Spirituality Is An Inner Rev Revolution - OSHO

Spirituality is an inner revolution



Religiousness means the circumference, and spirituality means the center. Religiousness has something of spirituality, but only something - a vague radiation, something like a reflection in the lake of the starry night, of the full moon. Spirituality is the real thing, religiousness is just a by-product. And one of the greatest misfortunes that has happened to humanity is that people are being told to be religious not spiritual. Hence they start decorating their circumference, they cultivate character. Character is your circumference. By painting your circumference, the center is not changed. But if you change the center, the circumference automatically goes through a transformation.

Spirituality is an inner revolution

It certainly affects your behaviour, but only as a by-product. Because you are more alert, more aware, so naturally your action is different, your behaviour has a different quality, a different flavour, a different beauty. If your body is healthy then your lips are red, but you can paint them with lipstick and they will look red - and ugly. People are living with painted faces, wearing masks. These people are called religious. Spirituality belongs to your essential being, and religiousness only to the outermost actions, behaviour, morality. Religiousness is formal, going to the church every Sunday is a social affair.

Spirituality is not morality

Spirituality is not a question of morality, it is a question of vision. Spirituality is not the practicing of virtues - because if you practice a virtue it is no longer a virtue. A practiced virtue is a dead thing, a dead weight. Virtue is virtue only when it is spontaneous, virtue is virtue only when it is natural, unpracticed - when it comes out of your vision, out of your awareness, out of your understanding.

Religion cannot be practiced

Ordinarily religion is thought of as a practice. It is not. That is one of the most fundamental misunderstandings about religion. You can practice non-violence, but you will still remain violent, because your vision has not changed. A greedy person can practice sharing, but the greed will remain the same. Even the sharing will be corrupted by the greed, because you cannot practice anything against your understanding. The real silence arises out of the understanding, "Why am I not silent? Why do I go on creating tensions for myself? Why do I go on getting into miserable patterns? Why do I support my hell?" One starts understanding the "why" of one's hell, and by that very understanding, by and by, without any practicing on your part, you start dropping those wrong attitudes that create misery. Not that you drop them, they simply start disappearing.