How can your parents decide your religion ? Who are they to decide ?

WALTER KAUFMANN HAS COINED A NEW WORD for a certain fear that has always existed but for which there has never been a word. He calls it 'DECIDOPHOBIA'. People are afraid to decide anything on their own: 'Decidophobia'. They allow others to decide for them, then they don't take the responsibility.

You were born accidentally into a Hindu family, or a Christian family; then you allowed your parents to decide your religion. HOW CAN YOUR PARENTS DECIDE YOUR RELIGION? Who are they to decide your religion? -- and how can it be decided by birth? Birth has nothing to do with religion. How can birth decide? Their parents decided their religion and so on and so forth, you will decide the religion of your children.

Borrowed! THERE MUST BE SOME DEEP FEAR IN MAKING A DECISION ON YOUR OWN. The fear is that if you decide on your own, who knows? -- it may be wrong. It is better to let others decide; they know more, they have more experience. Let tradition decide, let society decide, let the politicians decide, let the priests decide. One thing is certain: others have to decide so you are free of the responsibility of making a decision. Hence people go on following others, and everybody goes on missing his own individuality.

There are two ways to avoid decision. ONE IS: LET OTHERS DECIDE. ANOTHER IS: NEVER DECIDE, SIMPLY DRIFT. Both are the same because the basic thing is not to take the responsibility of deciding. New generations have chosen the other alternative: drifting. The older generations have chosen the first alternative: to let others decide. You may not allow your father to decide, but that doesn't mean that you are going to decide yourself -- you may simply drift. You may do things, whatever happens... you may become a driftwood.

In both ways the search becomes impossible. The search means decisiveness. The search means taking risks. So remember this word 'decidophobia'. Don't be afraid, drop this fear. Who else can decide for you? NOBODY CAN DECIDE ANYTHING FOR YOU. Yes, others can help, others can show the path, but the decision has to be yours -- because through your decision your soul is going to be born.

THE MORE DECISIVE YOU BECOME, THE MORE INTEGRATED YOU BECOME. The more you take the responsibility of commitment... of course, it is very dangerous, but life is dangerous. I know there are many possibilities of going astray, but that risk has to be taken. There are possibilities you may err, but one learns by erring. Life is trial and error.

I have heard:
In the eighteenth century, France had its effete and privileged aristocracy, and a poor scholar was hired to teach geometry to the scion of one of the nation's dukedoms.
Painstakingly, the scholar put the young nobleman through one of the very early theorems of Euclid, but at every pause, the young man smiled amiably and said, "My good man, I do not follow you."
Sighing, the scholar made the matter simpler, went more slowly, used more basic words, but still the young nobleman said, "My good man, I don't follow you."
In despair, the scholar finally moaned, "Oh, monseigneur, I give you my word that what I say is so."
Whereupon, the nobleman rose to his feet, bowed politely, and answered, "But why, then, did you not say so at once so that we might pass on to the next theorem? If it is a matter of your word, I would not dream of doubting you."

BUT LIFE IS NOT A MATTER OF ANYBODY'S WORD. It is not a theorem, it is not a theory. You cannot accept it just because somebody else is authoritatively saying it is so. Authority is a trick. Behind it you hide your fear.

You have to decide. DECISIONS CAN BE FATAL BUT THERE IS NO OTHER WAY. You may go astray, but nothing is wrong in it. Going astray, you will learn something, you will become richer. You can come back and you will be happy that you went astray, because there are many things which can be learnt only by going astray. There are millions of things which can be learnt only if you are courageous enough to make mistakes. Remember only one thing: don't make the same mistake again and again.

IF RELIGION IS DECIDED BY OTHERS, THEN THERE IS NO NEED TO SEARCH. Your father says: God is. Your mother believes in heaven and hell, so you believe. The authority, the priest, the politician, says something and you believe it. You are avoiding -- through belief you are avoiding trust.

BELIEF IS THE ENEMY OF TRUST. Trust life! Don't believe beliefs -- avoid them! Avoid beliefs -- Hinduism, Islam, Christianity. Seek on your own. You may come to find the same truth. You will come, because the truth is one. Once you have found it you can say: Yes, The Bible is true -- but not before. Once you have found it you can say: Yes, the Vedas are true -- but not before. Unless you have experienced it, unless you become a witness to it personally, all Vedas and all Bibles are useless. They will burden you, they will not make you more free.

OSHO
The Search
Ch #1: The search for the bull and discovering the footprints
am in Buddha Hall