Who He?

As you can tell, I've started reading When the Shoe Fits: Commentaries on the Stories of the Taoist Mystic Chuang Tzu by Osho because I've already featured some quotes from the book in three blog posts. I like what I've read thus far and so I decided to do a little research into who Osho is. Let me tell ya, I was blown away by what I found!

The fellow who is known as Osho today has been known by different names throughout his life. According to Wikipedia,

Osho, born Chandra Mohan Jain (Hindi: चन्द्र मोहन जैन) (11 December 1931 – 19 January 1990), also known as Acharya Rajneesh from the 1960s onwards, calling himself Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh during the 1970s and 1980s and taking the name Osho in 1989, was an Indian mystic and spiritual teacher who garnered an international following.

When I saw the name Rajneesh, it looked vaguely familiar. Where have I heard that before? The answer became quite clear in the third paragraph. This was the guy who turned rural Antelope, Oregon into Rajneeshpuram! It was reported about frequently in the national news and NOT in a very positive light.

My initial reaction was to toss the book in the trash!! However, on further reflection, I realize that many great thinkers, mystics and artists don't necessarily live the lives that are represented in their philosophy and art.

Vincent van Gogh was a brilliant painter whose art still is highly prized today, yet during his lifetime, he suffered severely from mental illness. Friedrich Nietzsche revolutionized the field of philosophy, but he too was a bit mad. Baruch Spinoza certainly didn't live the kind of life he wrote and speculated on. And, while contemporary author and filmmaker Michael Moore fights for the average Joe and Jane by doing battle with the forces of corporate capitalism, he has become quite wealthy (almost a corporation unto himself) during this process.

Who is to say how Chuang Tzu was viewed by his contemporaries? We know very little about his life, though it is assumed he was a husband and father. He obviously practiced some trade to feed his family. In other words, we have no way of knowing if the life he led even remotely resembled the kind of life he wrote about.

So, while Osho's life may have been lived in stark contrast to his philosophy, I don't think we should immediately throw the baby out with the bathwater. Throughout history there have been select individuals who can discern glimmers of the mystery of life, but their own lives pale in comparison to their vision. For me, that doesn't necessarily diminish the vision.

I will continue to read the book and try to do so with an open mind.