Life is a dream.

Osho believes that people should be brought down to an animalistic level of thoughtlessness and inaction in order to achieve "happiness."

True meditation does not mean inaction at all, but rather learning to have a truly mature attitude towards every moment of life. Ultimately, in life, we always have only one moment, and true meditation is the ability to live that moment in the most sensible way, not becoming an unconscious child, but calm and mature, like a wise person, being as vigilant as possible in relation to that moment. Meditation = vigilance and awareness.

No one is saying that you need to completely abandon plans; the main thing is not to make life a problem, not to create unnecessary worries for yourself with constant thoughts about what has been or what might happen. The problem is when a person constantly gets lost in their own thoughts and experiences, and life itself, the given moment, fades from view, becomes clouded by thoughts, just as a clear sky is covered with clouds, and then the feeling of life gradually fades, becomes clouded by constant worries and problems created by one's own mind and its endless projections:


"The only thing you need to learn is observation. Observe! Observe every action you take. Observe every thought that passes through your mind. Observe every desire that overwhelms you. Observe even minor gestures – how you walk, talk, eat, take a bath. Keep observing, in everything, everywhere. Let everything become an opportunity to observe.

Don't eat mechanically, don't just keep stuffing yourself with food – be very observant. Chew carefully and mindfully... and you will be surprised at how much you have been missing so far, because every bite will bring great satisfaction. If you eat mindfully, the food will taste better. Even ordinary food will become the most delicious if you are observant; and if you are not observant, you can eat the most delicious food, but it will have no taste, because there is no one to observe. You just keep stuffing yourself with food. Eat slowly, mindfully; each bite should be chewed and felt.

Inhale the scent, feel the touch, feel the rush of the wind and the sun's rays. Look at the moon, and become simply a silent pool of observation, and the moon will be reflected in you in boundless beauty.
Move through life, remaining fully observant. Again and again you will forget. Don't become unhappy because of this; it is natural. You have never tried to observe for millions of lives, and it is so simple and natural that you keep forgetting again and again. But at the moment you remember, observe again.

Remember one thing: when you remember that you have forgotten to observe, do not regret it, do not repent; otherwise, you will waste time. Don't feel unhappy: "I missed it again." Don't start feeling: "I am a sinner." Don't start judging yourself, because that is a complete waste of time.

Never regret the past! Live in this moment. If you forgot, so what? It's natural – it's become a habit, and habits die hard. And it's not just a habit acquired in one lifetime;
these habits have been established over millions of lifetimes. Therefore, if you can remain observant for even a few moments, be grateful. Even these few moments are more than you can expect. He observes. He is clear.

And when you observe, clarity arises. Why does clarity arise from observation? Because the more you are in observation, the more and more your haste slows down. You become more graceful. As you observe, the chatter becomes less and less, because the energy that was becoming chatter begins to become observation.

— the same energy! Now more and more energy will be transformed into observation, and the mind will not be fed. Thoughts will become thinner and thinner, they will begin to lose weight. Little by little, they will begin to die. And when thoughts die, clarity arises. Now your mind becomes a mirror.

How happy he is! And when a person is clear, he is blissful. It is confusion that becomes the root cause of unhappiness; it is clarity that becomes the basis of bliss. How happy he is! For he sees that awakening is life.

And now he knows that there is no death, because awakening can never be destroyed. When death comes, you will observe it too. You will die, observing – observation will not die. Your body will disappear, the ashes will return to ashes, but observation will remain; it will become part of the cosmic whole. It will become cosmic consciousness.
In these moments, the prophets of the Upanishads declare:

"Aham brahmasmi – I am cosmic consciousness." In one of these moments, Al-Hillaj Mansur declared:

"Ana al-haq! – I am the truth!" These are the heights that rightfully belong to you. If you do not reach them, you are responsible for it, and no one else.
How happy he is! For he sees that awakening
is life.

How happy he is, following the path of the awakened!
With great persistence, he meditates
in search of freedom and happiness.


Listen to these words very carefully. With great persistence... Until you make a total effort to awaken, it will not happen. Partial efforts are useless. You cannot be half here, half there; you cannot be slightly warm. It won't help. Slightly warm water will not evaporate; slightly warm attempts to be mindful are doomed to failure.
Transformation happens only when you put all your energy into it. When you boil at 100 degrees, you evaporate, and an alchemical change takes place. Then you begin to rise. Have you noticed? – water flows down, but steam rises up. So it is here: unconsciousness flows down, consciousness rises up.
And one more thing: "up" is synonymous with "inward," and "down" is "outward." Consciousness moves inward, unconsciousness moves outward. Unconsciousness keeps you in complete darkness; your eyes remain constantly focused on others. This creates a kind of extroversion and keeps you outside. Consciousness creates an inner space. It makes you introverted; it introduces you inward, deeper and deeper.

Deeper and deeper also means higher and higher; depth and height grow simultaneously, just as a tree grows. You only see that it is moving upwards, but you do not see that the roots are moving downwards. But first, the roots must go down, and only then can the tree grow upwards. If a tree wants to reach the sky, it must put its roots to the very bottom, to the deepest depths. The tree grows simultaneously in both directions. In the same way, consciousness grows upwards... downwards, putting roots into the depths of your being."
Osho (from the book _Awareness_)