Image of God in the Thoughts of Osho: Contrasting His Teachings with Rumi’s

Abstract

While Iranian culture has long enjoyed valuable works in the field of spirituality and mysticism, currently, we are witnessing the spread of new religious movements. Increasing attention to spirituality has led some researchers to focus exclusively on the similarities between the teachings of the nascent spiritual movements and those of Islamic mysticism, which could have serious consequences. Taking that into consideration, and with the aim of depicting the conflicts between the teachings of the new religious movements and Islamic spirituality and mysticism, the present study addresses Osho’s teachings, as the founder of one of the nascent spiritual movements, and examines his views regarding the existence of God and the possibility and ways of knowing Him, as the most important concern of humankind. To illustrate the dissimilarities between his viewpoints and those of Muslim mystics, his teachings in this field are also compared with Rumi’s, as one of the true representatives of Islamic mysticism and spirituality. The findings of this research reveal fundamental differences between the views of Osho and Rumi’s. Lack of coherence in his view of the existence of God, as well as his different perceptions of notions such as love, freedom, and self-knowledge as ways of knowing God, which stand in contrast with the teachings of Rumi, support this issue. This seems to be due to their different origins of thoughts because unlike Osho that clearly denies the divine religions, Rumi's beliefs are rooted in the teachings of Islam.

Keywords

• theology
• new spiritual movements
• islamic spirituality
• osho
• rumi