who you are, where you are. Then
everything in your life starts settling, moving in the right direction.

      The sixth: freedom in all dimensions.

      Freedom in all dimensions means that man, wherever he is born, is part
of one humanity. Nations should dissolve, religions should dissolve, because
they are all creating bondages.

      No child should be given any idea by the parents what life is all
about ? no theology, no philosophy, no politics. He should be made as
intelligent and sharp as possible, so when he comes of age he can go in
search. And it is a lifelong search. People today get their religion when
they are born. In fact, if you can get your religion when you die, you have
found it early. It is such a precious treasure, but it is possible only out
of freedom ? and freedom in all dimensions, not only in religion.

      There should be no nations, no national boundaries. There should be no
religions. Man should be taken as man. Why confine him with so many
adjectives? Right now he is not free in any way.

      Man's basic right is to be himself.

      And in an authentic human society, everybody should be allowed to be
himself ? even if he chooses just to be a flute player, and he will not
become the richest man in the world but will be a beggar on the streets.

      Still I say freedom is so valuable.... You may not be the president of
the country, you may be just a beggar playing the flute in the streets. But
you are yourself, and there is such deep contentment, fulfillment, that
unless you know it you have missed the train.

      Seventh: one earth, one humanity.

      I don't see any reason at all why there should be so many nations. Why
should there be so many lines on the map? And they are only on the map,
remember. They are not on the earth; neither are they in the sky. And the
map is man-made. Existence has not created this earth in fragments.

      Start from anywhere; just let the whole of humanity be one, and the
nations will disappear, the lines will disappear. It is our world ? one
humanity, one earth, and we can make it a paradise. Right now there is no ne
ed to describe hell. You can just look all around; it is here.

      Looking around the earth, man is in such misery and suffering that
there seems to be no need for another hell. But we can change the whole
situation. This earth can become a paradise. And then there will be no need
for any paradise; paradise will be empty.

      Eighth: uniqueness of every individual.

      I teach not equality, not inequality ? I teach uniqueness. Every
individual is unique and needs to be respected in his uniqueness. Because
every individual is unique, the birthright should be: equal opportunity for
their growth of uniqueness.

      Man is unique, and everybody should be respected as a world in
himself. He is neither inferior to anybody nor is he superior to anybody; he
is alone. In this aloneness there is beauty. You are no longer a mob, a
crowd; you are yourself.

      Ninth: a world government.

      I am absolutely against governments. I am for one government for the
whole world. That means no war will be possible; that means there will be no
need to keep millions of people in armies unnecessarily. They can be
productive, they can be helpful, and if they are merged into humanity, all
poverty will disappear.

      One world government means a tremendous change, a revolution. The
whole earth will be benefited by it.

      And tenth: meritocracy.

      Democracy has failed.

      For every post, the person who is chosen should be chosen by experts.
The health minister should be chosen by all the doctors, the surgeons, the
medical experts, the scientists who are working in the medical field. Then
we will have the cream of our genius, and we can depend on this cream to
make the life of all humanity more peaceful, more blissful, more rich.

      This idea I call a meritocracy.

      Before the world government happens, each nation should pass through a
meritocracy. And once we have enjoyed the fruits of a meritocracy then these
people will be able to understand that if we can combine the whole world
into one government, life can certainly be a joy, worth living ? not to
renounce, but to rejoice.

      Up to now, whatever has happened has been accidental. Our history up
to now is nothing but a history of accidents. We have to stop this. Now we
have to decide that the future is not going to be accidental. It will be
created by us; and to create our world can be the greatest creation
possible.



      Osho, Sermons in Stones, Number 29



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