Wisdom Cannot Be Taught
Osho, what is wisdom?
Stephen Crane writes:
"Sir," I addressed him, "let me read."
"Child..." he began.
"Sir," I said, "think not that I am a child,
for already I know much of that which you hold."
"Ah, much!" he smiled.
Then he opened the book and held it before me.
Strange, that I should have gone so suddenly blind.
Wisdom is not knowledge. The knowledgeable person cannot see it,
he is blind. Only the innocent person can see it, only a child, one
who knows nothing, one who functions from the state of not knowing,
can know what wisdom is. Wisdom has nothing to do with knowledge,
not at all; it has something to do with innocence. Something of the
purity of the heart is a must, something of the emptiness of being
is needed for wisdom to grow.
"Only those who are like small children will be able to enter into
my kingdom of God." Yes, Jesus is right.
Knowledge comes from without, wisdom wells up within. Knowledge is
borrowed, wisdom is original. Wisdom is your insight into existence
- not Buddha's insight, not Atisha's insight, not my insight, but
your insight, absolutely your insight into existence.
When you are able to see with no dust of knowledge on the mirror of
your soul, when your soul is without any dust of knowledge, when it
is just a mirror, it reflects that which is. That is wisdom. That
reflecting of that which is, is wisdom.
Knowledge gratifies the ego, wisdom happens only when the ego is
gone, forgotten. Knowledge can be taught; universities exist to
teach you. Wisdom cannot be taught, it is like an infection: you
have to be with the wise, you have to move with the wise, and only
then will something start moving inside you.
The movement in the disciple is not caused by the master, it is not
under the law of cause and effect. It is what Carl Gustav Jung calls
"synchronicity." The master is so full of silence, so overflowing
with innocence, that his presence triggers a process in you, simply
triggers a process in you. Nothing is transferred; your inner being
starts remembering that "I also have the same treasure as my master,
I had simply forgotten about it. I had moved into the without,
keeping the within at the back. The treasure was not lost but only
forgotten; I had fallen asleep."
And the asleep person at the most can dream that he is awake. But
that too is a dream. That dream is knowledge. The person who is
asleep and thinks that he knows... that is knowledge. But the person
who really awakes is wise. Knowledge is a false, plastic substitute
for wisdom.
Wisdom is true knowledge - rather knowing than knowledge, because it
has no full point to it. It goes on growing, it goes on flowing. The
man of wisdom goes on learning; there never comes a stop.
Don't be knowledgeable, be wise.