Osho,
Is the path of the rebel the middle path, or the path of extremes?
I have heard you speak for and against both, and also say that there is no path.
What guides the rebel?

The rebel has no path to follow; those who follow any path are not rebels. The very spirit of rebellion needs no guidance. It is a light unto itself.

The people who cannot rebel ask for guidance, want to be followers. Their psychology is that to be a follower relieves them of all responsibility; the guide, the master, the leader, the messiah become responsible for everything. All that is needed of the follower is just to have faith. And just to have faith is another name of spiritual slavery.

The rebel is in a state of tremendous love with freedom – total freedom, nothing less than that. Hence he has no savior, no God’s messenger, no messiah, no guide; he simply moves according to his own nature. He does not follow anybody, he does not imitate anybody. Certainly he has chosen the most dangerous way of life, full of responsibility, but of tremendous joy and freedom.

He falls many times, he commits mistakes, but he is never repentant of anything because he learns a deep secret of life: by committing mistakes you become wise. There is no other way of becoming wise. By going astray you become acquainted more clearly with what is right and what is wrong; because whatever gives you misery, suffering, makes your life a darkness without end, without any dawn, means you have gone astray. Find out, and come again to the state of being where you are peaceful, silent, serene, and a fountain of blissfulness, and you are again on the right path. There is no other criterion than that. Being blissful is to be right. Being miserable is to be wrong.

The pilgrimage of the rebel is full of surprises. He has no map, no guide, so every moment he is coming to a new space, to a new experience – to his own experience, to his own truth, to his own bliss, to his own love.

Those who follow never know the beauty of experiencing things firsthand. They have always been using secondhand knowledge and pretending to be wise. People are certainly very strange. They do not like to use secondhand shoes; even on their feet they will not put secondhand shoes. But what garbage they are carrying in their heads…just secondhand shoes! All that they know is borrowed, imitated, learned – not by experience, but only by memory. Their knowledge consists of memorizing.

The rebel has no path as such. He walks and makes his path while walking. The rebel is almost like a bird flying in the sky – what path does he follow? There are no highways in the sky, there are no footprints of ancient birds, great birds, Gautam Buddhas. No bird leaves any footprints in the sky, hence the sky is always open. You fly and make your path.

Find the direction that gives you joy. Move towards the star that rings bells in your heart. You are to be the decisive factor, nobody else!