Seriousness is a disease, it is the cancer of the soul

Beloved Osho, 
   When serious, sad people become enlightened, do they remain serious and sad or do they become funny like you?

Prem Jyoti, 
   Who has ever heard of serious people becoming enlightened? The serious person cannot become enlightened. SERIOUSNESS IS A DISEASE, IT IS THE CANCER OF THE SOUL. Seriousness is a wrong, utterly wrong approach to life. How can you come to truth through a wrong approach? The serious person is simply ill, pathological. Of course, for thousands of years serious people have dominated us because that is their only joy in life, there is no other joy for them -- the joy of dominating.

There is a beautiful parable of Kahlil Gibran:   

    Every day he goes for a morning walk and he comes across a field where a scarecrow has been put. The scarecrow has a purpose: he drives wild animals away, birds away from the crops.

    One day Kahlil Gibran asks the scarecrow, "You have been standing here year in, year out -- you must be getting very tired, very bored?"

    And the scarecrow says, "No, I may look bored, I may look very serious, but I am enjoying my job."
    Kahlil Gibran says, "What kind of enjoyment you can have? I don't see anything here for you to enjoy."
    He says, "The very joy of making people afraid gives me such a thrill. Day in, day out, I am driving animals, birds crazy! They run away from me. I am the supreme-most around here, I am the most powerful person. Everybody is afraid of me. Don't you think that's more than one can expect from life?"

    THE SERIOUS PERSON HAS BEEN DOING THAT FOR CENTURIES. In the name of politics, in the name of religion, in the name of education, in the name of morality, he has been torturing people. That is his only joy. He is basically a sado-masochist.

    NO SADO-MASOCHIST CAN BECOME ENLIGHTENED. And out of one hundred people that you think have become enlightened, ninety-nine point nine percent are not enlightened. Just the traditional idea, and you go on carrying it. You have been told that this man is "enlightened." No criterion exists for you to judge him by -- because Jesus is enlightened to the Christians, to the Jainas he is not; they have a different criterion. You will be surprised: to the Christians, Mahavira may not look enlightened at all; they have a different criterion.

    CHRISTIANS SAY JESUS NEVER LAUGHED IN HIS WHOLE LIFE. This must be an absolute lie. I cannot believe it, that he never laughed; his whole life shows a different flavor. It is impossible to think that he never laughed, but Christians say that he never laughed. Why? --Because an enlightened person has to be serious, very serious, burdened with all the problems of the world. He has come to solve all the problems, he has come to save humanity. He is the savior, the messiah; he has to save you from your past sins, and the future possibilities too. Naturally -- he is carrying on his shoulders a Himalayan weight -- how can he laugh? It is impossible.

    BUT THE WHOLE IDEA THAT SOMEBODY HAS TO SAVE YOU IS UGLY; the whole idea destroys your freedom. You are not even allowed to suffer for your sins, somebody else has to suffer. Your whole responsibility is taken away.

    That is NOT the vision of other traditions. For example, Buddha will not agree with it. He says, "Be a light unto yourself. Nobody else can save you." Hence, BUDDHA IS NOT SO SERIOUS; there is no need, there is no reason to be serious. He is free from all his own problems, he is released. There is a subtle joy in him.

    But Christians will think that Buddha is selfish, he is only thinking of himself. And how can an enlightened person be selfish? Jesus is enlightened because he is thinking of the whole of humanity....

    I will not tell you who is enlightened and who is not enlightened, but I will tell you of a simple phenomenon which you can understand and which can become a light for you. One thing is absolutely certain: THAT THE SADO-MASOCHIST CANNOT BE ENLIGHTENED. One who tortures himself and tortures others, enjoys torturing, cannot be enlightened. Enlightenment is blissfulness, it cannot be serious. It can be sincere but not serious. It will be sheer joy! It will be pure ecstasy!

OSHO
The Goose is Out
Ch #8: The dimension of the mysterious
am in Buddha Hall