You will wonder why I am including them. I am including them because I want to say to the world that to me, Jean-Paul Sartre’s Being and Nothingness and Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland are all the same. It does not matter. In fact, if I have to choose between the two I will choose Alice in Wonderland and throw Being and Nothingness in the ocean, so far away in the Pacific that nobody will find it again. To me these two small books have great spiritual value. Yes, I’m not joking…I mean it.

Ninth…again and again I come back to Kahlil Gibran. I have loved him and would have liked to help him. I have even waited for him, but he is not born yet. He will have to seek for some other master in the future. The Wanderer is my choice for this number.

The Wanderer, by Kahlil Gibran, is a collection of parables. The parable is the oldest method of saying that which is profound; that which cannot be said can always be said in a parable. It is a beautiful collection of small stories.

What a con-man I am! Even with closed eyes I am watching Devageet not only trying to say things – he is even using his leg, which is not very gentlemanly, and behind the back of a master…! What to do, this is how the world is.

This is beautiful, Ashu. Just remind me of the number.

“We were talking about number nine, Osho.”

Tenth: Another book by Kahlil Gibran, The Spiritual Sayings. Now I must object, even though the objection is against Kahlil Gibran whom I love. He cannot be allowed to write “spiritual sayings.” Spiritual? – although the book is beautiful it would have been better if he had called it Beautiful Sayings. Beautiful, not spiritual. To call it spiritual is just absurd. But still I love the book, just as I love all absurdities.

I am reminded of Tertullian, whose book – forgive me – I have not included. It was impossible for me to include them all, but at least I can mention his name. Tertullian’s famous saying is: Credo quia absurdum – I believe because it is absurd. I don’t think there is another saying in all the languages of the world which is more pregnant than this one. And Tertullian is a Christian saint! Yes, when I see beauty I appreciate it – even in a Christian saint.

Credo quia absurdum – this should be written in diamonds, not even in golden letters. Gold is too cheap. This saying: I believe because it is absurd, is so valuable. Tertullian could have written a book entitled Spiritual Sayings but not Kahlil Gibran.

Kahlil Gibran should meditate. It is time for him to meditate, as it is time for me to stop speaking…but I cannot for the simple reason that I have to complete the number fifty.

Tenth…am I right, Devageet?

“Actually we’ve done fifty. That was number ten, Osho.”