Religion has been destroyed by serious people. And there is one thing about the serious people that you have to be reminded of again and again: serious people are very articulate, because they live in the head. They are logic-choppers. They can express well. And because they have no heart, because they cannot feel, they are very authoritative. A man of feeling cannot be authoritative – how can compassion be authoritative?

And a man of feeling always hesitates; he cannot make dogmatic statements. The man of feeling whispers, per-suades. The man of feeling cannot convince; he comes indirectly, like a subtle breeze.

But the serious person, the person who lives in the head, the schizophrenic, he is articulate, verbal, logical, rational, loud, authoritative. And because of these qualities, he starts gathering a following.

All political leaders are schizophrenic. The crowd follows them because of their dogmatic statements; their dogmatic statements convince people. People are very vague, un-certain, insecure – they need somebody to make them feel secure. He may be a fool, he may be just like an Adolf Hitler….

It is a great puzzle to those who ponder over human problems how Adolf Hitler – a mediocre person, of below-average IQ – could convince a country like Germany, an intellectual country, an intelligent country, a country of professors, philosophers, thinkers. How was it possible that this idiotic person, Adolf Hitler, could convince people? And such an intelligent race!

To me, it is not a problem at all. I can see through and through how it happened. Adolf Hitler was dogmatic. Whatsoever he said, he said it absolutely. Only a foolish person can be dogmatic.

Lao Tzu hesitates. Lao Tzu says: “I walk as one walks in cold winter in a cold stream. Everybody is certain except me. I am uncertain, I hesitate. I cannot claim knowledge, because all is so mysterious.“

–Osho from Take it Easy