"Intelligence is intrinsic to life. Intelligence is a natural quality of life. Just as fire is hot and air is invisible and water flows downwards, so is life intelligent.

"Intelligence is not an achievement. You are born intelligent. Trees are intelligent in their own way, they have enough intelligence for their own life. Birds are intelligent, so are animals. In fact, what religions mean by God is only this – that the universe is intelligent, that there is intelligence hidden everywhere. And if you have eyes to see, you can see it everywhere. Life is intelligence. .

"Only man has become unintelligent. Man has damaged the natural flow of life. Except in man, there is no unintelligence. Have you ever seen a bird you can call stupid? Have you ever seen an animal you can call idiotic? No, such things happen only to man. Something has gone wrong. Man's intelligence has been damaged, corrupted, has been crippled. .

"And meditation is nothing but the undoing of that damage. Meditation will not be needed at all if man is left alone. If the priest and the politician do not interfere with man's intelligence, there will be no need for any meditation. Meditation is medicinal – first you have to create the disease, then meditation is needed. If the disease is not there, meditation is not needed. And it is not accidental that the words medicine and meditation come from the same root. It is medicinal. .

"Each child is born intelligent, and the moment the child is born, we pounce upon him and start destroying his intelligence, because intelligence is dangerous to the political structure, to the social structure, to the religious structure. It is dangerous to the Pope, it is dangerous to the priest, it is dangerous to the leader. It is dangerous to the status quo, the establishment. Intelligence is naturally rebellious. Intelligence cannot be forced into any servitude. Intelligence is very assertive, individual. Intelligence cannot be forced into a mechanical imitation. .

"People have to be converted to carbon copies; their originality has to be destroyed, otherwise all the nonsense that has existed on the earth would be impossible. You need a leader because first you have been made unintelligent – otherwise there would be no need for any leader. Why should you follow anybody? You will follow your intelligence. If somebody wants to become a leader, then one thing has to be done: your intelligence has to be destroyed somehow. You have to be shaken from your very roots, you have to be made afraid. You have to be made unconfident in yourself – that is a must, only then can the leader come in. .

"If you are intelligent, you will solve your problems yourself. Intelligence is enough to solve all the problems. In fact, whatever problems are created in life, you have more intelligence than those problems. It is a provision, it is a gift of nature. >" Osho