So it is not a question of Switzerland or Germany or England or India. The mind is conditioned by the past. There may be differences in detail, but one thing is basic: they are all living with ideas which are out of date, and they are all living with fictions as if they are realities. So when I say the truth it hurts, it shocks.

What would you deprogram in Switzerland?

I would do exactly the same as I am doing here: shocking people, creating as many enemies as possible – because that is my way of working. Once you are my enemy, then friendship is not far away. Rather than starting with friendship and ending up with enmity – which is what happens – I have reversed the process. I start with enmity and end up with friendship. Then there is no possibility of enmity again; it is already finished, it is already over.

Gautam Buddha used to say that anything that is sweet in the beginning turns out to be bitter in the end, and anything that is bitter in the beginning turns out to be sweet in the end – and I feel he is right as far as human relationships are concerned.

Osho,
I never saw such a peaceful place as Rajneeshpuram, and I can’t explain to myself why it is that most of the journalists who come here write very hatefully and negatively about this place and you, especially the German-speaking journalists.

There are reasons. The people who come here, come with closed minds, already full of prejudice; they have already arrived at their conclusion before arriving here. And with those glasses on their eyes they look – naturally, whatever color glasses they are wearing, they see it here. It is their reflection. Because you have come open, unprejudiced, with no idea for or against, you will see the reality.

There is certainly no other place more peaceful, more loving, more rejoicing. In fact, that is also one of the causes of people becoming hostile. Basically their hostility is based on jealousy. They are miserable; they have forgotten how to smile, they have forgotten how to laugh. They are living in utter anguish, and suddenly they come across these tremendously ecstatic people. Jealousy arises, and hostility is a way to hide that jealousy. They don’t want to believe that they have missed something in their lives which others are already enjoying. They don’t want to believe that it is a reality. So they spread all kinds of rumors which have no base in fact. But they are bound to do that.