[RonSouther]

Excellent reading about respect and reverance....

Osho,
Yesterday you said that jealousy is part of respect. I have tremendous respect for you but my jealousy is poisoning it. I am experiencing self-condemnation and anguish. Does reverence transcend this poisonous respect?


It has to be understood a little, it is a delicate point. Whenever you respect somebody, you respect them because you see in that person something which is not in you. You respect them because you see something in that person which you would also like to be.

A beggar respects an emperor because he wants to be an emperor. So on the one hand he respects and on the other hand he is jealous because he is not yet an emperor. He wants to be an emperor. The emperor has achieved what the beggar wants to achieve. So the beggar respects the emperor because the emperor has succeeded. “I am standing far behind in the queue, you have arrived at that place where I want to be. You are powerful, intelligent, clever, strong, so I respect you.” But a fire of jealousy is also burning within: “If I get a chance then I would like to be in your place, I would like to remove you.” And when this beggar gets a chance he will push the emperor out, throw him out and will sit on the throne.

So jealousy is hidden in your respect. You may never have thought about it. You think that respect is a great quality. Respect is not a great quality, respect is a dimension of jealousy. You have hidden jealousy behind respect.

So reverence and respect are very different things. Understand it: respect is reverence mixed with jealousy, reverence is respect in which there is no jealousy. Then what is reverence? You revere the person in whom you have seen the echo of your own self-nature and you respect the person in whom you have seen the fulfillment of your ambition. Let me repeat it, you respect the person in whom you can see the fulfillment of your desires; it could not happen to you, but it has happened to him. And you revere the person in whom you see the reflection of your self-nature, not ambition but your own self-nature; one who becomes a mirror for you and who shows you that which you already are, who makes you acquainted with your self-nature.

An ambition can be fulfilled in the future. You respect the person in whom you have seen your future happening now. It has not happened to you yet so there is pain too: it has happened to him. So jealousy and respect go together.

If you go to an enlightened person, a reverence will arise in you. Reverence means the enlightened person has shown you that which you already are. Now there is no question of achieving it so there is no question of jealousy. Respect is for the one who has things which can be taken. Reverence happens for the one who has things which can be learned, not taken.

If I have money then you can respect me. If I have status you can respect me because you can snatch my status away. That which I have now, tomorrow it can be yours. And it also means that as long as it is mine it cannot be yours. So in respect there is a deep enmity: you also want to achieve what I have achieved. That I have achieved means I have snatched it from you or I have prevented you from achieving it. And if you want to achieve it you have to snatch it from me and you will prevent me from achieving it. Politicians respect each other, they respect each other very much – but inside, jealousy is burning. Rich men respect each other but inside jealousy is burning.

What is the meaning of reverence? Reverence means that I have something which I have not taken from you, I have not taken it from anybody. And however you may try you will not be able to take it from me. Yes, if you want to you can learn it from me.

Respect ? Future ? Jealousy? ? Osho Online Library