Excerpt 1
Learned and Natural: Reclaiming the self you were born with
In the past, all over the world, people were pagans -- simple nature-worshippers. There was no concept of sin, there was no question of guilt. Life was accepted as it is. There was no evaluation, no interpretation -- reason had not interfered yet.
The moment reason starts interfering, condemnation comes in. The moment reason enters, division starts and man becomes split. Then you start condemning something in your being -- one part becomes higher, another part becomes lower, and you lose balance. But this had to happen; reason had to come in, this is part of growth. As it happens to every child, it had to happen to the whole of humanity too.
When the child is born he is a pagan. Each child is a born pagan, he is happy the way he is. He has no idea what is right and what is wrong; he has no ideals. He has no criteria, he has no judgment. Hungry, he asks for food. Sleepy, he falls asleep. That’s what Zen masters say is the utmost in religiousness -- when hungry eat, when feeling sleepy go to sleep. Let life flow; don’t interfere.
Each child is born as a pagan, but sooner or later he will lose that simplicity. That is part of life; it has to happen. It is part of our growth, maturity, destiny. The child has to lose it and find it again. When the child loses it he becomes ordinary, worldly. When he regains it he becomes religious.
The innocence of childhood is cheap; it is a gift from existence. We have not earned it and we will have to lose it. Only by losing it will we become aware of what we have lost. Then we will start searching for it. And only when we search for it and earn it, achieve it, become it -- then we will know the tremendous preciousness of it.
Excerpt 2
Outer and Inner: In search of where the twain shall meet
There have been many civilizations before ours that have reached high peaks, but destroyed themselves because they grew in a deep imbalance. They developed great technologies, but they forgot that even the greatest technological progress is not going to make people more blissful, more peaceful, more loving, more compassionate.
Our consciousness has not grown at the same pace as our scientific progress, and that has been the cause of many civilizations destroying themselves. We have created monsters as far as machines are concerned, and at the same time we have remained retarded, unconscious, almost asleep. And it is very dangerous to give so much power to unconscious people.
That’s what is happening now. Politicians are of the lowest kind as far as consciousness is concerned. They are clever, they are cunning. They are mean, too, and they make every effort for a single goal, which is to be more powerful. Their only desire is for more power -- not for more peace, not for more being, not for more truth, not for more love.
What do you need more power for? -- to dominate others, to destroy others. All the power accumulates in the hands of unconscious people. So on the one hand, politicians in all the civilizations that have developed and died -- it would be better to say committed suicide -- had all the power in their hands. On the other hand, the genius of human intelligence was searching for more and more technology, scientific improvements, and all they discovered finally had to go into the hands of the politicians.
The destruction of our earth will not come from some other planet -- we are preparing our own graves. We may be aware, we may not be aware, but we are all gravediggers and we are digging our own graves. Right now there are only a few nations in possession of nuclear weapons. Soon many more nations will also be nuclear powers. It is going to be beyond control, with so many nations having so much destructiveness that a single nation could destroy the whole earth. A single crazy person, a single politician, just to show his power, can destroy the whole of civilization and you will have to begin from ABC. And the destruction is not only of humanity. With humanity will die all the companions of humanity -- the animals, the trees, the birds, the flowers. Everything could disappear, everything that is alive.
The reason is an imbalance in our evolution. We go on developing scientific technology without bothering at all that our consciousness should also evolve in the same proportion. In fact, our consciousness should be a little ahead of our technological progress.
If our consciousness were in the state of enlightenment.... In the hands of a Gautam Buddha nuclear power would no longer be dangerous. In the hands of a Gautam Buddha nuclear power would be turned towards some creative force -- because force is always neutral; either you can destroy with it or you can find ways to create something. But right now our powers are great and our humanity is very small. It is as if we have put bombs in the hands of children to play with.
Human beings have gone through this struggle since the very beginning. It is the imbalance between the inner and the outer.
The outer is easier, and the outer is objective. For example, one man, Thomas Alva Edison, creates electricity and the whole of humanity uses it; there is no need for everyone to discover it again and again. Inner growth is a totally different phenomenon. A Gautam Buddha may become enlightened but that does not mean that everybody else becomes enlightened. Each individual has to find the truth by himself or herself. So whatever happens on the outside goes on accumulating, piling up; all the scientific progress goes on piling up because each scientist is standing on the shoulders of other scientists. But the evolution of consciousness does not follow the same law. Each individual has to discover it by himself; he cannot stand on the shoulders of somebody else.
Anything objective can be shared, can be taught in the schools, colleges, universities. But the same is not true about subjectivity. I may know everything about the inner world; still I cannot hand that over to you. It is one of the fundamental laws of existence that the inner truth has to be discovered by each individual through his or her own efforts. It cannot be purchased in the marketplace nor can it be stolen. Nobody can give it to you as a gift. It is not a commodity, it is not material; it is an immaterial experience.
One can give evidence for this immaterial experience by one’s individuality, by one’s presence, compassion, love, silence. But these are only indications that something has happened inside a person. That person can encourage you, can tell you that you are not going inside in vain: “You will find treasures, as I have found.” Each master is nothing but an argument, evidence, an eyewitness. But the experience remains individual.
Science becomes social, technology becomes social; the subjective realm remains individual. That is the basic problem, how to create a balance.
Excerpt 3
Shepherd and Sheep: Cutting yourself loose from the puppeteer
The very idea of God gives you a sense of relief – that you are not alone, that somebody is looking after affairs; that this cosmos is not just a chaos, it is really a cosmos; that there is a system behind it, there is logic behind it; that it is not an illogical jumble of things, that it is not anarchy. Somebody rules it; the sovereign king is there looking after each small detail – not even a leaf moves without his moving it. Everything is planned. You are part of a great destiny. Maybe the meaning is not known to you, but the meaning is there because God is there. God brings a tremendous relief. One starts feeling that life is not accidental; there is a certain undercurrent of significance, meaning, destiny. God brings a sense of destiny.
There is no God – it simply shows that man knows not why he is here. It simply shows man is helpless. It simply shows that man has no meaning available to him. By creating the idea of God he can believe in meaning, and he can live this futile life with the idea that somebody is looking after it.
Just imagine: you are on an airplane flight and somebody comes and says, “There is no pilot.” Suddenly there will be a panic. No pilot?! No pilot simply means you are doomed. Then somebody says, “The pilot must be there – invisible, we may not be able to see the pilot, but he is there; otherwise how is this beautiful mechanism functioning? Just think of it: Everything is going so beautifully – there must be a pilot! Maybe we are not capable of seeing him, maybe we are not yet prayerful enough to see him, maybe our eyes are closed, but the pilot is there. Otherwise, how is it possible? This airplane has taken off, it is flying perfectly well; the engines are humming. Everything is proof that there is a pilot.”
If somebody can convince you, you can relax again into your chair. You close your eyes, you start dreaming again – you can fall asleep. The pilot is there, you need not worry.
The pilot exists not – it is a human creation. Man has created God in his own image. It is man’s invention. God is not a discovery, it is an invention. And God is not the truth – it is the greatest lie there is.
Friday, May 25, 2007
When the Shoe Fits - Stories of the Taoist mystic Chuang Tzu - by Osho
History always remembers foolish people because fools make history and fools write it.
Chuang Tzu makes no history, because easy is right. How can you make history if you are easy? If you win a war and kill millions of people you make history. If you just brush your teeth in the morning how can you make history? And easy is right! You take a bath, and you sing a little song...how can you make history? You eat your food and you silently go to sleep without any dreams–how can you make history? No, history takes no notice of persons who are easy and natural. History takes notice of people who are mad, obsessed with something, who create trouble in some way or other.
Difficult is wrong, easy is right. Be easy and don’t try to be in history. Leave it for fools and mad people, you just stay out of it…because you cannot have both. Either you can have life or you can be remembered in history. If you have life, you will be just an easy and simple person doing simple and small things and enjoying them. You will not create any trouble for anybody; nobody will take any notice of you. You will exist as if you never existed. That is what easy is–existing as if you are not existing, existing as if you are not. Not in anyone’s way, nobody will know about you, but there is no need. You will enjoy; you will attain to the highest peak of ecstasy. Easy is right.
When the Shoe Fits uses ten stories from the life of Chuang Tzu as starting points to explore what "Easy is right" really means. The title of the book is taken from the first story: "When the shoe fits," says Chuang Tzu, "the foot is forgotten. When the belt fits, the belly is forgotten. And when the heart is right, ’for’ and ’against’ are forgotten." In commenting on these ten beautiful and paradoxical stories, Osho invites us to explore what the ego is, and how it gets in our way; what true self-acceptance really means; why drawing up rules of conduct for people to follow never seems to work - and much, much more. Chuang Tzu’s perspective, in Osho’s hands, becomes absolutely relevant to live in the 21st century.
Chuang Tzu makes no history, because easy is right. How can you make history if you are easy? If you win a war and kill millions of people you make history. If you just brush your teeth in the morning how can you make history? And easy is right! You take a bath, and you sing a little song...how can you make history? You eat your food and you silently go to sleep without any dreams–how can you make history? No, history takes no notice of persons who are easy and natural. History takes notice of people who are mad, obsessed with something, who create trouble in some way or other.
Difficult is wrong, easy is right. Be easy and don’t try to be in history. Leave it for fools and mad people, you just stay out of it…because you cannot have both. Either you can have life or you can be remembered in history. If you have life, you will be just an easy and simple person doing simple and small things and enjoying them. You will not create any trouble for anybody; nobody will take any notice of you. You will exist as if you never existed. That is what easy is–existing as if you are not existing, existing as if you are not. Not in anyone’s way, nobody will know about you, but there is no need. You will enjoy; you will attain to the highest peak of ecstasy. Easy is right.
When the Shoe Fits uses ten stories from the life of Chuang Tzu as starting points to explore what "Easy is right" really means. The title of the book is taken from the first story: "When the shoe fits," says Chuang Tzu, "the foot is forgotten. When the belt fits, the belly is forgotten. And when the heart is right, ’for’ and ’against’ are forgotten." In commenting on these ten beautiful and paradoxical stories, Osho invites us to explore what the ego is, and how it gets in our way; what true self-acceptance really means; why drawing up rules of conduct for people to follow never seems to work - and much, much more. Chuang Tzu’s perspective, in Osho’s hands, becomes absolutely relevant to live in the 21st century.
Emotional Wellness -Transforming Fear, Anger, and Jealousy into Creative Energy - by Osho
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About: Emotional Wellness
How do we reconcile our need to express our emotions with our desire to get along with others? Far too often we find ourselves trapped in this dilemma of “expression” versus “repression.” We fear that by expressing our true feelings, we will hurt and alienate those close to us. But by repressing our emotions—even in the benevolent guise of “self-control”—we only risk hurting ourselves.
Here, Osho provides a practical and comprehensive approach to dealing with this conflict effectively. Emotional Wellness leads us to understand the roots of our emotions, to respond to situations in a way that can teach us more about ourselves and others, and to navigate life’s inevitable ups and downs with greater confidence and equilibrium.
Includes:
o The impact that fear, anger, and jealousy have on our lives
o How emotions like guilt, insecurity, and fear are used to manipulate us
o How to break out of unhealthy patterns of dealing with strong emotions
o How to transform destructive emotions into creative energy
o The role of society and culture on our individual emotional “styles”
Excerpt from Emotional Wellness
Emotions cannot be permanent. That’s why they are called “emotions”—the word comes from “motion,” movement. They move; hence, they are “emotions.” From one to another you continually change. This moment you are sad, that moment you are happy; this moment you are angry, that moment you are compassionate. This moment you are loving, another moment full of hatred; the morning was beautiful, the evening is ugly. And this goes on. This cannot be your nature, because behind all these changes something is needed like a thread that holds all of them together. Just as in a garland you see flowers, you don’t see the thread, but the thread is what is holding all the flowers, in the same way these emotions are all flowers. Sometimes anger flowers, sometimes happiness, sometimes pain sometimes anguish. But these are all flowers, and your whole life is the garland. There must be thread; otherwise you would have fallen apart long ago. You continue as an entity—so what is the thread, the polestar? What is permanent in you? - Osho, Emotional Wellness
About: Emotional Wellness
How do we reconcile our need to express our emotions with our desire to get along with others? Far too often we find ourselves trapped in this dilemma of “expression” versus “repression.” We fear that by expressing our true feelings, we will hurt and alienate those close to us. But by repressing our emotions—even in the benevolent guise of “self-control”—we only risk hurting ourselves.
Here, Osho provides a practical and comprehensive approach to dealing with this conflict effectively. Emotional Wellness leads us to understand the roots of our emotions, to respond to situations in a way that can teach us more about ourselves and others, and to navigate life’s inevitable ups and downs with greater confidence and equilibrium.
Includes:
o The impact that fear, anger, and jealousy have on our lives
o How emotions like guilt, insecurity, and fear are used to manipulate us
o How to break out of unhealthy patterns of dealing with strong emotions
o How to transform destructive emotions into creative energy
o The role of society and culture on our individual emotional “styles”
Excerpt from Emotional Wellness
Emotions cannot be permanent. That’s why they are called “emotions”—the word comes from “motion,” movement. They move; hence, they are “emotions.” From one to another you continually change. This moment you are sad, that moment you are happy; this moment you are angry, that moment you are compassionate. This moment you are loving, another moment full of hatred; the morning was beautiful, the evening is ugly. And this goes on. This cannot be your nature, because behind all these changes something is needed like a thread that holds all of them together. Just as in a garland you see flowers, you don’t see the thread, but the thread is what is holding all the flowers, in the same way these emotions are all flowers. Sometimes anger flowers, sometimes happiness, sometimes pain sometimes anguish. But these are all flowers, and your whole life is the garland. There must be thread; otherwise you would have fallen apart long ago. You continue as an entity—so what is the thread, the polestar? What is permanent in you? - Osho, Emotional Wellness
I Am the Gate - by Osho
Excerpt from I Am the Gate, Third Edition
“Open to trust. Then there is chain reaction; then you come into touch. And the touch is not a touch — it becomes part and parcel of your being.
"Really, we are not as isolated as we feel. All the isolation is because of the closing attitude of the ego. Otherwise there is no separation, no isolation. You are not so different from me. You are not so separate from me. If you are, it is only the isolating ego. If the ego is not there…. And the miracle of trust is that if you trust, you will not be an ego. These both cannot exist simultaneously: if you trust you cannot be an ego, if you doubt you cannot be other than an ego. If you trust then you are not an ego – the isolation is lost. You are open. That opening….
"Then it is not that you are taking anything from me. There is no ’me’ as such. It is not that you are taking something from someone else. It is only that you yourself are reflected — in your own self. It just looks separate because of the ego. If you are open then the chain can continue for centuries.”
“Open to trust. Then there is chain reaction; then you come into touch. And the touch is not a touch — it becomes part and parcel of your being.
"Really, we are not as isolated as we feel. All the isolation is because of the closing attitude of the ego. Otherwise there is no separation, no isolation. You are not so different from me. You are not so separate from me. If you are, it is only the isolating ego. If the ego is not there…. And the miracle of trust is that if you trust, you will not be an ego. These both cannot exist simultaneously: if you trust you cannot be an ego, if you doubt you cannot be other than an ego. If you trust then you are not an ego – the isolation is lost. You are open. That opening….
"Then it is not that you are taking anything from me. There is no ’me’ as such. It is not that you are taking something from someone else. It is only that you yourself are reflected — in your own self. It just looks separate because of the ego. If you are open then the chain can continue for centuries.”
The Need for Chaotic Methods for yoga - by Osho
Traditional methods are systematic because the people in earlier times for whom they were developed were different. Modern man is a very new phenomenon. No traditional method can be used exactly as it exists, because modern man never existed before. So, in a way, all traditional methods have become irrelevant.
For example, the body has changed so much. It is not as natural now as it was in the days when Patanjali developed his system of Yoga. It is absolutely different. It is so drugged that no traditional method can be helpful.
In the past, medicine was not allowed to Hatha yogis, absolutely not allowed, because chemical changes will not only make the methods difficult but harmful. But the whole atmosphere is artificial now: the air, the water, society, living conditions. Nothing is natural. You are born in artificiality; you develop in it. So traditional methods will prove harmful today. They will have to be changed according to the modern situation.
Another thing: the quality of the mind has basically changed. In Patanjali’s days, the center of the human personality was not the brain; it was the heart. Before that, it was not even the heart. It was still lower, near the navel. Hatha Yoga developed methods which were useful, meaningful, to the person whose center of personality was the navel. Then the center became the heart. Only then could Bhakti Yoga be used. Bhakti Yoga developed in the Middle Ages because that is when the center of personality changed from the navel to the heart.
A method has to change according to the person to whom it is applied. Now, not even Bhakti Yoga is relevant. The center has gone even further from the navel. Now, the center is the brain. That is why teachings like those of Krishnamurti have appeal. No method is needed, no technique is needed — only understanding. But if it is just a verbal understanding, just intellectual, nothing changes, nothing is transformed. It again becomes an accumulation of knowledge.
I use chaotic methods rather than systematic ones because a chaotic method is very helpful in pushing the center down from the brain. The center cannot be pushed down through any systematic method because systemization is brain work. Through a systematic method, the brain will be strengthened; more energy will be added to it.
Through chaotic methods the brain is nullified. It has nothing to do. The method is so chaotic that the center is automatically pushed from the brain to the heart. If you do my method of Dynamic Meditation vigorously, unsystematically, chaotically, your center moves to the heart. Then there is a catharsis. A catharsis is needed because your heart is so suppressed, due to your brain. Your brain has taken over so much of your being that it dominates you. There is no place for the heart, so the longings of the heart are suppressed. You have never laughed heartily, never lived heartily, never done anything heartily. The brain always comes in to systematize, to make things mathematical, and the heart is suppressed.
So firstly, a chaotic method is needed to push the center of consciousness from the brain toward the heart.
Then catharsis is needed to unburden the heart, to throw off suppressions, to make the heart open. If the heart becomes light and unburdened, then the center of consciousness is pushed still lower; it comes to the navel. The navel is the source of vitality, the seed source from which everything else comes: the body and the mind and everything.
I use this chaotic method very considerately. Systematic methodology will not help now, because the brain will use it as its own instrument. Nor can just the chanting of bhajans help now, because the heart is so burdened that it cannot flower into real chanting. Chanting can only be an escape for it; prayer can only be an escape. The heart cannot flower into prayer because it is so overburdened with suppressions. I have not seen a single person who can go deep into authentic prayer. Prayer is impossible because love itself has become impossible.
Consciousness must be pushed down to the source, to the roots. Only then is there the possibility of transformation. So I use chaotic methods to push the consciousness downward from the brain.
Whenever you are in chaos, the brain stops working. For example, if you are driving a car and suddenly someone runs in front of you, you react so suddenly that it cannot be the work of the brain. The brain takes time. It thinks about what to do and what not to do. So whenever there is a possibility of an accident and you push the brake, you feel a sensation near your navel, as if it were your stomach that is reacting. Your consciousness is pushed down to the navel because of the accident. If the accident could be calculated beforehand, the brain would be able to deal with it; but when you are in an accident, something unknown happens. Then you notice that your consciousness has moved to the navel.
If you ask a Zen monk, “From where do you think?” he puts his hands on his belly. When Westerners came into contact with Japanese monks for the first time they could not understand. “What nonsense! How can you think from your belly?”
But the Zen reply is meaningful. Consciousness can use any center of the body, and the center that is nearest to the original source is the navel. The brain is furthest away from the original source, so if life energy is moving outward, the center of consciousness will become the brain. And if life energy is moving inward, ultimately the navel will become the center.
Chaotic methods are needed to push the consciousness to its roots, because only from the roots is transformation possible. Otherwise you will go on verbalizing and there will be no transformation. It is not enough just to know what is right. You have to transform the roots; otherwise you will not change.
When a person knows the right thing and cannot do anything about it, he becomes doubly tense. He understands, but he cannot do anything. Understanding is meaningful only when it comes from the navel, from the roots. If you understand from the brain, it is not transforming.
The ultimate cannot be known through the brain, because when you are functioning through the brain you are in conflict with the roots from which you have come. Your whole problem is that you have moved away from the navel. You have come from the navel and you will die through it. One has to come back to the roots. But coming back is difficult, arduous.
Kundalini Yoga is concerned with life energy and its inward flow. It is concerned with techniques to bring the body and mind to a point where transcendence is possible. Then, everything is changed. The body is different; the mind is different; the living is different. It is just life.
A bullock cart is useful, but it is no longer needed. Now you are driving a car, so you cannot use the technique that was used with the bullock cart. It was useful with the bullock cart, but it is irrelevant with the car.
Traditional methods have an appeal because they are so ancient and so many people have achieved through them in the past. They may have become irrelevant to us, but they were not irrelevant to Buddha, Mahavira, Patanjali or Krishna. They were meaningful, helpful. The old methods may be meaningless now, but because Buddha achieved through them they have an appeal. The traditionalist feels: “If Buddha achieved through these methods, why can’t I?”
But we are in an altogether different situation now. The whole atmosphere, the whole thought-sphere, has changed. Every method is organic to a particular situation, to a particular mind, to a particular man.
The opposite extreme is that of Krishnamurti. He denies all methods. But to do that, he has to deny Buddha. It is the other aspect of the same coin. If you deny the methods then you have to deny Buddha, and if you do not deny Buddha then you cannot deny his methods.
These are extremes. Extremes are always wrong. You cannot deny a falsehood through taking an extreme position to it, because the opposite extreme will still be a falsehood. The truth always lies exactly in the middle. So to me, the fact that the old methods don’t work doesn’t mean that no method is useful. It only means that the methods themselves must change.
Even no-method is a method. It is possible that to someone only no-method will be a method. A method is always true in relation to a particular person; it is never general. When truths are generalized, they become false. So whenever anything is to be used or anything is to be said, it is always addressed to a particular human being: to his attention, to his mind, to him and no one else.
This too has become a difficulty now. In the old days there was always a one-to-one relationship between a teacher and a disciple. It was a personal relationship and a personal communication. Today it is always impersonal. One has to talk to a crowd, so one has to generalize. But generalized truths become false. Something is meaningful only to a particular person.
Any person who has been talking in general can be consistent, but then the truth becomes false, because every statement that is true is bound to be addressed to a particular person. Of course, the truth is eternal — it is never new, never old — but truth is the realization, the end. The means are always relevant or irrelevant to a particular person, to a particular mind, to a particular attitude.
As I see the situation, modern man has changed so much that he needs new methods, new techniques.
Chaotic methods will help the modern mind because the modern mind is, itself, chaotic. This chaos, this rebelliousness in modern man is, in fact, a rebellion of other things: of the body against the mind and against its suppressions. If we talk about it in yogic terms we can say that it is the rebellion of the heart center and the navel center against the brain.
These centers are against the brain because the brain has monopolized the whole territory of the human soul. This cannot be tolerated any further. That is why universities have become centers of rebellion. It is not accidental. If the whole society is thought of as an organic body, then the university is the head, the brain.
Because of the rebelliousness of the modern mind, it is bound to be lenient toward loose and chaotic methods. Dynamic Meditation will help to move the center of consciousness away from the brain. Then the person using it will never be rebellious, because the cause of rebellion becomes fulfilled. He will be at ease.
So to me, meditation is not only a salvation for the individual, a transformation for the individual; it can also provide the groundwork for the transformation of the whole society, of the human being as such.
Man will either have to commit suicide, or he will have to transform his energy.
The Psychology of the Esoteric
For example, the body has changed so much. It is not as natural now as it was in the days when Patanjali developed his system of Yoga. It is absolutely different. It is so drugged that no traditional method can be helpful.
In the past, medicine was not allowed to Hatha yogis, absolutely not allowed, because chemical changes will not only make the methods difficult but harmful. But the whole atmosphere is artificial now: the air, the water, society, living conditions. Nothing is natural. You are born in artificiality; you develop in it. So traditional methods will prove harmful today. They will have to be changed according to the modern situation.
Another thing: the quality of the mind has basically changed. In Patanjali’s days, the center of the human personality was not the brain; it was the heart. Before that, it was not even the heart. It was still lower, near the navel. Hatha Yoga developed methods which were useful, meaningful, to the person whose center of personality was the navel. Then the center became the heart. Only then could Bhakti Yoga be used. Bhakti Yoga developed in the Middle Ages because that is when the center of personality changed from the navel to the heart.
A method has to change according to the person to whom it is applied. Now, not even Bhakti Yoga is relevant. The center has gone even further from the navel. Now, the center is the brain. That is why teachings like those of Krishnamurti have appeal. No method is needed, no technique is needed — only understanding. But if it is just a verbal understanding, just intellectual, nothing changes, nothing is transformed. It again becomes an accumulation of knowledge.
I use chaotic methods rather than systematic ones because a chaotic method is very helpful in pushing the center down from the brain. The center cannot be pushed down through any systematic method because systemization is brain work. Through a systematic method, the brain will be strengthened; more energy will be added to it.
Through chaotic methods the brain is nullified. It has nothing to do. The method is so chaotic that the center is automatically pushed from the brain to the heart. If you do my method of Dynamic Meditation vigorously, unsystematically, chaotically, your center moves to the heart. Then there is a catharsis. A catharsis is needed because your heart is so suppressed, due to your brain. Your brain has taken over so much of your being that it dominates you. There is no place for the heart, so the longings of the heart are suppressed. You have never laughed heartily, never lived heartily, never done anything heartily. The brain always comes in to systematize, to make things mathematical, and the heart is suppressed.
So firstly, a chaotic method is needed to push the center of consciousness from the brain toward the heart.
Then catharsis is needed to unburden the heart, to throw off suppressions, to make the heart open. If the heart becomes light and unburdened, then the center of consciousness is pushed still lower; it comes to the navel. The navel is the source of vitality, the seed source from which everything else comes: the body and the mind and everything.
I use this chaotic method very considerately. Systematic methodology will not help now, because the brain will use it as its own instrument. Nor can just the chanting of bhajans help now, because the heart is so burdened that it cannot flower into real chanting. Chanting can only be an escape for it; prayer can only be an escape. The heart cannot flower into prayer because it is so overburdened with suppressions. I have not seen a single person who can go deep into authentic prayer. Prayer is impossible because love itself has become impossible.
Consciousness must be pushed down to the source, to the roots. Only then is there the possibility of transformation. So I use chaotic methods to push the consciousness downward from the brain.
Whenever you are in chaos, the brain stops working. For example, if you are driving a car and suddenly someone runs in front of you, you react so suddenly that it cannot be the work of the brain. The brain takes time. It thinks about what to do and what not to do. So whenever there is a possibility of an accident and you push the brake, you feel a sensation near your navel, as if it were your stomach that is reacting. Your consciousness is pushed down to the navel because of the accident. If the accident could be calculated beforehand, the brain would be able to deal with it; but when you are in an accident, something unknown happens. Then you notice that your consciousness has moved to the navel.
If you ask a Zen monk, “From where do you think?” he puts his hands on his belly. When Westerners came into contact with Japanese monks for the first time they could not understand. “What nonsense! How can you think from your belly?”
But the Zen reply is meaningful. Consciousness can use any center of the body, and the center that is nearest to the original source is the navel. The brain is furthest away from the original source, so if life energy is moving outward, the center of consciousness will become the brain. And if life energy is moving inward, ultimately the navel will become the center.
Chaotic methods are needed to push the consciousness to its roots, because only from the roots is transformation possible. Otherwise you will go on verbalizing and there will be no transformation. It is not enough just to know what is right. You have to transform the roots; otherwise you will not change.
When a person knows the right thing and cannot do anything about it, he becomes doubly tense. He understands, but he cannot do anything. Understanding is meaningful only when it comes from the navel, from the roots. If you understand from the brain, it is not transforming.
The ultimate cannot be known through the brain, because when you are functioning through the brain you are in conflict with the roots from which you have come. Your whole problem is that you have moved away from the navel. You have come from the navel and you will die through it. One has to come back to the roots. But coming back is difficult, arduous.
Kundalini Yoga is concerned with life energy and its inward flow. It is concerned with techniques to bring the body and mind to a point where transcendence is possible. Then, everything is changed. The body is different; the mind is different; the living is different. It is just life.
A bullock cart is useful, but it is no longer needed. Now you are driving a car, so you cannot use the technique that was used with the bullock cart. It was useful with the bullock cart, but it is irrelevant with the car.
Traditional methods have an appeal because they are so ancient and so many people have achieved through them in the past. They may have become irrelevant to us, but they were not irrelevant to Buddha, Mahavira, Patanjali or Krishna. They were meaningful, helpful. The old methods may be meaningless now, but because Buddha achieved through them they have an appeal. The traditionalist feels: “If Buddha achieved through these methods, why can’t I?”
But we are in an altogether different situation now. The whole atmosphere, the whole thought-sphere, has changed. Every method is organic to a particular situation, to a particular mind, to a particular man.
The opposite extreme is that of Krishnamurti. He denies all methods. But to do that, he has to deny Buddha. It is the other aspect of the same coin. If you deny the methods then you have to deny Buddha, and if you do not deny Buddha then you cannot deny his methods.
These are extremes. Extremes are always wrong. You cannot deny a falsehood through taking an extreme position to it, because the opposite extreme will still be a falsehood. The truth always lies exactly in the middle. So to me, the fact that the old methods don’t work doesn’t mean that no method is useful. It only means that the methods themselves must change.
Even no-method is a method. It is possible that to someone only no-method will be a method. A method is always true in relation to a particular person; it is never general. When truths are generalized, they become false. So whenever anything is to be used or anything is to be said, it is always addressed to a particular human being: to his attention, to his mind, to him and no one else.
This too has become a difficulty now. In the old days there was always a one-to-one relationship between a teacher and a disciple. It was a personal relationship and a personal communication. Today it is always impersonal. One has to talk to a crowd, so one has to generalize. But generalized truths become false. Something is meaningful only to a particular person.
Any person who has been talking in general can be consistent, but then the truth becomes false, because every statement that is true is bound to be addressed to a particular person. Of course, the truth is eternal — it is never new, never old — but truth is the realization, the end. The means are always relevant or irrelevant to a particular person, to a particular mind, to a particular attitude.
As I see the situation, modern man has changed so much that he needs new methods, new techniques.
Chaotic methods will help the modern mind because the modern mind is, itself, chaotic. This chaos, this rebelliousness in modern man is, in fact, a rebellion of other things: of the body against the mind and against its suppressions. If we talk about it in yogic terms we can say that it is the rebellion of the heart center and the navel center against the brain.
These centers are against the brain because the brain has monopolized the whole territory of the human soul. This cannot be tolerated any further. That is why universities have become centers of rebellion. It is not accidental. If the whole society is thought of as an organic body, then the university is the head, the brain.
Because of the rebelliousness of the modern mind, it is bound to be lenient toward loose and chaotic methods. Dynamic Meditation will help to move the center of consciousness away from the brain. Then the person using it will never be rebellious, because the cause of rebellion becomes fulfilled. He will be at ease.
So to me, meditation is not only a salvation for the individual, a transformation for the individual; it can also provide the groundwork for the transformation of the whole society, of the human being as such.
Man will either have to commit suicide, or he will have to transform his energy.
The Psychology of the Esoteric
A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH - by Osho
So you can find three expressions about death in the history of human mind. One expression is of the ordinary man who lives attached to his body, who has never known anything greater than the pleasure of food or sex, whose whole life has been nothing but food and sex, who has enjoyed food, has enjoyed sex, whose life has been very primitive, whose life has been very gross, who has lived in the porch of his palace, never entered it, and who had been thinking that this is all life is. At the moment of death he will try to cling. He will resist death; he will fight death. Death will come as the enemy.
Hence, all over the world, in all societies, death is depicted as dark, as devilish. In India they say that the messenger of death is very ugly-dark, black-and he comes sitting on a very big ugly buffalo. This is the ordinary attitude. These people have missed: they have not been able to know all the dimensions of life. They have not been able to touch the depths of life and they have not been able to fly to the height of life. They missed the plenitude; they missed the benediction.
Then there is a second type of expression. Poets, philosophers, have sometimes said that death is nothing bad, death is nothing evil, it is just restful-a great rest, like sleep. This is better than the first. At least these people have known something beyond the body, they have known something of the mind. They have not had only food and sex, their whole life has not been only in eating and reproducing. They have a little sophistication of the soul; they are a little more aristocratic, more cultured. They say death is like great rest; one is tired and one goes into death and rests. It is restful. But they too are far away from the truth.
Those who have known life in its deepest core, they say that death is God. It is not only a rest but a resurrection, a new life, a new beginning; a new door opens.
When a Sufi mystic, Bayazid, was dying, people who had gathered around him-his disciples-were suddenly surprised, because when the last moment came his face became radiant, powerfully radiant. It had a beautiful aura. Bayazid was a beautiful man, and his disciples had always felt an aura around him, but they had not known anything like this; so radiant.
They asked, "Bayazid, tell us what has happened to you. What is happening to you? Before you leave us, give us your last message."
He opened his eyes and he said, "God is welcoming me. I am going into his embrace. Goodbye."
He closed his eyes, his breathing stopped. But at the moment his breathing stopped there was an explosion of light, the room became full of light, and then it disappeared.
When a person has known the transcendental in himself, death is nothing but another face of God. Then death has a dance to it. And unless you become capable of celebrating death itself, remember, you have missed life. The whole life is a preparation for this ultimate.
This is the meaning of this beautiful story.
When Rabbi Birnham lay dying, his wife burst into tears.
He said, "What are you crying for?
My whole life was only that I might learn how to die."
His whole life had been just a preparation, a preparation to learn the secrets of dying. All religions are nothing but a science-or an art-to teach you how to die. And the only way to teach you how to die is to teach you how to live. They are not separate. If you know what right living is, you will know what right dying is.
So the first thing, or the most fundamental thing is: how to live.
[From The Art of Dying , #1]
Hence, all over the world, in all societies, death is depicted as dark, as devilish. In India they say that the messenger of death is very ugly-dark, black-and he comes sitting on a very big ugly buffalo. This is the ordinary attitude. These people have missed: they have not been able to know all the dimensions of life. They have not been able to touch the depths of life and they have not been able to fly to the height of life. They missed the plenitude; they missed the benediction.
Then there is a second type of expression. Poets, philosophers, have sometimes said that death is nothing bad, death is nothing evil, it is just restful-a great rest, like sleep. This is better than the first. At least these people have known something beyond the body, they have known something of the mind. They have not had only food and sex, their whole life has not been only in eating and reproducing. They have a little sophistication of the soul; they are a little more aristocratic, more cultured. They say death is like great rest; one is tired and one goes into death and rests. It is restful. But they too are far away from the truth.
Those who have known life in its deepest core, they say that death is God. It is not only a rest but a resurrection, a new life, a new beginning; a new door opens.
When a Sufi mystic, Bayazid, was dying, people who had gathered around him-his disciples-were suddenly surprised, because when the last moment came his face became radiant, powerfully radiant. It had a beautiful aura. Bayazid was a beautiful man, and his disciples had always felt an aura around him, but they had not known anything like this; so radiant.
They asked, "Bayazid, tell us what has happened to you. What is happening to you? Before you leave us, give us your last message."
He opened his eyes and he said, "God is welcoming me. I am going into his embrace. Goodbye."
He closed his eyes, his breathing stopped. But at the moment his breathing stopped there was an explosion of light, the room became full of light, and then it disappeared.
When a person has known the transcendental in himself, death is nothing but another face of God. Then death has a dance to it. And unless you become capable of celebrating death itself, remember, you have missed life. The whole life is a preparation for this ultimate.
This is the meaning of this beautiful story.
When Rabbi Birnham lay dying, his wife burst into tears.
He said, "What are you crying for?
My whole life was only that I might learn how to die."
His whole life had been just a preparation, a preparation to learn the secrets of dying. All religions are nothing but a science-or an art-to teach you how to die. And the only way to teach you how to die is to teach you how to live. They are not separate. If you know what right living is, you will know what right dying is.
So the first thing, or the most fundamental thing is: how to live.
[From The Art of Dying , #1]
The Book of Women - by Osho
Man and Woman Differ Basically… (Part 6)
One famous actress said once – when she said it people thought she was very humble, modest, and actresses are not expected to be so – she said, “I know I am not a very beautiful woman, but what is my opinion against the opinion of the mirror? What is my opinion against the opinion of the mirror? I know I am not a very beautiful woman, but the mirror says, ‘You are the most beautiful.’”
They go on standing at the mirror for hours looking at themselves. A man cannot even imagine what is happening.
Mulla Nasruddin was killing flies one day and he told his wife, “I have killed two women and two men, two male and two female flies.”
His wife was puzzled, she said, “How did you come to know which was male and which was female?”
He said, “Two were sitting on the mirror.”
Women are more body-conscious, more body, more grounded – that’s why they live longer than men, four years longer than men. That’s why there are so many widows: they always exhaust the husband first. One hundred and twenty boys are born to one hundred girls, but by the age of fourteen twenty boys have died, and nature maintains its balance. Just to maintain the balance, nature gives birth to one hundred and twenty boys per hundred girls, because those hundred girls, by the age of fourteen, will still be a hundred, but twenty boys will have disappeared. If you are so restless, your restlessness dissipates energy.
If everything is taken into account exactly, then woman is the stronger sex than man: she lives longer, she is less ill. She may pretend, that is another thing, but she is less ill – more healthy. Life is stronger in her; she can resist diseases more easily than man…. Women have more tolerance, more resistance; they are more protected, because they are more body-grounded.
Man lives in his head, he is more mental.
One famous actress said once – when she said it people thought she was very humble, modest, and actresses are not expected to be so – she said, “I know I am not a very beautiful woman, but what is my opinion against the opinion of the mirror? What is my opinion against the opinion of the mirror? I know I am not a very beautiful woman, but the mirror says, ‘You are the most beautiful.’”
They go on standing at the mirror for hours looking at themselves. A man cannot even imagine what is happening.
Mulla Nasruddin was killing flies one day and he told his wife, “I have killed two women and two men, two male and two female flies.”
His wife was puzzled, she said, “How did you come to know which was male and which was female?”
He said, “Two were sitting on the mirror.”
Women are more body-conscious, more body, more grounded – that’s why they live longer than men, four years longer than men. That’s why there are so many widows: they always exhaust the husband first. One hundred and twenty boys are born to one hundred girls, but by the age of fourteen twenty boys have died, and nature maintains its balance. Just to maintain the balance, nature gives birth to one hundred and twenty boys per hundred girls, because those hundred girls, by the age of fourteen, will still be a hundred, but twenty boys will have disappeared. If you are so restless, your restlessness dissipates energy.
If everything is taken into account exactly, then woman is the stronger sex than man: she lives longer, she is less ill. She may pretend, that is another thing, but she is less ill – more healthy. Life is stronger in her; she can resist diseases more easily than man…. Women have more tolerance, more resistance; they are more protected, because they are more body-grounded.
Man lives in his head, he is more mental.
Health Is Immoral? ( Body Dharma ) - by Osho
Priests are afraid of health because health is immoral in their eyes. You may or may not have heard of one of the thinkers of this century, a German thinker, very famous in his day — Count Keyserling. He was thought to be a great religious philosopher and he wrote in his diary: Health is the most immoral thing.
Because health is energy, and energy is delight, energy is enjoyment, energy is love, energy is sex, energy is everything that is natural.
Destroy the energy, make it feeble and dim. Hence so many fasts — just to destroy the energy, just to prevent so much energy from arising that it starts overflowing.
An ill person needs sex, a healthy person loves, and love is a totally different thing. And when two healthy persons meet, health is multiplied. Then they can become helpers to each other for the ultimate. They can go together for the ultimate, helping each other. But the need disappears. It is no more a need, it is no more a dependence.
In the West this is happening too much because something very basic is being misunderstood. People think that relationships are for when they are happy, good. When something goes wrong — even a physical illness — then why bother? Find another woman, another man — this seems very inhuman. If this attitude remains, love cannot grow. Then whatsoever you call love is nothing but sex, because love means that you care for the person in health, in illness. You care for the person. When the person is loving — and sometimes the person is not loving — then too you care. You care for the person and you accept all summers and winters. You accept everything that is in the person. Health is there, illness is there, old age is going to be there, youth is there, anger is there, hatred is there — everything is possible.
For example, if a man lived his whole life obsessed with sex, if he knew nothing beyond sex, if sex was all he lived for — he earned wealth to enjoy sex, he went after a high position in the pursuit of sex, he wanted to have good health so that he could indulge more into sex — if sex was the most predominant center functioning in his life, then that is where the entire energy will converge at the moment of death.
Then his new journey will begin from the sex center.
Why? — Because his next birth will be an ongoing journey of the same sex-obsessed center. This man’s consciousness will gather at the sex center in the dying moments, and that is the point where his life will come to an end. His life energy will leave through his genitalia. Had this man lived through a different center, the energy would have concentrated and left from that center.
Because health is energy, and energy is delight, energy is enjoyment, energy is love, energy is sex, energy is everything that is natural.
Destroy the energy, make it feeble and dim. Hence so many fasts — just to destroy the energy, just to prevent so much energy from arising that it starts overflowing.
An ill person needs sex, a healthy person loves, and love is a totally different thing. And when two healthy persons meet, health is multiplied. Then they can become helpers to each other for the ultimate. They can go together for the ultimate, helping each other. But the need disappears. It is no more a need, it is no more a dependence.
In the West this is happening too much because something very basic is being misunderstood. People think that relationships are for when they are happy, good. When something goes wrong — even a physical illness — then why bother? Find another woman, another man — this seems very inhuman. If this attitude remains, love cannot grow. Then whatsoever you call love is nothing but sex, because love means that you care for the person in health, in illness. You care for the person. When the person is loving — and sometimes the person is not loving — then too you care. You care for the person and you accept all summers and winters. You accept everything that is in the person. Health is there, illness is there, old age is going to be there, youth is there, anger is there, hatred is there — everything is possible.
For example, if a man lived his whole life obsessed with sex, if he knew nothing beyond sex, if sex was all he lived for — he earned wealth to enjoy sex, he went after a high position in the pursuit of sex, he wanted to have good health so that he could indulge more into sex — if sex was the most predominant center functioning in his life, then that is where the entire energy will converge at the moment of death.
Then his new journey will begin from the sex center.
Why? — Because his next birth will be an ongoing journey of the same sex-obsessed center. This man’s consciousness will gather at the sex center in the dying moments, and that is the point where his life will come to an end. His life energy will leave through his genitalia. Had this man lived through a different center, the energy would have concentrated and left from that center.
Freedom From and Freedom For ( Emotional Ecology ) - by Osho
If I were to condense your approach to emotional ecology, would I be correct in saying it is freedom from suppression?
You would be absolutely right. But only negatively. To be freed from suppressions is the negative part, and to express the hidden, the potential, that which you are meant to be, is the positive part. But you are right, because the negative comes first. Unless you are free from suppression, you will not be able to express yourself; you will not be able to achieve your potential.
Society exists at the cost of the individual. It has existed that way up until now. The individual is not allowed total freedom to express himself. Through this suppression, society creates an image by which you can be exploited.
For example, if individuals become totally expressive, there will not be any war in the world. It is impossible. But if you suppress the individual, then the suppressed energy is there and it can be used for violence. The whole of politics, and the whole history of man, depends on war. The whole society has been based on war, but war is possible only if the individual is not allowed to express himself.
This suppressed energy has been used for many reasons, for many causes, for many purposes: for war, for politics, for exploitation. I am against all suppression. I am for natural growth.
I am not against discipline; I am against suppression. Discipline is a creative thing. It is never against something; it is always for something. For example, I am for the discipline of sexual energy, not for the suppression of it. The energy must be allowed to move in a creative direction. It should not be suppressed. If it is suppressed, it becomes perverted. You become less than natural.
Expression means that you must become more than natural. If you cannot become more than natural, then it is better to be natural than to be perverted. The whole culture that has existed all over the world is a perverted culture.
That’s why it rarely happens that a Buddha or a Jesus is born. Otherwise, Buddha and Jesus would be the normal case. They would not be so exceptional. If the whole society was creative rather than suppressive, then not to be a Buddha would be the exception. To be a Buddha would be a natural, normal thing.
Osho: The Eternal Quest
You would be absolutely right. But only negatively. To be freed from suppressions is the negative part, and to express the hidden, the potential, that which you are meant to be, is the positive part. But you are right, because the negative comes first. Unless you are free from suppression, you will not be able to express yourself; you will not be able to achieve your potential.
Society exists at the cost of the individual. It has existed that way up until now. The individual is not allowed total freedom to express himself. Through this suppression, society creates an image by which you can be exploited.
For example, if individuals become totally expressive, there will not be any war in the world. It is impossible. But if you suppress the individual, then the suppressed energy is there and it can be used for violence. The whole of politics, and the whole history of man, depends on war. The whole society has been based on war, but war is possible only if the individual is not allowed to express himself.
This suppressed energy has been used for many reasons, for many causes, for many purposes: for war, for politics, for exploitation. I am against all suppression. I am for natural growth.
I am not against discipline; I am against suppression. Discipline is a creative thing. It is never against something; it is always for something. For example, I am for the discipline of sexual energy, not for the suppression of it. The energy must be allowed to move in a creative direction. It should not be suppressed. If it is suppressed, it becomes perverted. You become less than natural.
Expression means that you must become more than natural. If you cannot become more than natural, then it is better to be natural than to be perverted. The whole culture that has existed all over the world is a perverted culture.
That’s why it rarely happens that a Buddha or a Jesus is born. Otherwise, Buddha and Jesus would be the normal case. They would not be so exceptional. If the whole society was creative rather than suppressive, then not to be a Buddha would be the exception. To be a Buddha would be a natural, normal thing.
Osho: The Eternal Quest
Nice is not Enough ( about myself ) - by Osho
I can’t communicate with my sister. I feel she has some jealousy towards me, which I can’t understand.
There may be many hidden things involved. Some childhood jealousies are bound to be there. You repressed them, she repressed them, because we are taught to be nice to each other, and that is one of the most dangerous things. We are taught that one has to be nice to one’s sister, to one’s brother. The emotions are repressed and one is not honest with emotions.
Now that you are meditating, those emotions will bubble up and they will bubble up in her also. So you will have to pass through a period in your childhood that you missed. But there is nothing to be worried about. It is natural, because all that is repressed and inhibited will start being expressed. So you will lose communication.
In fact, it never existed. Just being polite is not communication. Just being nice is not enough for communication because if you are repressing something, communication is superficial, just verbal. You are simply making empty gestures, just meaningless motions. You can say ‘hello’ to a person without saying ‘hello’. You can smile towards a person without smiling at all. You can talk and be pleasant, as one is expected to be, without being pleasant at all. This whole gesture may be a deep avoidance. Your politeness, your niceness, your goodness, may be just an armour because you are afraid that if you become true, the emotions that have been repressed will bubble up. And the other person is also trying to be nice. She is as afraid as you.
So it can appear that there is communication but there is not. If there were, then meditation would have made it even deeper. If there were any communication, meditation would have made it a communion, something deeper than communication. But if it is not there, meditation would make you aware of it.
That which is not can be taken away. That which is not is always taken away by meditation because it is false, and meditation is an effort to be true, authentic. That which is, is always enhanced by meditation. That which is not, is always taken away. That is the meaning of Jesus’ saying, ‘Those who have will be given more, and those who don’t have, even that will be taken away.’
So, in effect, it is better because now you are becoming aware of a reality that you have avoided your whole life. Brothers, sisters, only appear to be nice to each other. Otherwise they are enemies because they are the first competitors.
In a small house, when the first child is born, he is the whole and sole. Then comes the next child. He starts competing; competition is natural. This child wants more attention and the first child feels offended by the presence of this child. He feels as if his monopoly is broken. And it is natural that the mother may pay more attention to the new child; the new child needs more. Then jealousies will arise.
When there are many children in a house, it is bound to be that one child will get more attention than others. There is going to be a hierarchy; that’s how the mind functions. The mother may love one child more, the other a little less. There are pets, because the mother is also human. You cannot expect that she should love absolutely equally; that is not possible. She may pretend. She pretends hard, but children are very perceptive They can immediately see that somebody is liked more, somebody is liked less and that this pretension is just bogus.
Then an inner conflict, fight, ambition arises. Each child is different. Somebody is very talented, somebody is not. Somebody has a musical talent, somebody has not. Somebody has a mathematical talent and somebody has not. Somebody is physically more beautiful than the other or one has a certain charm of personality and the other is lacking in it. Then problems arise more and more, and we are taught to be nice, never to be true.
If children are taught to be true, they will fight it out and they will drop it by fighting. They will be angry, they will fight and say hard things to the other and then they will be finished, because children get rid of things very easily. If they are angry, they will be angry, hot, almost volcanic, but next moment they are holding each other’s hands and everything is forgotten. They are very simple, but they are not allowed that simplicity. They are told to be nice, whatsoever the cost. They are prohibited from being angry with each other: ‘She is your sister, he is your brother. How can you be angry?’
Those angers, jealousies and a thousand and one wounds, scars, go on collecting. One day later in your life, if you come across something like meditation, then they will all bubble up. That’s what’s happening. So this time, please don’t repress them again. Now face the situation this time. If you are angry, if she is angry, then be angry. Fight it out. Finish it! Say things that you always wanted to say and have not said, and she should say things she always wanted to say and did not because both of you were playing the game of being nice. Drop that nonsense and immediately you will see: if you can face each other in true anger, jealousy, if you can fight it out — immediately after it, in the wake of it, a deep love and compassion will arise. And that will be the real thing. Then communication will be possible.
So this is a great opportunity. It looks difficult, but if you can face it, something of tremendous value will happen to you. Once you are at ease with your sister, something like a block will drop from your chest. That will help you to be more communicative with others also because your whole communication is blocked. It will help you in all directions: with your friends, with your lover, with parents, with the whole society. You will start feeling different. You are carrying something, she is carrying something. Now be courageous and face it. Talk it over with her.
And don’t be dishonest. Bring the whole thing out. Pour out your whole unconscious and tell her, request her to also pour out hers. And this can be done only when you are hot. It can never be done when you are cold. When you are heated and boiling, things come out. When you are cold, they freeze, they cannot flow. When you are hot, you become liquid. When you are cold, they become solid.
So what I am telling to you, tell her and have a good encounter with her. You and she will both be unburdened and both will be benefited. This time, let truth be the goal...not etiquette, not formality. Just open your heart and let her also open her heart. And after it, as if a storm has passed, a great silence arises and that silence will make you communicative. Even communion is possible.
It will happen...just have a little courage.
A Rose is a Rose is a Rose
There may be many hidden things involved. Some childhood jealousies are bound to be there. You repressed them, she repressed them, because we are taught to be nice to each other, and that is one of the most dangerous things. We are taught that one has to be nice to one’s sister, to one’s brother. The emotions are repressed and one is not honest with emotions.
Now that you are meditating, those emotions will bubble up and they will bubble up in her also. So you will have to pass through a period in your childhood that you missed. But there is nothing to be worried about. It is natural, because all that is repressed and inhibited will start being expressed. So you will lose communication.
In fact, it never existed. Just being polite is not communication. Just being nice is not enough for communication because if you are repressing something, communication is superficial, just verbal. You are simply making empty gestures, just meaningless motions. You can say ‘hello’ to a person without saying ‘hello’. You can smile towards a person without smiling at all. You can talk and be pleasant, as one is expected to be, without being pleasant at all. This whole gesture may be a deep avoidance. Your politeness, your niceness, your goodness, may be just an armour because you are afraid that if you become true, the emotions that have been repressed will bubble up. And the other person is also trying to be nice. She is as afraid as you.
So it can appear that there is communication but there is not. If there were, then meditation would have made it even deeper. If there were any communication, meditation would have made it a communion, something deeper than communication. But if it is not there, meditation would make you aware of it.
That which is not can be taken away. That which is not is always taken away by meditation because it is false, and meditation is an effort to be true, authentic. That which is, is always enhanced by meditation. That which is not, is always taken away. That is the meaning of Jesus’ saying, ‘Those who have will be given more, and those who don’t have, even that will be taken away.’
So, in effect, it is better because now you are becoming aware of a reality that you have avoided your whole life. Brothers, sisters, only appear to be nice to each other. Otherwise they are enemies because they are the first competitors.
In a small house, when the first child is born, he is the whole and sole. Then comes the next child. He starts competing; competition is natural. This child wants more attention and the first child feels offended by the presence of this child. He feels as if his monopoly is broken. And it is natural that the mother may pay more attention to the new child; the new child needs more. Then jealousies will arise.
When there are many children in a house, it is bound to be that one child will get more attention than others. There is going to be a hierarchy; that’s how the mind functions. The mother may love one child more, the other a little less. There are pets, because the mother is also human. You cannot expect that she should love absolutely equally; that is not possible. She may pretend. She pretends hard, but children are very perceptive They can immediately see that somebody is liked more, somebody is liked less and that this pretension is just bogus.
Then an inner conflict, fight, ambition arises. Each child is different. Somebody is very talented, somebody is not. Somebody has a musical talent, somebody has not. Somebody has a mathematical talent and somebody has not. Somebody is physically more beautiful than the other or one has a certain charm of personality and the other is lacking in it. Then problems arise more and more, and we are taught to be nice, never to be true.
If children are taught to be true, they will fight it out and they will drop it by fighting. They will be angry, they will fight and say hard things to the other and then they will be finished, because children get rid of things very easily. If they are angry, they will be angry, hot, almost volcanic, but next moment they are holding each other’s hands and everything is forgotten. They are very simple, but they are not allowed that simplicity. They are told to be nice, whatsoever the cost. They are prohibited from being angry with each other: ‘She is your sister, he is your brother. How can you be angry?’
Those angers, jealousies and a thousand and one wounds, scars, go on collecting. One day later in your life, if you come across something like meditation, then they will all bubble up. That’s what’s happening. So this time, please don’t repress them again. Now face the situation this time. If you are angry, if she is angry, then be angry. Fight it out. Finish it! Say things that you always wanted to say and have not said, and she should say things she always wanted to say and did not because both of you were playing the game of being nice. Drop that nonsense and immediately you will see: if you can face each other in true anger, jealousy, if you can fight it out — immediately after it, in the wake of it, a deep love and compassion will arise. And that will be the real thing. Then communication will be possible.
So this is a great opportunity. It looks difficult, but if you can face it, something of tremendous value will happen to you. Once you are at ease with your sister, something like a block will drop from your chest. That will help you to be more communicative with others also because your whole communication is blocked. It will help you in all directions: with your friends, with your lover, with parents, with the whole society. You will start feeling different. You are carrying something, she is carrying something. Now be courageous and face it. Talk it over with her.
And don’t be dishonest. Bring the whole thing out. Pour out your whole unconscious and tell her, request her to also pour out hers. And this can be done only when you are hot. It can never be done when you are cold. When you are heated and boiling, things come out. When you are cold, they freeze, they cannot flow. When you are hot, you become liquid. When you are cold, they become solid.
So what I am telling to you, tell her and have a good encounter with her. You and she will both be unburdened and both will be benefited. This time, let truth be the goal...not etiquette, not formality. Just open your heart and let her also open her heart. And after it, as if a storm has passed, a great silence arises and that silence will make you communicative. Even communion is possible.
It will happen...just have a little courage.
A Rose is a Rose is a Rose
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