Osho on war Man has lived under the calamity of war too long. We have to destroy all gods of war; instead we have to create a temple of love. We should kill all gods of war, because only through their death-the god of war dead, all gods of war dead-will the god of love be born. War exists, not because there are warring groups outside in the world; fundamentally war exists because man is in conflict. The root of war is within; on the outside you only see the branches and the foliage of it. After each ten years, humanity needs a great world war. In ten years' time, man accumulates so much rage, madness, insanity inside him that it has to erupt. Unless we transform the very script of man, unless we give him a totally new program of living and being, we can go on talking about peace but we will go on preparing for war. That's what we have been doing for thousands of years: talking about peace and creating war. The absurdity is that even in the name of peace we have been fighting; the greatest wars have been fought in the name of peace. This has been a sheerly destructive past. With the same energy, man could have created paradise on earth; and all that we have done is to create a hell instead. But it is not a question of changing the political ideologies of the world, it is not a question of teaching people to be brotherly, because these things have been done and they have all failed. Something more basic is wrong. Man is split, and the same people who talk about peace are the cause of the split. They have divided man into good and bad, the lower and the higher, the earthly and the divine, the material and the spiritual. They have created a rift inside the human soul, and there is a constant war inside. Everybody is fighting with themselves, and when it becomes too much they start fighting with somebody else. That's why in times of war, people look happier. Their faces shine with enthusiasm, their step has a dance to it. They are thrilled because at least for a few days they will not need to fight with themselves; they have found a scapegoat outside. It may be the fascist, it may be the communist, it may be the Mohammedan, it may be the Christian-it doesn't matter, but somebody is there outside. It is an escape from the inner fight; in a very sick way it is relaxing. But one cannot go on warring continuously; sooner or later man has to turn inwards again. The politician creates war without, and the priest creates war within. This is the longest and the greatest conspiracy against humanity. My vision of a sannyasin is that of an integrated soul. The body is respected, not denied; it is loved, praised, one feels grateful for it. Matter is not condemned, it is enjoyed; it is part of our spiritual growth. There is no duality: it is a dialectics of growth. This is how we move on two feet, the bird flies on two wings. Matter and spirit, body and soul, lower and higher, are two wings. What I am trying to bring here is something utterly new, something that has never existed before on the earth: a man who is at ease with both the worlds, this and that; a man who is as worldly as one can be and as other-worldly as one can be; a man who is a great synthesis; a man who is not schizophrenic, a man who is whole and holy. That's what my sannyas is all about. FROM THE BOOK: WON'T YOU JOIN THE DANCE? Many Buddhas will be able to create a new vibe, a new consciousness. War is the greatest thing that man has remained involved with. Destruction seems to be very very attractive; killing and murder seems to be the goal of the human mind. In three thousand years, man has fought five thousand wars. Vietnam is nothing new, it is as ancient as man. It is not something that is happening today, it has been always there-because man is ill. And you ask me, How much inner peace is appropriate ... ? As much as you can manage-the more you have, the better. Because only pools of peace will destroy the compulsive attraction towards violence. Only pools of peace all over the world, many many Buddhas, will be able to create a new vibe, a new wave, a new consciousness, in which war becomes impossible-in which all energy moves in a creative way, all energy moves towards love. So don't say ... I understand the logic of it. The logic is, if man becomes very peaceful then he will not bother about Vietnam. I understand what you mean by your question. You mean, if people become very silent and very peaceful they won't care what is happening in the world around them, they will become indifferent. So how much peace is appropriate?-that's why you ask the question. But try to understand. The war is not the disease itself. Peace is missing in the heart-hence the war exists. The war is a consequence: more peace, less war. If peace becomes predominant, war will disappear. War cannot disappear by the efforts of people who call themselves pacifists. War cannot disappear because of Bertrand Russell. War cannot disappear because there are people who are against war-no. The people who are against war will create another war. You can see, if you have observed a pacifist protest, you can see how war-like they are shouting, screaming, protesting ... You can see in their faces they are dangerous people. They may call themselves pacifists, but they don't know what peace means. They are very argumentative, arrogant, ready to fight. It almost always happens that a peace protest becomes a battlefield between the police and the pacifists. The pacifist is not really the man of peace. He is against war. He is so much against war that he will be ready to go to war if that is needed. The cause changes, the war continues. A man of peace is not a pacifist, a man of peace is simply a pool of silence. He pulsates a new kind of energy into the world, he sings a new song. He lives in a totally new way his very way of life is that of grace, that of prayer, that of compassion. Whomsoever he touches, he creates more love-energy. The man of peace is creative. He is not against war, because to be against anything is to be at war. He is not against war, he simply understands why war exists. And out of that understanding he becomes peaceful. Only when there are many people who are pools of peace, silence, understanding, will the war disappear. ZEN: THE PATH OF PARADOX, Vol. 11 Osho on tv in the Netherlands