Birthday of American President Woodrow Wilson Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) was the 28th President of the United States, serving two terms from 1913 to 1921. He was born in Virginia and grew up during the American Civil War. Before politics, Wilson was a respected academic, historian, and educator, and later became President of Princeton University. As president, Wilson was a leading voice of the Progressive Era. He introduced major reforms such as the Federal Reserve System, laws to control monopolies, and measures to protect workers and consumers. These reforms helped modernize the U.S. economy and government. Wilson led the nation through World War I, initially trying to keep the U.S. neutral. In 1917, America entered the war, and Wilson later played a key role in shaping the peace settlement. For his efforts toward international peace, Wilson received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919. He died in 1924 and is remembered as an influential leader in both American reform and global diplomacy. Osho says, “I have heard: The day Woodrow Wilson died, the doctors, feeling that his death was coming closer and closer, apprised him about the nearness of death. Just a few seconds before he died, they decided to tell the old man. They told him that death was coming closer and closer. He opened his eyes and said, "Ready" -- that was all -- closed his eyes, a smile on his face, and disappeared. A Jesus is always ready -- readiness to go back, readiness to fall back onto the shores -- because a Jesus is ripe. And whenever a fruit is ripe, the fruit can say, "Yet a little while I am with you -- with the tree, a little while -- and then I go unto him that sent me." And then the fruit drops to the earth, and disappears into the earth from where it came.” Bottom of Form<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="width:100%;height:1px;background:#00000036;margin:10px 0;"></div></div>We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw. Alas! Our dried voices, when We whisper together Are quiet and meaningless As wind in dry grass Or rats' feet over broken glass In our dry cellar. Shape without form, shade without colour, Paralysed force, gesture without motion; Those who have crossed With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom Remember us -- if at all -- not as lost Violent souls, but only As the hollow men The stuffed men. THESE lines from T.S. Eliot are very significant, tremendously meaningful. Man, in his ignorance, is just a negative emptiness; stuffed with straw, hollow within. Just observe yourself. What have you gained in life? You may have lost much, but you have not gained anything. It is not only that your hands are empty, your whole being is empty. And empty not in the Buddhist sense: empty not in the sense of silence, empty not in the sense of fullness of being; but empty because the consciousness is lacking, empty because the awareness is missing. You are not a presence, you are an absence -- hollow within, stuffed with straw. That straw may be gold, it may be money; that straw may be power. A thousand and one are the names of that straw, but it is straw because it does not nourish the soul. It does not create the soul, it is destructive. At the most, it gives you a feeling of fullness, a very deceptive feeling. These are the two ways to live: either to attain to true emptiness, a positive emptiness -- that is the way of meditation, prayer, the way that moves, by and by, towards God; the other way is just to go on stuffing yourself with useless, futile things, with no ultimate meaning in them. At the most, for the moment they keep you occupied. But sooner or later, one comes to discover that one has missed the opportunity. When Woodrow Wilson became the President of America, the whole family was celebrating. His friends all over the country were dancing in happiness, he was crying and weeping in his room. The wife approached. She could not believe her eyes because Woodrow Wilson was sitting on his chair near the window, head leaning downwards, as sad as he had ever been seen before, with tears rolling down. With deep love the wife asked the husband, 'What has happened? Why are you crying and weeping?' He looked up with sad eyes. He said, 'Now that I have become the President of the most powerful country, now that I have become the most powerful man, I realize tremendously the whole absurdity of it. Nothing is gained, and I have wasted my whole life. Now I understand the futility of power, because sooner or later, death will be coming, and I am powerless against it.' And if your power is powerless against death, then it is just a deception. Unless you attain to the deathless, your power is not power, it is a false coin. And who can attain power against death? -- one who attains to true emptiness, positive emptiness. The other name for that emptiness is deep inner fulfillment. You are not filled with straw, but you are filled with your own awareness. You are not filled with furniture: cars, houses, money, and other nonsense. You are just filled with your being, the sheer am-ness, the sheer existence. Then there is no death for you.&nbsp; This is the last night of Jesus with his disciples, and it is very meaningful, because he will not ever be seen again. I have told you before, and it will be good to remember it again, to be reminded, that Jesus is a bridge. He is man plus God. Buddha is sheer godliness; the man has disappeared completely. You cannot conceive of Buddha being sorrowful, you cannot conceive of Buddha asking anything from God. Jesus is both; that is his paradox, and his beauty. He is a bridge between these two distant phenomena: man and God -- son of man and son of God. When Jesus is praying in these sutras, his son-ship is praying to his own father-ship. Christians have missed that point completely. It is not a prayer addressed to some God in heaven; his own two polarities are in deep dialogue: Jesus as son of man in deep dialogue, communion, with Jesus as son of God. This is an inner phenomenon. Source: Listen to complete discourse at mentioned below link. Discourse Series: <a href="https://oshoworld.com/come-follow-to-you-vol-4-05">Come Follow To You, Vol 4, Chapter #5</a> Chapter title: He Is At Hand 25 December 1975 am in Buddha Hall References: Osho has spoken on many politicians, rulers and revolutionaries like Abraham Lincoln, Lenin, Mao Tse Tung, Jawaharlal Nehru, Jefferson, Kennedy, Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt, Alexander, Napoleon, Subhash Cahndra Bose, Fidel Castro, Tito and more in His discourses. Some of these can be referred to in the following books/discourses: 1. From Bondage to Freedom 2. From Ignorance to Innocence 3. The Path of the Mystic&nbsp; 4. From False to Truth 5. From Misery to Enlightenment 6. Zen: Zest, Zip, Zap, Zing 7. Beyond Psychology 8. Live Zen 9. The Invitation 10. Communism and Zen Fire, Zen Wind 11. The Book of Wisdom 12. The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 3 13. Tao: The Golden Gate, Vol 2 &nbsp;