Osho – All that you know, all that you think of as knowledge is rubbish. Know it as rubbish and drop it. All that is borrowed, all that is learned from others — and all that you know is learned from others — has to be dropped. It is humiliating: to carry it and to declare that it is knowledge is humiliating.
Two comics met in Lindy’s. One of them was furious.
‘I saw you at the Palace’ he roared. ‘You told every joke I told on my broadcast. They were my jokes.’
‘Look, wise guy’ answered the accused. ‘Anything that comes out of my radio is mine. I have paid for it, haven’t I? Anything that comes out of MY radio is mine. I have paid for it.’
Is anything that comes out of your Bible yours because you have purchased the Bible? Is anything that comes out of the Koran yours because you are a Mohammedan? Is anything that comes out of the Vedas yours because, accidentally, you were born into a Hindu family? All that you know — pile it and burn it forever. It will be difficult because your whole ego is involved in it.
To recognise the fact that you don’t know is the most difficult thing a man can do. but, in fact, a very manly thing. When you do it you have become for the first time a real man. Before it you were just pseudo, phony. And this knowledge gives you a false sense of knowing, but it never transforms your life. It never really gives anything to you. You know what is good, but you do what is not good. You know anger is bad, but you go on being angry.
You know, but what is the use of this knowledge? It never becomes in any way part of your being. and it cannot become. Many people come to me and they say ‘We know, we know exactly what is right and what is wrong, but we are weak and we cannot do the right and we go on becoming victims of the wrong.’ That is not the right thing. They are not weak. Nobody is weak. God never creates weaklings — it is impossible. Then from where arises the problem? The problem arises because knowledge is not a transforming force. So you know, but it never transforms you; and it gives you a feeling that you are weak, it makes you feel impotent.
Look at it. Your knowledge, rather than helping you, destroys your self-confidence. It is better to be angry and not to know that anger is bad. But to know that anger is bad and then be angry is very dangerous: you are getting split. A part of your mind goes on saying ‘It is wrong’ and a part of your mind goes on doing it all the same. You are becoming schizophrenic. Your knowledge makes you schizophrenic.
Knowledge is impotent, hence it makes you feel impotent. Drop out of the company of knowledge and then, if you really know that anger is bad out of your own experience, that very knowing transforms. Then you will never be angry again. How can you be?
Once you know that fire burns, how can you put your hand into it? It is impossible — unless you want to burn your hand, then it is totally different. When you know you cannot get out through the wall and you will get hurt in the head, you don’t try — unless you want to break your head. Knowing is always in tune with your being. Knowledge is always out of tune.
Source – Osho Book “Tao : The Pathless Path, Vol 1”