What is Philosophy?

Beloved Osho, What is philosophy?

Sudarshan, philosophy is an obsession with words. The word God becomes more significant than the experience of God; that is philosophy. Philosophers ask: What do you mean when you use the word God? What do you mean when you use the word truth? What do you mean when you use the word good? What do you mean when you use the word love?
Philosophy is more or less a linguistic phenomenon, a question of language and grammar, of hair-splitting and shadow-boxing. It is not concerned with reality at all. It talks about reality. But remember, to talk about reality is one thing and to move into reality is quite another. Philosophy is talk, religion is experience.
My interest is in religion, not in philosophy at all.

Noah Webster′s neighbour came into the pantry and found him kissing the pretty chambermaid.
"My, Mr. Webster!" she exclaimed. "I am surprised!"
"No, my dear," said Mr. Webster with a reproving smile. "You are astounded, I am surprised."

It is only a question of words - the reality is put aside. Webster is a linguist, a great grammarian. He changes the words, he says, "No, my dear, you are astounded. You are using the wrong word when you say ′I am surprised.′ You are astounded, I am surprised."
The emphasis - you see the emphasis - is no longer upon the act of kissing the pretty maid, the emphasis is on the wrong word or the right word.
Philosophers go on and on with words, and words have their own way. One word brings another word, and so on and so forth. You can go on and on ad infinitum; there is no end to words. You can fabricate, manufacture, new words, and you can create such a fuss about words that you can mystify people. Philosophy is a mind trick, a very sophisticated trick but a mind trick.
Religion has nothing to do with philosophy, religion is just a totally different dimension. It is going beyond words, it is reaching into experience. Religion is existential, philosophy is intellectual. And you can′t understand even a small thing like a rose-flower intellectually.
If you try to understand the rose-flower and its beauty intellectually, either you have to say that the beauty is indefinable - that is another way of saying that it is unthinkable - or you have to say there is no beauty at all; it is all projection, it is all illusion. These are the only two alternatives for philosophy.
The philosopher says, "God is an illusion, truth is an illusion, love is an illusion" - he tries to prove everything is illusion - and then suddenly he is at a loss what to do; he is in a deep misery, in great frustration. Life seems to be just a chaos with no meaning to it. Then suicide seems to be the only outlet from this whole mess.
Many philosophers think of committing suicide and many commit suicide too. And those who cannot commit suicide - they go mad. Just in between the two, neither alive nor dead, just hanging in limbo, that is madness.
G. E. Moore has written a great book, as far as books are concerned, Principia Ethica. For two hundred pages he discusses what ′good′ is. If somebody asks me, "What is good?" I will say, "It is indefinable" - right now, immediately. But he comes to the conclusion that it is indefinable after two hundred pages - and two hundred pages of great logic. He was one of the greatest logicians of this age.
These three names are very important: G. E. Moore, Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Two hundred pages of great hard work - so much perspiration and nothing of inspiration! - and then the conclusion is that good is indefinable, because good is a simple quality like yellow. How can you define yellow? Yellow is yellow. What more you can say about yellow? But do you have to go through this hell of two hundred pages just to come to the simple conclusion that life is indefinable, it is mysterious - what the mystic has always been saying?
You cannot demystify life. Yes, you can enjoy it, you can go deep into the mystery and become part of it, you can dance it, you can sing it, you can celebrate it, but you cannot understand it.
Philosophy tries to understand and comes to no understanding. Religion never tries to understand and comes to deep understanding.

Beware of words! Words are very enchanting, hypnotizing. Sometimes you can get caught into a whole net of words.

Two ladies conducting a school survey ring a doorbell which is answered by a man who has been taking a shower and who is covering himself with only a newspaper. He tells them that he is Peter Pepperpod, wife Pauline, sons Paul and Peter Jr., both in your school. "I′m a peanut packer for Planter′s Peanuts and poke around in part-time party planning on the side."
Later one of the ladies goes to the toilet at the first filling station they pass and does not return for fifteen minutes. She explains to the other, "I just sat there and got to thinking about that personable Mr. Peter Pepperpod, the peanut packer for Planter′s Peanuts and part-time party planner, standing there with his pert, petrified pivot poking through the paper, and it just made my pussy pucker with such peccability that I couldn′t hardly precipitate!"

This is what philosophy is!

Enough for today.

(Osho - The White Lotus #8)

Osho video: My Way of Life is not Philosophy. No philosopher has ever been able to know the truth. All the philosophers have been thinking about the truth. But thinking about the truth is an impossibility. Either you know it, or you don′t.