The function of a spiritual therapist

The function of the therapist is not to teach you who you are , but to create situations in which you start discovering yourself .
The first condition is creating self -respect in you which all the religions are against .They all condemn you .They create a sense of guilt , and that is a wound that goes on growing within you .Whatever you do ,something is wrong in it .You can never fulfill the expectations of others for the simple reasons that you have a unique individuality .Each one has to discover his own truth .
The function of the teacher , of the master , of the therapist , of the educationist , is to create just the right atmosphere so that you gain self-respect ,and to give you an acquaintance with the methods for going inwards .
All educational systems take you outwards ;Listening to the person - it will look strange ,because the teacher's function is to make you listen to him .The Socratic method is listening to the person respectfully , patiently , so that he can open up .He need not repress anything , he need not inhibit anything ; he can be utterly naked and yet remain dignified .
If a therapist can do that - help a man to be utterly nude , open , with no secret , hiding nothing - the therapist has succeeded , because in this nudity one realizes one's innocence .One is born again .This nudity is symbolic .just as a child is born nude , you are born again - now spiritually nude .

Excerpted from From Bondage to Freedom , Osho