People are not corrupted by power. These people are corrupted; power simply brings their corruption into action. Power in itself is neutral. In a good man’s hand it will be a blessing. In an unconscious man’s hand it is going to be a curse. But for thousands of years we have condemned power, without thinking that power has not to be condemned; people have to be cleaned of all the ugly instincts that are hiding within them, because everybody is going to have some kind of power or other. It does not have to be great power. You may be just sitting in a railway station selling tickets, but that too gives you power. You are standing at the window, and the man does not even look at you. He goes on turning his file — and you can see that he is not concerned with the file, he simply wants to show you your place. Even the peon sitting outside the collector’s office behaves as if he is the president of the country — so it is not a question of where you are. Wherever you are, you will have some kind of power. Aurangzeb, one of India’s Mohammedan emperors, was so impatient that he could not wait for his father to die, or to become old, so that he could succeed him. He imprisoned his own father, and became the emperor of the country. His father had remained busy all his life. Now, sitting in the prison cell, he sent a message to his son: “At least arrange thirty boys, so that I can teach them the holy KORAN.” And the comment that Aurangzeb made to his courtiers is very significant. He said, “That old man does not want to lose power. Now he is no longer the emperor. But thirty students… teaching them the holy KORAN, he will again have the power over those small children.” Psychologists say that people who are afraid of competing in life and becoming powerful, choose a simpler way: they become teachers in schools. Small children… and you can harass them, beat them, although it is illegal — but it happens all over the country. ~ OSHO, The Razor’s Edge
Posted on: Fri, 25 Oct 2013 16:17:34 +0000