Osho on Trust - Trust is your inner growth, your consciousness at its peak

Question - Beloved Osho, Please speak about Trust. What is trust in you? What is trust in your communes? Does trust mean that I have to accept everything?

Osho - Somehow you have got a wrong idea about trust. Trust is not in someone, it is not a relationship. Trust is a quality in you. A man of trust... it does not mean in what he trusts, but he trusts; that is his innocence. Even if he is cheated because of his trust, that does not matter, because trust is more valuable than any small thing that he has been cheated of. You can take everything from him, but you cannot take his trust. Trust is your inner growth, your consciousness at its peak.

Certainly your trust will come in contact with many people, but you will be trusting because trust in itself is such a joy, and distrust is such an agony, that you have chosen trust rather than distrust. People are miserable all over the world because they have chosen distrust. From their very childhood they have been told, "Don't trust, because if you trust you will be cheated. The world is full of cunning people, so remain alert, don't trust. Trust only when you have found someone, checked all the possibilities of the person and found that yes, he is trustworthy. Then trust.

But to trust a trustworthy person has no meaning at all. It is not your quality it is his trustworthiness. But to trust a person who is not trustworthy... you know perfectly well that he is not trustworthy, still you trust, because trust in itself is such a great value that it cannot be lost because of this person's unworthiness.

A man who trusts simply trusts. And each time he is cheated because of his trust, his trust is not destroyed, it is strengthened. Trust is one of the great qualities of your being. So think of it as a quality of your being, and then you will not ask the question, "Does everything have to be accepted?" There is no question about it. The man of trust simply lives out of his trust; whatever happens does not matter. If he is being deceived continuously, then too, it does not matter. Nothing happens to his trust. His trust is something invincible, and that gives integrity.

So don't trust in me.
Don't trust in anybody in particular.
Simply trust. Let it be your fragrance.

Only one thing can I say to you: I have always trusted and I have never felt that it was wrong -- although I have been cheated. But strangely enough, I went on trusting the person who was cheating me. And finally the man broke down; finally he came with tears, and he said, "Forgive me, I have been cheating you. And you know it! And it has not been one time, it has been many times. But why do you trust in me?"

I said, "It is not a question of you, I simply enjoy trusting. That is your problem, that you deceive. If you enjoy deceiving, enjoy it. But I can see you don't enjoy it, you are feeling guilty."

The greater your trust, the greater guilt the person who deceives you will have. And there is a chance that this guilt will change that person -- he will have a change of heart. Trust is tremendously powerful. So there is no question of accepting anything or not. The question is of growing trust as a quality of your being.

When the rose opens, its fragrance starts flowing all around. It is not addressed to anyone in particular. If the king passes by he will receive it; if a beggar passes by he will receive it. If a thief passes by he will receive it. If a murderer passes by he will receive it. For the rose it makes no difference who is receiving it. Trust is the fragrance of a silent, peaceful being. Let me remind you: Trust is the fragrance of nothingness.

Source - Osho Book "From Death to Deathlessness"

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Osho on Trust