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On Basic Human Rights
Osho thrusts his sword into the heart of the matter of what we collectively call “Human Rights.”
One of the struggles we face as human beings is how to cope with, how to bring light to, how to dissolve the roots of the perverse and incomprehensible horrors — physical, psychological, spiritual — that we seem capable of inflicting on one another. What are the roots of wars, of torture, of murder and hatred and our all-too-easy dehumanization of the “other” …?
He quotes the language of the UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS to expose the hollowness of the words.
Why is our human reality on this planet so far off from these beautifully worded declarations?
Osho exposes the hypocrisy and the vested interests that underlie the core of that document, and so many others like it. But he doesn’t stop there. He challenges us to create a new language, a new narrative, a transformative and liberating vision of what it means to treat one another with awareness, with love, and with respect.
In our individual lives, as in the lives and generations of our society, there is a revolution, a transformation that happens alongside each change that happens in consciousness – individual and collective — as our technology continues to bring us (potentially) all together into a “global village.” And alongside it, the change in consciousness that is now required of us, as a common humanity living on a smallish and rather beautiful, sacred planet. To see ourselves as God’s creation, if you will. Or Gaia, or choose whatever term of oneness most appeals to you.
This small volume is an opening to the revolution in consciousness that is so urgently needed for our times.
One of the struggles we face as human beings is how to cope with, how to bring light to, how to dissolve the roots of the perverse and incomprehensible horrors — physical, psychological, spiritual — that we seem capable of inflicting on one another. What are the roots of wars, of torture, of murder and hatred and our all-too-easy dehumanization of the “other” …?
He quotes the language of the UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS to expose the hollowness of the words.
Why is our human reality on this planet so far off from these beautifully worded declarations?
Osho exposes the hypocrisy and the vested interests that underlie the core of that document, and so many others like it. But he doesn’t stop there. He challenges us to create a new language, a new narrative, a transformative and liberating vision of what it means to treat one another with awareness, with love, and with respect.
In our individual lives, as in the lives and generations of our society, there is a revolution, a transformation that happens alongside each change that happens in consciousness – individual and collective — as our technology continues to bring us (potentially) all together into a “global village.” And alongside it, the change in consciousness that is now required of us, as a common humanity living on a smallish and rather beautiful, sacred planet. To see ourselves as God’s creation, if you will. Or Gaia, or choose whatever term of oneness most appeals to you.
This small volume is an opening to the revolution in consciousness that is so urgently needed for our times.
- GenresPhilosophy
192 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1987
2 people are currently reading
58 people want to read
About the author
Osho
4,314 books6,812 followersRajneesh (born Chandra Mohan Jain, 11 December 1931 – 19 January 1990) and latter rebranded as Osho was leader of the Rajneesh movement. During his lifetime he was viewed as a controversial new religious movement leader and mystic.
In the 1960s he traveled throughout India as a public speaker and was a vocal critic of socialism, Mahatma Gandhi, and Hindu religious orthodoxy.
Rajneesh emphasized the importance of meditation, mindfulness, love, celebration, courage, creativity and humor—qualities that he viewed as being suppressed by adherence to static belief systems, religious tradition and socialization.
In advocating a more open attitude to human sexuality he caused controversy in India during the late 1960s and became known as "the sex guru".
In 1970, Rajneesh spent time in Mumbai initiating followers known as "neo-sannyasins". During this period he expanded his spiritual teachings and commented extensively in discourses on the writings of religious traditions, mystics, and philosophers from around the world. In 1974 Rajneesh relocated to Pune, where an ashram was established and a variety of therapies, incorporating methods first developed by the Human Potential Movement, were offered to a growing Western following. By the late 1970s, the tension between the ruling Janata Party government of Morarji Desai and the movement led to a curbing of the ashram's development and a back taxes claim estimated at $5 million.
In 1981, the Rajneesh movement's efforts refocused on activities in the United States and Rajneesh relocated to a facility known as Rajneeshpuram in Wasco County, Oregon. Almost immediately the movement ran into conflict with county residents and the state government, and a succession of legal battles concerning the ashram's construction and continued development curtailed its success.
In 1985, in the wake of a series of serious crimes by his followers, including a mass food poisoning attack with Salmonella bacteria and an aborted assassination plot to murder U.S. Attorney Charles H. Turner, Rajneesh alleged that his personal secretary Ma Anand Sheela and her close supporters had been responsible. He was later deported from the United States in accordance with an Alford plea bargain.[
After his deportation, 21 countries denied him entry. He ultimately returned to India and a revived Pune ashram, where he died in 1990. Rajneesh's ashram, now known as OSHO International Meditation Resort and all associated intellectual property, is managed by the Zurich registered Osho International Foundation (formerly Rajneesh International Foundation). Rajneesh's teachings have had a notable impact on Western New Age thought, and their popularity has increased markedly since his death.
In the 1960s he traveled throughout India as a public speaker and was a vocal critic of socialism, Mahatma Gandhi, and Hindu religious orthodoxy.
Rajneesh emphasized the importance of meditation, mindfulness, love, celebration, courage, creativity and humor—qualities that he viewed as being suppressed by adherence to static belief systems, religious tradition and socialization.
In advocating a more open attitude to human sexuality he caused controversy in India during the late 1960s and became known as "the sex guru".
In 1970, Rajneesh spent time in Mumbai initiating followers known as "neo-sannyasins". During this period he expanded his spiritual teachings and commented extensively in discourses on the writings of religious traditions, mystics, and philosophers from around the world. In 1974 Rajneesh relocated to Pune, where an ashram was established and a variety of therapies, incorporating methods first developed by the Human Potential Movement, were offered to a growing Western following. By the late 1970s, the tension between the ruling Janata Party government of Morarji Desai and the movement led to a curbing of the ashram's development and a back taxes claim estimated at $5 million.
In 1981, the Rajneesh movement's efforts refocused on activities in the United States and Rajneesh relocated to a facility known as Rajneeshpuram in Wasco County, Oregon. Almost immediately the movement ran into conflict with county residents and the state government, and a succession of legal battles concerning the ashram's construction and continued development curtailed its success.
In 1985, in the wake of a series of serious crimes by his followers, including a mass food poisoning attack with Salmonella bacteria and an aborted assassination plot to murder U.S. Attorney Charles H. Turner, Rajneesh alleged that his personal secretary Ma Anand Sheela and her close supporters had been responsible. He was later deported from the United States in accordance with an Alford plea bargain.[
After his deportation, 21 countries denied him entry. He ultimately returned to India and a revived Pune ashram, where he died in 1990. Rajneesh's ashram, now known as OSHO International Meditation Resort and all associated intellectual property, is managed by the Zurich registered Osho International Foundation (formerly Rajneesh International Foundation). Rajneesh's teachings have had a notable impact on Western New Age thought, and their popularity has increased markedly since his death.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 14, 2018
As an Osho lover I recommend this book as his best. It’s a manifesto on true freedoms and deprogramming all of society’s limiting orientations. If you value freedom—in the deepest sense, Enlightenment—this little book packs the perfect punch.
July 25, 2020
This is a brilliant book. Osho addresses many topics here that need to be thought about, he talks about what is not working in the way we run society and the change that will be best for everyone's freedom and best interests. He emphasis the message that we must connect to our humanness above all, to treat our whole system with a compassionate approach bringing in our humanness. I have come to the conclusion that many so called mentally ill people are the way they are because of the society, because of how we go about things that is harmful to our human nature. The sick people are a product of a sick society. Osho always expands my mind and makes me think about many things very differently. I do not always agree with certain things he expresses but there is so much to be learnt from him. His books are life changing and always feel like such a gift to be able to read. Osho is powerful, his words are powerful, he has the power to phrase very deep and profound things simply that almost anyone can understand. And if you can do that, well you can change minds on a greater scale reaching out to all kinds of people; awakening them to what is real and what is not so that they can begin to think for themselves.
July 23, 2020
A human being is not a resource - a human being is a possibility. It is just that there is always a distance between a possibility and a reality. What an individual human being will become essentially depends upon whether we can unfold this possibility or not. If you consider a human being as a resource, then once we pick up a resource, we already know its qualities. We know what it can and cannot do. In other words, it is a quantity. There is a phenomenal difference between a quantity and a possibility.
A possibility means it is yet to be. Human beings have essentially come in a seed form. A seed realizes its potential only if it finds fertile soil. With the right kind of soil, one seed can make the entire Earth green. So, when you have a human being on your hands, if you think of them as a resource, you will never unfold their genius. This is like making an auto-rickshaw out of an airplane. What could take you to great heights, now you are using it in a very mundane way and you think, “This is it.”
A possibility means it is yet to be. Human beings have essentially come in a seed form. A seed realizes its potential only if it finds fertile soil. With the right kind of soil, one seed can make the entire Earth green. So, when you have a human being on your hands, if you think of them as a resource, you will never unfold their genius. This is like making an auto-rickshaw out of an airplane. What could take you to great heights, now you are using it in a very mundane way and you think, “This is it.”
July 6, 2011
Son pocas estrellas sólo pq el libro es pequeño y apuesto que Osho tiene mejores entregas. El tema que aborda es muy trascendental y sus ideas totalmente radicales, en las cuales estoy de acuerdo en la mayoría, con muy pocas reservas. Sin embargo, a pesar de eso, siento que él aborda sus propuestas de una manera muy superficial, a modo de resumen. Sobretodo en la parte donde propone un Gobierno Mundial, es demasiado conciso. Creo que no se le puede dejar de criticar cuando categóricamente acusa a todos los líderes y políticos del mundo de ser infames. Yo pienso que hay de todo en este mundo y también cuando dice que la Declaración de la ONU está redactada para ocultarnos la gran verdad de que no somos civilizados, ni somos libres... pienso (talvez ingenuamente) que son simples errores de redacción y nada más eso, Osho ahí ve moros con trinchetes. Creo que si alguien nos quiere ver la cara, pues sí lo hacen, pero de manera más cínica, no tan rebuscada.
Estoy de acuerdo con la Declaración que propone Osho.. (algunos puntos muy utópicos), pero conste que hay millones de personas que no han leído la de la ONU, y quien lo ha hecho, lo ha hecho sin ponerle demasiada atención. Así no se puede lavar el cerebro de las masas.
Meritocracia (OK). Gobierno Mundial.. pues sí, John Lennon quería eso y muchos idealistas también, sólo me preocupa que no mencionó cómo evitar que quien gobierne a la humanidad sea un tirano y opresor. También dijo que con un Gobierno Mundial los dirigentes no necesitarán "poder" que para defenderse de otros... yo hay pienso que es una falacia.. que aún no me ha probado ni dado suficientes motivos para afirmar eso. Y más adelante dentro de pocos años, le daremos "poder" a nuestro gobernante absoluto para poder defenderse de algún pueblo alienígena. Al final, es lo mismo.
Por eso decía, que debería abordar sus propuestas con un poco más de profundidad. Pero me gustan. Habla de cosas lindas, utópicas.
Estoy de acuerdo con la Declaración que propone Osho.. (algunos puntos muy utópicos), pero conste que hay millones de personas que no han leído la de la ONU, y quien lo ha hecho, lo ha hecho sin ponerle demasiada atención. Así no se puede lavar el cerebro de las masas.
Meritocracia (OK). Gobierno Mundial.. pues sí, John Lennon quería eso y muchos idealistas también, sólo me preocupa que no mencionó cómo evitar que quien gobierne a la humanidad sea un tirano y opresor. También dijo que con un Gobierno Mundial los dirigentes no necesitarán "poder" que para defenderse de otros... yo hay pienso que es una falacia.. que aún no me ha probado ni dado suficientes motivos para afirmar eso. Y más adelante dentro de pocos años, le daremos "poder" a nuestro gobernante absoluto para poder defenderse de algún pueblo alienígena. Al final, es lo mismo.
Por eso decía, que debería abordar sus propuestas con un poco más de profundidad. Pero me gustan. Habla de cosas lindas, utópicas.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews