Osho – Don’t think of God as truth, rather, think of God as beauty

Osho – Don’t think of God as truth, rather, think of God as beauty. Religion would have been totally different if God were thought of as beauty rather than as truth. I am not saying that He is not true – He is, but it makes a lot of difference for people in how they conceive of Him.

Because God has been conceived of as truth, people started thinking logically about Him. Truth creates logic in consciousness, it stirs logic. Truth seems like the conclusion of a syllogism. People started arguing about God, started proving, disproving. Because God was conceived of as truth, religion automatically became reduced to theology. Rather than becoming poetry, it became theology. Rather than becoming an aesthetic experience, it became logic-chopping.

Rather than enhancing the earth, making it more beautiful, it went against life. Logic is always against life; it is murderous because it depends on analysis; analysis kills. Because God was thought of as truth, religious people became thinkers, not creative artists. Just that simple phenom-enon dominated the whole past of ten thousand years.

Sufis say that God is beautiful, ’jamil.’ Think of Him as beauty, then it stirs creativity in you. Because beauty has to be created – in poetry, in sculpture, in painting; one has to give birth to it. If you think of God as beauty then you can do something about it. If God is truth then you can’t do anything about it, you have to discover it. Truth is there – you have just to uncover it.

But if God is beauty then you are not only to discover it, you have to create. Then the whole perspective changes and religion becomes life-affirmative. Then it enhances and affirms. It is not life-negative, it is not in the service of death. Then religion is not against love, because how can beauty be against love? Then religion is not against dance, it is not against celebration. How can beauty be against celebration? Then the earth is not a punishment but a holiday resort. We are here just to enjoy – it is a gift.