Osho,
The other morning when I heard you talking about sexual energy, AIDS and birth control, I felt such a pure rightness about each thing that you said. You are the intellectual giant of the century: there is no competition. I also feel a sense of urgency. What can I do to spread your words, or is that something only you can do?

The question you have asked has raised many questions.

First, I am not an “intellectual giant of the century.” That kind of misunderstanding is very possible, particularly because whatever I have to say has to be said through the intellect. But intellect is only a means, a vehicle, a medium; it is not the source of what I am saying. It is not the meaning of my life and my being. I am not an intellectual. In fact, I am the most anti-intellectual person who has ever existed on this earth. I will have to explain to you.

Intellect is thinking about things you do not know. How can you think about things you do not know? It is simply groping in the dark. I am reminded of the old definition of a philosopher. A philosopher is purely intellectual. The old definition of a philosopher is of a man who is blind, and in the darkest night, in a house that has no light, he is searching for a black cat that does not exist.

The intellectuals go on doing great gymnastics of the mind. They go on thinking about things that they do not know. Naturally, they never come to any conclusions. And it is impossible to come to any conclusion, to any realization through intellectual processes; hence the whole philosophical effort of the world has been an exercise in utter futility.

All philosophy is bunk. No philosopher has contributed any new insight, any new consciousness, any new festivity to the world, any new celebration to man’s consciousness. No philosopher has contributed to the beauty of this planet and this humanity. But they have been doing tremendous work all their lives – creating great systems of thought which are nothing but castles in the air, soap bubbles.

The greatest intellectuals and philosophers of the world are just children, playing on the sea beach, making castles out of the sand. You cannot live in those castles; in fact, just a little breeze and your castle disappears.

Mind can be used in many ways. One is the way of the intellectual: he goes round and round and round, about and about and about. He moves in a circle, which is of course unending. Every circle is unending. He travels much but he never reaches anywhere. This is the most futile use of your mind.

The other way is to use the mind not in circles but as a straight, horizontal line – one-dimensional. That’s how the scientific, the mathematical, the logical genius uses the mind. He moves in a straight line, but horizontally. He comes to certain conclusions, he comes to certain discoveries, he comes to certain inventions. He enriches the world as far as matter is concerned, as far as technology, machines and knowledge about objects is concerned.