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The Roots of Suffering

Suffering is a state of unconsciousness. We are unhappy because we are not aware of what we are doing, what we are thinking, what we are feeling—in every moment, we are constantly contradicting ourselves. Action moves in one direction, thinking in another, and feelings in a third. We are constantly falling apart, becoming more and more fragmented. This is what suffering is—we lose our wholeness, we lose our unity. We become merely a periphery, completely devoid of a center. And naturally, a life that is not harmonious will be unhappy, tragic; it will be a burden that must be somehow endured in suffering. At best, we can only make this suffering less painful. We have at our disposal a thousand and one varieties of pain relievers.

These are not only alcohol and drugs—so-called religions also act as opium. And naturally, all religions are against drugs because they themselves operate in the same market; they are in competition. If people take opium, they may not be religious; they may not have a need to be religious. They have found their opium, so why worry about religion? Opium is cheaper, and it requires less fuss. If people take marijuana, LSD, and other more sophisticated drugs, naturally, they will not be religious because religion is a very primitive drug. That is why all religions are against drugs. The reason is not that they are really against drugs. The reason is that drugs create competition, and of course, if people are not allowed to take drugs, they are doomed to fall into the traps of priests because they have nothing else to turn to. This is a way for each religion to create a monopoly so that only its own opium remains on the market, and all others are banned.
People live in suffering. There are only two ways out of it: either become meditative—vigilant, aware, conscious... this is a difficult task. It requires a backbone. The easier way is to find something that makes you more unconscious than you already are, so that you can stop feeling the suffering... to find something that makes you completely insensitive, something intoxicating, analgesic, that makes you unconscious so that you can run into unconsciousness and completely forget about your anxiety, your anguish, your meaninglessness.

The second path is not the true one. The second path only makes suffering a little more
comfortable, a little more bearable, a little more convenient. But it doesn't help—it doesn't transform you. The only possible transformation happens in meditation because meditation is the only method that makes you aware. For me, meditation is the only true religion. Everything else is a sham. There are different varieties of opium: Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Buddhism—but these are all just different varieties. The containers differ, but the contents remain the same:
they all help you to adjust to your suffering in one way or another.

My effort here is to take you beyond suffering. It is not worth adjusting to suffering; there is a possibility of being completely free from suffering. But then the path will be difficult; then the path will be a challenge.
You will have to become aware of your body and what you are doing with it...

Once, the Buddha was giving a lecture, and a king came to listen to him. He sat right in front of the Buddha and kept wiggling his big toe. The Buddha stopped speaking and looked at the king's big toe. When the Buddha looked at it, the king naturally stopped wiggling it. The Buddha started speaking again, and again, he began to wiggle his big toe. Then the Buddha asked:
—Why are you doing this? The king said:
—Only when you stopped speaking and looked at my toe did I become aware that I was doing it; all the rest of the time, I am not aware of it.
—This is your toe, and you are not aware of it... Then you could even kill a person without being aware of it!

In the same way, murders can be committed, and the murderers may not be aware of it. Many times, it has happened that in court, murderers have vehemently denied that they killed anyone. At first, it was thought that they were deceiving the court, but recent research shows that they are not lying; they committed the murder in a completely unconscious state. They were so enraged, so furious, that they became completely possessed by their anger. And when you are enraged, the body releases certain intoxicating poisons, and the blood becomes poisoned. To be in a rage is to be in a state of temporary insanity. And a person forgets about everything because they are completely unaware of it. And it is in this way that people fall in love, kill each other, commit suicide, and do all sorts of things.
Osho

The first step in mindfulness is to become very attentive to your body. Gradually, a person becomes vigilant in every gesture, in every movement. As you become more aware, a miracle begins to happen: many things that you used to do simply disappear. Your body becomes more relaxed, more attuned, a deep peace reigns in your body, a subtle
music pulsates in your body.
Then, begin to be aware of thoughts – the same needs to be done with thoughts. They are more subtle than the body and, of course, much more dangerous. And when you become aware of thoughts, you will be surprised by what is happening inside you. If you write down everything that is happening in you at any moment, a great surprise awaits you. You won't believe it: "And this
continues inside me?" Just keep writing for ten minutes. Close the doors, lock the doors and windows so that no one can enter, and be absolutely honest – and light a fire to burn what you have written! – no one will know except you. And then be truly honest; continue to write down everything that is happening in your mind. Don't interpret it, don't change it, don't edit it. Just transfer it to paper, in its raw form, exactly as it is.
After ten minutes, read it – and you will see a crazy mind inside! We are not aware that all this madness continues, like an undercurrent. It affects everything that is significant in your life. It affects what you do; it affects everything. And the total sum of all this is your life!
Therefore, this madness needs to be changed. And the miracle of mindfulness is that you don't need to do anything other than become aware. The very act of observing it changes everything. Gradually, the madman disappears. Gradually, thoughts begin to follow a certain pattern: there is no longer chaos, they become more and more cosmic. And then a deeper peace reigns.
And when your body and mind are at peace, you will see that they are also in tune with each other, there is a bridge between them. Now they are not running in different directions, they are not riding on different horses. For the first time, there is harmony, and this harmony provides great help in working on the third step – that is, being aware of feelings, emotions, moods. This is the most subtle layer and the most difficult, but if you can be aware of thoughts, it is only one step further. You just need a little more intense awareness, and you will begin to reflect on your moods, emotions, feelings.
As soon as you become aware of all these three layers, they merge into one phenomenon. And when these three layers become one, they begin to act in complete harmony, vibrate together, you can feel the music of all three: they become an orchestra – and then the fourth happens. You cannot do this – it happens by itself, it is a gift of the whole. This is a reward for
those who have taken these three steps.
The fourth is ultimate awareness, which
makes a person enlightened. A person becomes aware of their own awareness – this is the fourth. This makes a person a Buddha, enlightened. And only in such enlightenment does a person realize what bliss is. Bliss is the goal, awareness is the path to it.
Osho

Added 1 minute ago
The first step in mindfulness is to become very attentive to your body. Gradually, a person becomes vigilant in every gesture, in every movement. As you become more aware, a miracle begins to happen: many things that you used to do simply disappear. Your body becomes more relaxed, more attuned, a deep peace reigns in your body, a subtle
music pulsates in your body.
Then, begin to be aware of thoughts – the same needs to be done with thoughts. They are more subtle than the body and, of course, much more dangerous. And when you become aware of thoughts, you will be surprised by what is happening inside you. If you write down everything that is happening in you at any moment, a great surprise awaits you. You won't believe it: "And this
continues inside me?" Just keep writing for ten minutes. Close the doors, lock the doors and windows so that no one can enter, and be absolutely honest – and light a fire to burn what you have written! – no one will know except you. And then be truly honest; continue to write down everything that is happening in your mind. Don't interpret it, don't change it, don't edit it. Just transfer it to paper, in its raw form, exactly as it is.
After ten minutes, read it – and you will see a crazy mind inside! We are not aware that all this madness continues, like an undercurrent. It affects everything that is significant in your life. It affects what you do; it affects everything. And the total sum of all this is your life!
Therefore, this madness needs to be changed. And the miracle of mindfulness is that you don't need to do anything other than become aware. The very act of observing it changes everything. Gradually, the madman disappears. Gradually, thoughts begin to follow a certain pattern: there is no longer chaos, they become more and more cosmic. And then a deeper peace reigns.
And when your body and mind are at peace, you will see that they are also in tune with each other, there is a bridge between them. Now they are not running in different directions, they are not riding on different horses. For the first time, there is harmony, and this harmony provides great help in working on the third step – that is, being aware of feelings, emotions, moods. This is the most subtle layer and the most difficult, but if you can be aware of thoughts, it is only one step further. You just need a little more intense awareness, and you will begin to reflect on your moods, emotions, feelings.
As soon as you become aware of all these three layers, they merge into one phenomenon. And when these three layers become one, they begin to act in complete harmony, vibrate together, you can feel the music of all three: they become an orchestra – and then the fourth happens. You cannot do this – it happens by itself, it is a gift of the whole. This is a reward for
those who have taken these three steps.
The fourth is ultimate awareness, which
makes a person enlightened. A person becomes aware of their own awareness – this is the fourth. This makes a person a Buddha, enlightened. And only in such enlightenment does a person realize what bliss is. Bliss is the goal, awareness is the path to it.
Osho

A sense of possession... Everyone tries to possess their beloved. But this is no longer love. In fact, if you possess a person, you hate, destroy, and kill; you are a murderer. Love should give freedom; love is freedom. Love will make the beloved more and more free, love will give them wings, love will open up boundless skies. It cannot become a prison, an enclosure. But you do not know such love, because it happens only in awareness; this quality of love comes only when there is awareness. You know that love is a sin because it comes from sleep. And the same is true for everything else. If you try to do something good, it causes harm. Look at benevolent people: they always cause harm; they are the biggest pests in the world. Social reformers, so-called revolutionaries, are the biggest pests. But it is difficult to see what their harm consists of, because they are very good people who always do good to others—this is their way of creating a prison for the other. If you let them do something good for you, you will become their property. It starts with them massaging your feet, but sooner or later you will find that their hands are reaching for your throat! They start with the feet and end with the throat, because they are not aware; they do not know what they are doing. They have learned this trick—if you want to possess someone, do good to them. They don't even realize that they have learned this trick. But they will cause harm, because any—any!—attempt to possess another person, in any form and under any name, is a sin. Your churches, your temples, your mosques—they have all committed sins against you, because they have become owners, they have all become rulers. Every church is against religion, because religion is freedom! Why is this happening? Jesus is trying to give you religion, to give you wings. What happens then, how does this church interfere? It happens because Jesus lives on an absolutely different level of being, on a different level of awareness; and those who listen to him, those who follow him, live on the level of sleep. Whatever they hear, they interpret it, and they interpret it according to their own dreams. And everything they create will be a sin. Christ gives you religion, and then people who are sound asleep turn it into a church. It is said that one day Satan, the devil, was sitting under a tree, very sad. A saint passed by; he looked at Satan and said: “We have heard that you never rest, that you are always doing some harmful deed. How is it that you are sitting under this tree doing nothing?” Satan was very depressed. He said: “It seems that all my work has been taken over by the priests, and I can do nothing—I am completely unemployed. Sometimes I think about suicide, because the priests are doing so well.” The priests are doing so well because they have turned freedom into prisons, they have turned truth into dogmas—they have translated everything from the level of awareness to the level of sleep. Try to understand what sleep is exactly, because if you can feel what it is, you have already begun to become aware—you are already on the way to waking up from it. What is this sleep? How does it happen? What is its mechanism? What is the principle of its operation, the modus operandum? The mind is always either in the past or in the future. It cannot be in the present; it is absolutely impossible for the mind to be in the present. When you are in the present, the mind is no more—because the mind means thinking. How can you think in the present? You can think about the past; it has already become part of memory, the mind can work on it. You can think about the future; it does not yet exist, but the mind can dream about it. The mind can do two things. It moves either into the past—there is enough space to move in; the space of the past is limitless; you can continue endlessly—or into the future; again, a limitless space, an infinite space in which you can imagine, fantasize, and dream. But how can the mind act in the present? There is no space in the present in which the mind can move. The present is just a dividing line, that is all. There is no space in it. It divides the past and the future—just a dividing line. You can be in the present, but you cannot think; to think, you need space. Thoughts require space; they are like things. Remember this: thoughts are subtle things, they are material. Thoughts are not spiritual, because the dimension of the spiritual begins only when there are no thoughts. Thoughts are material things, very subtle, and every material thing requires space. You cannot think in the present. In the moment you begin to think, you are already in the past. You see the rising sun; you see it and say: “What a beautiful sunrise!”—this is already the past. When the sun rises, there is not even space to say, “How beautiful!” because when you utter these two words, “How beautiful!”—this experience is already in the past, the mind has already recorded it in memory. But in that very moment when the sun rises, in that very moment when the sun is rising, how can you think? What can you think? You can be the rising sun, but you cannot think. There is enough space for you—but not for thoughts. You see a beautiful flower in the garden and say: “What a beautiful rose”—you are no longer with that rose in that moment; it is already a memory. When there is a flower and there is you, and you both are present for each other, how can you think? What can you think? How is thinking possible? There is no space for it. The space is so narrow—in fact, there is no space at all—and you and the flower cannot exist as two, because there is not enough space for two to exist; only one can exist. That is why in deep presence you are the flower, and the flower has become you. When there is no thinking, who is the flower, and who is the one who is observing it? The observer becomes the observed. Suddenly, the boundaries are lost. Suddenly, you have penetrated, you have penetrated into the flower, and the flower has penetrated into you. Suddenly, you are not two—there is only one. If you begin to think, you have again become two. If you do not think, where is this duality? When you exist with the flower, without thinking, it is a dialogue—not a duality, but a dialogue. When you exist with your beloved, it is a dialogue, not a duality, because there are no two. Sitting next to your beloved, holding your beloved's hand, you simply exist. You are not thinking about the times that have passed and are gone; you are not thinking about the future that is coming—you are here, now. And it is so beautiful to be here and now, and so intense, that no thought can penetrate into this intensity. The gate is narrow; the gate of the present is narrow. Even two cannot enter it at the same time, only one. In the present, thinking is impossible, dreaming is impossible, because dreaming is nothing but thinking in pictures. Both are things, both are material. When you are in the present, without thinking, you become spiritual for the first time. A new dimension opens up—the dimension of awareness. Because you do not know this dimension, Heraclitus says that you are sleeping, you are not aware. Awareness means: to be in the moment so totally that there is no movement into the past, no movement into the future—all movement stops. This does not mean that you become frozen. A new movement begins, a movement inward. Osho

And if I dream that I am a huge ogre, will I become a huge ogre?

What if I dream that I am a huge ogre? Will I become a huge ogre?

Yes, you will, but only in your dream)..



"1. Question: What is meditation?

Answer: Dhyana – meditation – is not an Indian method, not just a technique. You cannot learn it. It is a growth: a growth of your whole life process, from your whole life process. It can come to you only through a fundamental transformation, through a mutation. It is a flowering, a growth. Growth always happens from the whole: it is not an addition.

The complete flowering of the personality must be rightly understood. Otherwise, one can play games with oneself, indulge in mental tricks. And there are so many of them! They not only mislead you, not only give you nothing, but can also cause direct harm. The idea of meditation as some kind of method is fundamentally wrong. And when you start engaging in mental tricks, the quality of the mind itself degenerates.

The mind is what it is – it is not meditative. Before meditation can happen, the mind must change completely. So what is the mind in the form in which it exists now? How does it function?

The mind is constantly verbalizing. You know words, language, a conceptual structure of thinking, but this is not yet thinking. On the contrary, it is an escape from thinking. You see a flower and verbalize it. You see a person walking and again verbalize it into words. Any existential phenomenon, the mind is able to transform into words. And words become an obstacle, a prison. This constant translation of objects and being into words is an obstacle to a meditative mind.

Therefore, the first necessary condition for achieving a meditative mind is to be aware of one's constant verbalization and the ability to stop it. Just contemplate objects; do not verbalize. Feel their presence, but do not translate them into words. Let things be, but without language; let situations arise, but without language. This is quite possible, it is natural. Unnatural is the current state, but we have become so accustomed to it that we no longer even realize that we are constantly translating sensations into words.

The sun rises. You never feel the interval between the moment of seeing the sunrise and expressing it in words. You see the sun, feel it, and immediately verbalize it. The interval between seeing and verbalization is lost. This is a fact, a presence. The mind automatically translates experiences into words. And these words then become between you and your experience. Meditation means living without words, living without language. Sometimes this happens spontaneously. When you are in love, you feel a presence, not a word. When two lovers are close to each other, they fall silent. This does not mean that they have nothing to express. On the contrary, there is so much that needs to be expressed. But there are no words, and there cannot be. They come only when love is gone.

If lovers do not fall silent, it means that love is dead. And now they fill the void with words. When love is alive, there are no words, because the very existence of love is so all-encompassing and overwhelming that the barrier of language and words is overcome. And it is usually overcome in love.

Meditation is the culmination of love: love not for one person, but for all that exists. For me, meditation is a relationship with everything that surrounds us. If you are able to love any situation, then you are in meditation.

And this is not a trick of the mind. It is not a method of stopping the mind. On the contrary, it requires a deep understanding of the mechanism of the mind. Once you understand your mechanistic habit of verbalization, of translating life into words, an interval, a gap arises. It arises spontaneously. It is like a shadow following understanding.

The main problem is not how to be in meditation, but to know why you are not in meditation. The process of meditation itself is negative. It does not add anything to you, it does not deny anything that has already been added.

Society cannot exist without language; it needs language. But being does not need it. I am not saying that you should live without language. You have to use it. But you must be able to turn the mechanism of verbalization on and off. When you feel yourself as a social being, the mechanism of language is necessary for you; but when you are alone with being, you must be able to turn it off. If you cannot turn it off, if it is constantly working and working, and you are powerless to stop it, then you become its slave. The mind must be a tool, not a master.

When the mind is the master, a non-meditative state is created. When you are the master, your consciousness, then the state is meditative. Meditation occurs when you become the master of the mechanism of the mind.

The mind and its linguistic functioning are not the pinnacle. You are above this; being is beyond this. Consciousness is above language; life is above linguistics. When consciousness and being are one, they are in union. This union is meditation.

Language must be discarded. This does not mean that it should be excluded or suppressed. I mean that it should not remain your habit all 24 hours a day. When you walk, you have to move your legs. But if you continue to move your legs even when sitting, then you are simply crazy. You must be able to control them. Similarly, when you are not talking to anyone, there should be no language. It is a technique of communication. When you are not communicating with anyone, it is not needed.

If you cannot do this, you cannot grow into meditation. Meditation is a process of growth, not a technique. Technique is dead, so it cannot be applied to you, but the process is always alive. It grows and expands.

Language is necessary, but you cannot remain in it all the time; there must be moments when verbalization stops, when you simply exist. This is not a vegetative existence – consciousness is present, it becomes more alive and sharper, because language dulls it. Language inevitably repeats and creates boredom. The more important language is to you, the more boring you are.

Being, on the other hand, is never repeated. Every rose is a new rose, completely new. There was no such thing before, and there will never be again. But by calling it a rose, we repeat the word "rose." This word was before and will always be. With one old word, you kill something new.

Life is always new, language is always old. Through language, you escape from life, from being, because language is always dead. The more you immerse yourself in language, the more dead it makes you. A learned theologian is completely dead, because he consists entirely of language and words.

Jean-Paul Sartre called his autobiography "Words." We live in words. That is, we do not live. As a result, only a series of accumulated words remains – and nothing more. Words are like photographs. You see something alive and photograph it. The photograph is dead. And then you put together an album of dead pictures. A person who has not lived in meditation is like a dead album. Only verbal snapshots, only memories remain in it. Nothing was lived, everything was only verbalized."
Osho

(continued)
Meditation means living totally. And you can only live totally in silence. By silence, I don't mean unconsciousness. There is unconscious silence, but it has nothing to do with living silence. And then again, you miss the most important thing.

With the help of mantras, you can hypnotize yourself. By simply repeating a word, you can create such boredom in your mind that the mind simply falls asleep. And you sink into sleep, into the subconscious. If you keep repeating "Ram-Ram-Ram" over and over, the mind will fall asleep. The barrier of language will disappear, but you will be in an unconscious state.

Meditation means that there should be no language, but you must remain in a conscious state. Otherwise, there will be no communication with the existing, with what is. No mantras, no chanting will help. Self-hypnosis is not meditation. On the contrary, being in a state of self-hypnosis means regressing. This is not going beyond language; it is falling below its level.

So, discard all mantras, all techniques. Allow moments without words to exist. You cannot get rid of words by repeating a mantra because the process itself uses words. It is impossible to exclude language with the help of words!

So, what should you do? In reality, there is nothing to do; you just need to understand. Whatever you do, it all comes from where you are. You are confused, not in meditation; your mind is not silent, and everything that comes from you is capable of creating even more confusion. The only thing you can do right now is to start to become aware of how the mind works. And that's all – just become aware. Awareness has nothing to do with words. It is an existential act, not a rational one.

So, the first thing is to be aware. Be aware of your mental processes, of how the mind works. In the moment you become aware of the actions of your mind, you cease to be it. Awareness itself means that you have gone beyond it: you have become a detached observer. And the more you become aware, the more you gain the ability to see the gaps between experience and words. These gaps are always there, but you are so blind that you never see them.

There is always a gap between two words, however small it may be. Otherwise, it would not be two words, but one. There is always an interval, a silence, between two musical notes. Two words or two notes would not be two if there were no interval between them. There is always a moment of silence between them, but to feel it, you need to be very attentive and aware.

The more you become aware, the slower the mind becomes. This is always interconnected. The less you are aware, the faster your mind; and the more you understand, the slower the mind works. When you are more aware of your mind, it slows down, and the gaps between thoughts increase. Then you can already see them.

It's like a movie. When the projector runs in slow motion, we see the gaps. I raise my hand – this movement must be captured in hundreds of frames. Each of them is a separate photograph. If these thousands of separate photographs flash before your eyes so quickly that the gaps

can be seen, then raising your hand appears to you as a process.

But in slow motion, the intervals are visible. The mind is like a film. There are gaps. And the more attentive you are to your mind, the more gaps you will see. This can be compared to a Gestalt image: it simultaneously depicts two different images. You can see either one or the other, but it is not possible to see both images at the same time. These can be two portraits – a young woman and an old woman, but by focusing on one, you will not see the other. And when attention switches to the second portrait, the first disappears. Even being sure that you have seen both portraits, you cannot fix them simultaneously.

The same happens with the mind. Seeing words, you do not see the gaps, and seeing the gaps, you do not see the words. Each word is followed by an interval, and each interval is followed by a word, but you do not see them simultaneously. If you focus on the intervals, the words will disappear, and you will be thrown into meditation.

Consciousness focused only on words is not meditative; consciousness focused only on the gaps is meditative. When you become aware of the existence of the gaps, the words disappear. If you observe carefully, it is impossible to find words; you see only the gaps.

You feel the difference between two words, but you cannot feel the difference between two intervals. There are many words, but the interval is always singular. All intervals merge and become one. Meditation is focusing on the interval. Then the whole Gestalt changes.

continuation

Furthermore, the following must be understood: when you look at a gestalt image and focus on the portrait of the venerable lady, you are unable to see the second portrait. But if you continue to concentrate your attention on the photo of the old lady, focusing on it completely, a moment suddenly arrives when the focus shifts, the image of the old lady disappears, and the second image emerges.

Why does this happen? Because the mind cannot concentrate continuously for a long time. A change is necessary, otherwise it will fall asleep. There are only two possibilities. If you focus on one thing for a long time, the mind falls asleep. It cannot be fixed; it is in living motion. If you bore it, it falls asleep to avoid the stagnation of focusing. And then it continues to live in dreams.

This is meditation in the style of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It refreshes, brings peace, helps achieve physical health and mental balance, but it is not meditation. The same can be achieved through self-hypnosis. The Indian word "mantra" means "suggestion," nothing more.

To take this for meditation is to make a serious mistake. And if one takes this for meditation, one will never turn to the search for true meditation. This is where the harm of such practice and its propagandists lies. It is simply psychological self-intoxication.

Therefore, do not expel words using mantras. Simply be aware of the words, and your mind will automatically shift its focus to the intervals.

If you identify yourself with the words, your mind will jump from one word to another, and you will miss the interval. The next word presents a new interest. The mind continues to change. The focus shifts. But if you do not identify yourself with the words, but instead observe their procession detachedly, as a witness, then the focus shifts, and you become aware of the presence of intervals. It is as if you are standing on the street watching passers-by. One person has passed, and another has not yet arrived; the street is empty, there is no one—the interval. If you observe, you will know what an interval is.

And having learned what an interval is, you enter it, you fall into it. This is an abyss—one that gives peace, one that creates consciousness. To abide in the interval is meditation; it is transformation. Now language is not needed; you consciously leave it, you cast it aside. You experience silence, an infinite stillness. You are a part of it, you are one with it. You do not feel the abyss as something separate from yourself; you feel the abyss as yourself. You know, but from now on you are also the knowing. You observe the interval, but now the observer becomes the observed.

As for thoughts and words, you are the observer, and the words are the object of observation. But when there are no words, you become the interval, yet you are still aware that you exist. Between you and the interval, between consciousness and existence, there is no barrier. Only words are a barrier. Now you are in an existential situation. This is meditation—to be one with existence, to be fully within it and at the same time to be aware. This is a contradiction, a paradox. Now you have known the situation in which you were conscious and yet one with it.

Usually, when we perceive something, that thing becomes another object. If we identify ourselves with something, then it is no longer an object, another, but we are not aware of this (as in anger, in sex). We become one when we are unconscious.

Sex is so attractive because in it you become one for a moment. However, in that moment, you are unconscious. You strive for this unconscious state because you seek unity. But the more you strive for it, the more conscious you become. Then you stop experiencing the bliss of sex, because that bliss was the result of an unconscious state. In a moment of passion, one can stop being aware.

Your consciousness switched off. For a moment you were in the abyss, but without realizing it. However, the stronger you strive for this, the more it is lost. Finally, a moment comes when you are in sex, but the moment of loss of consciousness does not occur. The abyss is lost, the bliss is lost. Then the sexual act becomes foolishness, simple mechanical release. There is nothing spiritual in it.

We know only unconscious unity; we have never experienced conscious unity. Meditation is conscious unity. It is the other pole of sexuality. Sex is on one pole (unconscious unity), meditation is on the other (conscious unity). Sex is the lowest step of unity, and meditation is the summit, the highest peak of unity. The difference between them lies in the presence of consciousness.

But, of course, since there is a desire, it can be abused. And the East does this. One can supply and export gurus, which is what is done. But these gurus can only teach tricks. Understanding comes through life, in the process of living. Understanding cannot be transmitted. I cannot give you my understanding. I can speak of it, but I cannot give it. You will have to find it, and for that, you must go into life. You will make mistakes, suffer failures, you will have to go through many disappointments. But only through failures, mistakes, disappointments, only through meeting real life will you come to meditation. This is why I call meditation growth.

(continued)

Something may be understood, but understanding that comes through another can only be intellectual. That is why Krishnamurti demands the impossible. He says: "Do not understand me intellectually." But nothing other than intellectual understanding can come from another. That is why Krishnamurti's attempt is absurd. What he proclaims is true; but he demands the impossible when he expects something more than intellectual understanding from his listeners. Nothing more can be either transmitted or received. But even intellectual understanding may be enough. If you are capable of intellectually understanding what I say, you will also be able to understand what I have not said. You will also be able to understand the gaps: what I do not say, what I cannot say. The first understanding will inevitably be intellectual, because intellect is the door. It cannot be spiritual.

Spirituality is the inner Sanctuary.

I can only transmit to you intellectually. If you are truly capable of understanding, then what has not been said can be felt. I cannot communicate with you without words, but in using words, I also use silence. You will have to feel both. If only the words are understood, then it is external communication; but if you are able to feel the gaps as well, then it is communion.

Somewhere you have to begin. Every beginning will inevitably be false, but you have to begin. Through falsehood, by making mistakes, you find the door. He who wants to begin only with the right thing will never begin at all. Even a false step leads in the right direction, because it is a step, a beginning. In the darkness, you begin to feel your way, and by moving blindly, you find the door.

Therefore, I say to you: understand the language process, the process of words, and seek understanding of the gaps, the intervals. There will inevitably be moments when, without your own conscious effort, you will grasp the gaps. This is an encounter with the Divine, with the existential.

When such an encounter happens, do not run away from it. Be with it. At first, it will be frightening; it should be. When you encounter the unknown, fear arises, because for us, the unknown is death. Therefore, in every gap, you will feel the approach of death. Then die! Be in the situation and completely die in that gap. And you will be resurrected. By living your death in silence, you are reborn into life. For the first time in life, you are truly alive.

Therefore, for me, meditation is not a method, but a process. Meditation is not a technique, but understanding. It cannot be taught; it can only be pointed out. No information can be obtained about it, because any information comes from the outside. But meditation arises from your inner depths. Seek, be a seeker, but do not become a disciple. Then you will not become a disciple of some guru, but will become a disciple of life itself. Then you will not just learn words. Spiritual teaching comes not from words, but from silence, from the gaps that surround you everywhere. Even in a noisy square, in a crowd, in a market. Seek silence, seek the gaps within and without, and one day you will find yourself in meditation.

Meditation comes to you. It appears by itself; it cannot be brought. But it must be sought, because by being in search, you become open to it, susceptible to it. You will receive it; meditation is a guest. You can invite it and wait for it. It came to Buddha, it came to Jesus, it came to all who are ready, who are open and seeking."
Osho

Meditation is a state of no-mind. Meditation is a state of pure consciousness without content.
Usually, our consciousness is too cluttered with nonsense, much like a mirror covered in dust. The mind is a constant hustle and bustle; thoughts move, desires move, memories move, ambitions move — it is a constant turmoil! Day comes, day goes. Even when you sleep, the mind functions; it dreams. This is still thinking, still anxieties and sorrows. It prepares for the next day, a subtle preparation continues. Such a state is not meditation. Quite the opposite is meditation.

When there is no hustle, and thinking has ceased, not a single thought moves, not a single desire is held, you are completely silent — such silence is meditation. And in this silence, Truth is known, and never otherwise. Meditation is a state of no-mind. And you cannot find meditation through the mind, for the mind will eternally find only itself. You can find meditation only by setting the mind aside, remaining cool, indifferent, unidentified with the mind, watching the mind pass by but not identifying with it, not thinking that I am it. Meditation is the realization that I am not the mind. As the awareness goes deeper and deeper, moments gradually appear — moments of silence, stillness, moments of pure space, moments of transparency, moments of the moment, when nothing in you is held, everything is constant. In these moments of constancy, of silence, you will know who you are, and you will know the mystery of the being of this life, of this existence.

The day will come, a day of great bliss, when meditation becomes your natural state. The mind is something unnatural; it will never stop, it will never become your natural state. But meditation is the natural state that we have lost. It is a lost paradise, but paradise can be returned. Look into a child's eyes, look — and you will see a wonderful, immense silence, innocence. Every child comes in a meditative state, but they must be guided on the path of society — they must be taught how to think, how to calculate, how to reflect, how to argue; they must be taught words, language, concepts.

And little by little, the child loses contact with their innocence. They become corrupted, contaminated by society. They become an efficient mechanism; they are no longer a human being. All that is needed is to bring back this space. You already knew it, so when you first experience meditation, you will be surprised — because a great feeling arises within you, as if you already knew it before — a great feeling will arise within you, as if you knew it before. And this feeling does not deceive you, it is true: you already knew it. You forgot. The diamond was lost in mountains of garbage, but if you can clear them away, you will find this diamond again — it is yours. In reality, it cannot be lost; it can only be forgotten.

We are born as meditators, and then we study the ways of the mind. But our true nature remains hidden somewhere deep inside, like an underground current. One day, by delving a bit deeper, you will find that the spring is still flowing — a spring of pure water; and the greatest joy in life is to find it. Meditation is not concentration. If there is concentration, there is one who concentrates and an object upon which one concentrates. Duality is present. In meditation, there is no one inside and no one outside. This is not concentration. There is no separation between "inside" and "outside." The "inside" flows into the "outside," the "outside" flows into the "inside." The demarcation line, the boundary, no longer exists. "Outside" is "inside," this is non-dual consciousness. Concentration is dual consciousness: therefore, concentration creates fatigue; therefore, when you concentrate, you feel exhaustion. And you cannot concentrate twenty-four hours a day; you will need time to rest.

Concentration can never become your essence. Meditation does not tire you; it does not exhaust you. Meditation can become twenty-four hours a day, day after day, year after year. It can become eternity. This is self-relaxation. Concentration is an action. Meditation is a state of non-will, a state of non-doing. This is relaxation. One simply needs to immerse oneself in one's own being, and that is existence... In concentration, the mind acts based on conclusions; you are doing something. Concentration stems from the past. In meditation, there are no conclusions outside of it. You do nothing special; you simply are. In it, there is no past; it is not contaminated by the past. In it, there is no future; it is clean of the future.

This is what Lao Tzu called wei-wu-wei, action through non-action. This is what the Zen Masters spoke of: "Sitting silently, doing nothing, spring comes and grass grows by itself." Remember, "by itself" — nothing is being done. You do not pull the grass up; spring comes and the grass grows by itself. This state — when you let life take its course, when you do not wish to direct it, when you do not wish to control it in any way, when you do not manipulate, when you do not impose any discipline upon it — this state of pure, undisciplined spontaneity is meditation. Meditation is in the present, in the pure present. Meditation is immediacy. You cannot meditate; you can be in meditation. You cannot be concentration, but you can concentrate. Concentration is human; meditation is divine.
Osho

WITNESSING – THE SPIRIT OF MEDITATION

In Judaism, there is a rebellious secret school called Hasidism. Its founder, Baal Shem Tov, was an extraordinary man…
Meditation is an adventure, the greatest adventure that the human mind can undertake. To meditate is simply to be, without creating anything – no action, no thought, no emotion. You simply are, and this is pure bliss. Where does this bliss come from, if you are not doing anything? It comes from nowhere, or rather, it is everywhere. It has no cause, for existence is made of a substance called joy.

When you are not doing anything at all – physically or mentally, on any level, when all your activity ceases and you simply are, simply exist, this is meditation. You cannot do it, you cannot practice it: you must understand this.
Whenever you have time, simply be, and let go of all doing. Thinking, concentration, contemplation – these are also doing. If, even for a single moment, you do nothing, but simply remain in your center, completely relaxed, this is meditation. And once you can do this, you can remain in this state as long as you like, eventually even for all twenty-four hours of the day.

When you realize the way in which your essence remains undisturbed, you can gradually perform various actions, vigilantly observing that your essence remains unwavering. This is the second part of meditation; first, you must learn simply to be, and then to perform the simplest actions: sweeping the floor, taking a shower, while remaining centered. After this, you will be able to perform more complex actions.
For example, I am talking to you, but my meditation is not disturbed. I can speak, but in my center there is not even the slightest ripple; it is completely silent, absolutely silent.

So meditation is not against action. It does not require you to escape from life. It simply teaches a new way of living: you become the center of the cyclone.

Your life continues, and it becomes more intense – more joyful, clearer, more obvious, more creative – and yet you stand aside; you are simply an observer on a hill, watching everything that happens around you.
You are not the doer; you are the observer.

The whole secret of meditation lies in this: you become the observer.
Doing continues on its own level; it is not difficult: you chop wood, you draw water from the well... You can perform any actions; only one thing is not allowed – you must not lose your centering.

This awareness, this observation, must remain absolutely clear and undisturbed.

In Judaism, there is a rebellious secret school called Hasidism. Its founder, Baal Shem Tov, was an extraordinary man. At midnight, he would usually return from the river – he often went there because at night the river was completely quiet and peaceful. He would sit there, doing nothing – simply observing his “self,” observing the observer. One day, returning home, Baal Shem passed by a rich man’s house, at whose gate a watchman stood.

The watchman could not understand why this man returned every night at the same time. Finally, the watchman could not restrain himself, went out into the street, and said:
“Excuse me for disturbing you, but I can no longer contain my curiosity. I constantly think about you. What do you do? Why do you go to the river? I often followed you, but I saw nothing – you simply sit there for hours, and at midnight you return.”

Baal Shem replied:

“I know that you often follow me. The night is quiet, and of course, I hear your footsteps. I know that every time you hide behind the gate. But not only do you arouse my curiosity; you also arouse mine. What do you do?”

“What do I do?” the man was surprised. “I am an ordinary watchman.”

“My God, with that word you have explained everything to me!” exclaimed Baal Shem.
*The English words “watchman” and “watch” are cognates. – Trans.
“I don’t understand,” said the watchman. “If you are a watchman, you must watch over a house, guard it. But what do you watch when you sit on the sand?”

Baal Shem replied:

“There is a small difference: you watch those who may enter the house, but I watch the one who watches. Who is this observer? This is the work of my life: I observe myself.”

“That is a strange job,” said the watchman. “And who pays you for it?”

“It is such bliss,” replied Baal Shem, “such joy, such immeasurable blessing, what other payment is needed? Only one moment – and all the treasures of the world are nothing in comparison.”

“It is amazing,” said the watchman. “I have been working all my life, but I did not know anything like this. Tomorrow I will go with you. Teach me. I know how to watch; I just need to know where to look; you are watching in a different direction.”

Only one step is needed, and it concerns direction, dimension. You can either focus on the external, or close your eyes to the external and focus your consciousness inward – and you will know, for you are the knower, you are awareness. You have never lost it. You have only cluttered your awareness with a thousand and one things. Focus your awareness, let it rest within you – and you will be home.
The essential essence, the spirit of meditation, lies in the ability to witness.

A crow caws... you listen. There are two parts here – the object and the subject. But there is also a witness who sees both – the crow and the listener; there is someone who observes both. It is very simple.

You see a tree: there is you, there is the tree, but don’t you discover something else? – that you see the tree, that there is a witness in you who sees that you see the tree?

Observation is meditation. It doesn’t matter what you observe. You can observe trees, a river, clouds, children playing nearby. Observation is meditation. What you observe is not the main thing; the object is not the main thing.

The main thing is the quality with which you look. The quality of conscious and vigilant awareness – this is what meditation is.
Remember: meditation is awareness. Everything you do with awareness is meditation. The main thing is not the action, but the quality that you bring to the action. Walking can become meditation if you walk vigilantly. Sitting can become meditation if you sit vigilantly. Listening to the singing of birds can become meditation if you listen with awareness. Listening to the inner noise of your own mind can become meditation if you remain vigilant and observant. The most important thing is to be awake. Then everything you do will become meditation.
Osho

During meditation, my mind continues to race at five hundred miles per hour. I never experience stillness, and if it does happen, it's very brief, like flashes of light. Am I wasting my time?

Your mind is moving incredibly slowly. Five hundred miles per hour, and you call that speed? You're moving at a snail's pace. The mind moves so fast that no speed can contain it. It's faster than light. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second; the mind is even faster. But don't worry about it – that's the beauty of the mind, its great virtue. Instead of treating the mind negatively, instead of fighting it, befriend it.

You say, "During meditation, my mind continues to race at five hundred miles per hour" – so what? Let it race even faster. And you be the observer. Watch how quickly, how incredibly fast, the mind moves. Enjoy it! Enjoy the play of the mind.
In Sanskrit, there's a special term for this: chidvilas – the play of consciousness. Enjoy it! – this play of the mind, which rushes to the stars, moves with incredible speed here and there, jumps all over the place. What's wrong with that? Let it be a beautiful dance. Accept it.

It seems you're trying to stop the mind; you won't succeed. No one can stop the mind! Yes, one day the mind will stop, but no one can force it to. The mind stops, but not through your effort. The mind stops through your understanding.
Just observe and try to see what's happening, why your mind is rushing. It's rushing for a reason. Try to understand why your mind is rushing, where it's rushing to – perhaps you're ambitious. If the mind is thinking about money, try to understand that. The mind isn't the main thing. You dream of money, of winning the lottery, and then you start planning how to spend the money, what to buy, what not to buy. Or: the mind dreams of you becoming president or prime minister, and you start thinking about what you'll do, how you'll run the country, or even the whole world. Just observe the mind! – observe what the mind is striving for.

Deep inside you, there's probably a seed. You won't be able to stop the mind until that seed disappears. The mind follows the instructions of your innermost seed. If someone is thinking about sex, it means there's suppressed sexuality hidden within them. Observe where the mind is going. Look deeper within yourself, find where the seeds are hidden.
Here's a story I heard.

A parish priest was very worried.
"Listen," he said to the servant, "someone stole my bicycle."
"And where did you ride it, holy father?" the servant asked politely.
"Only to the parishioners to perform services."
The servant suggested that the holy father reduce the entire Sunday service to the Ten Commandments.
"When we get to the commandment 'Thou shalt not steal,' we'll look carefully at the faces of the parishioners and recognize the thief by his expression."
Sunday arrived; at the end of the sermon, the holy father began to talk about the commandments, but soon he strayed from the main point, jumped to something completely different, and finished it haphazardly.
"Sir," said the servant, "I thought you were..."
"I know, Giles, I know. But the thing is, when I got to the commandment 'Thou shalt not commit adultery,' I suddenly remembered where I left my bicycle."

See, he remembered where he left his bicycle. The mind is racing for a reason.
The mind needs understanding, awareness. Don't try to stop it. If you try to stop it, first, you won't succeed; second, even if you do succeed – let's say you put in years of relentless effort – even if you succeed, then you'll become dull. And no satori will happen.
First: you won't succeed; and that's good. If you did succeed, it would be a great misfortune – you would become dull, you would lose your intelligence. It's because of this speed that intelligence exists, it's because of the speed that the sword of thinking, logic, and reason is constantly sharpened. Please don't try to stop it. I'm not in favor of dullards; I'm not here to help anyone become a fool.

For the sake of religion, many have become dull, turned into idiots – trying to stop the mind without understanding why it's moving so fast... first of all: why? The mind cannot move without a reason. Without delving into these reasons, without penetrating the deep layers of the subconscious, they simply try to stop it. They can do it, but they will have to pay a price, and that price will be the loss of intelligence.
Travel around India, you'll meet thousands of sannyasins and mahatmas; look into their eyes – yes, they are good, kind people, but dull. If you look into their eyes, you won't find intelligence there, not even a glimmer. They are not creative people; they haven't created anything. They just sit. They lead a miserable existence; they are not living people. They haven't helped the world in any way. They haven't written a single painting, composed a single poem, or a single song, because to compose a poem, you need intelligence, you need certain qualities of the mind.
I don't advise you to stop the mind; on the contrary, I advise you to understand it.

With understanding comes a miracle. It consists of the fact that at the same time as understanding, as you grasp the reasons and look deeply into them, these reasons disappear, and the mind slows down. But intelligence doesn't disappear, because no violence is being done to it.
What do you do if you don't eliminate the causes through understanding? For example: you're driving a car, and while continuing to press the gas pedal, you press the brake pedal. That way, you'll ruin the entire mechanism of the car. There's a good chance you'll have an accident. You can't do that at the same time. If you press the brake, release the gas pedal; don't press it. If you press the gas pedal, don't press the brake. Don't do it at the same time, or you'll ruin the whole mechanism; you're doing two incompatible things.

You carry ambition within you – and you try to stop the mind? Ambition creates speed, and you increase the speed and at the same time brake the mind. You'll destroy the fragile mechanism of the mind, because the mind is a very fragile thing, the most fragile of all. Don't treat the mind recklessly.
There's no need to stop it.
Osho

Meditation is not concentration

Meditation techniques can be incorrect. For example: any meditation technique that immerses you in deep concentration is incorrect. You will become more and more closed off, instead of becoming open. If you narrow your consciousness, concentrate on something, if you reject existence and become purposeful, this will cause more and more tension in you. Hence the word "attention," which means "at-tension." Concentration, the very sound of the word, evokes a feeling of tension in you.

Let me list a few key points. First: meditation is not concentration, but relaxation – a person relaxes internally. The more you relax, the more you feel open, vulnerable, less rigid. You become more flexible, and suddenly existence begins to penetrate you. You are no longer like a rock; you develop openings.
To relax means to enter a state in which you do nothing, because if you do something, the tension will not cease. The state of non-doing is when you simply relax and enjoy the feeling that arises from it. Relax internally, close your eyes, and listen to everything that is happening around you. There is no need to see anything as an obstacle. The moment you perceive something as an obstacle, you deny God.

Here, God has come to you in the form of a bird – do not deny it. He knocked on your door in the guise of a bird. Here he has come in the form of a barking dog, or a crying child, or a laughing madman. Do not deny, do not reject – accept, because if you deny, you tense up. Any denial creates tension – accept. If you want to relax, accept. Accept everything that happens around you; let everything become an organic whole. Whether you know it or not, everything is interconnected. Birds, trees, the sky, the sun, the earth, you, me – everything is connected to each other, everything forms an organic unity.
If the sun disappears, the trees will disappear; if the trees disappear, the birds will disappear; if the birds and trees disappear, you will not be able to be here, and you will disappear too. This is ecology. Everything is closely interconnected.

Do not deny anything, because when you deny, you deny something in yourself. If you deny these chirping birds, then something is denied in you as well.

When you relax, you accept; accepting existence is the only way to relax. If minor things bother you, then it is your attitude that bothers you. Sit in silence; listen to everything that is happening around you and relax. Accept, relax – and suddenly you will feel a great energy rising within you. When I say, "Observe," do not try to observe; otherwise, you will again be tense and begin to concentrate. Just relax, stay relaxed, and look... what else can you do? You are here, there is nothing to do, no struggle, no conflict. You simply observe. Remember: just observe.
Osho

The pyramid consists only of people living in the mind, so don't let that upset you. You can jump out of the pyramid; no one is forcing you to stay in it. Whether you stay in it or not is your decision. You can become an observer. You can stand outside the pyramid and watch the whole silly game that unfolds before you.

I am not part of this pyramid. That is why I can talk about the pyramid, describe it in all its details, from all sides – because I am an observer. I can move around the pyramid; I can see all its facets. It is visible to me in depth, to its very bottom; it is visible to me in height, to its very top – because I am not in it.
If you are in it, it is impossible to observe it in its entirety; you have to be outside of it. And throughout the ages, there have been such people – very few, but that doesn't matter: if even one person can escape from the pyramid, that is enough to prove such a possibility. And many have escaped from it.

Only a small effort on your part, a little vigilance, and you can slip out of the mind – because the pyramid is not made of something solid; its bricks are woven from thoughts. You are surrounded by a wall of thoughts. To get out of it is so easy. You don't even need to dig a hole in the wall, you don't even need to open a door. You just need to stand in silence and see whether the wall actually exists, or only seems to exist.

In the East, this was called a mirage; it is only an apparent reality. The closer you get to it, the better you look at it, the more it begins to disappear. Thoughts are the most intangible things in the world; there is nothing material in them.
Your thoughts are just like ghosts. You simply continue to believe in them, never trying to confront them, never turning to them face to face and looking at them directly. You will simply be surprised that any thought, if you look at it intently, simply melts and disappears. It cannot withstand your observation.

There is a third alternative. You don't have to be either Ayatollah Khomeini or Albert Einstein. Albert Einstein is a good man, but good and bad are two sides of the same coin. A saint and a sinner are two sides of the same coin; heaven and hell, God and the devil – these are two sides of the same coin. None of this can exist without the other.

But there is a third alternative – you don't have to be either one or the other – and that is what it means to be yourself.
To be outside the pyramid of the mind means to enter the temple of your being.
The pyramid is for the dead. In fact, pyramids were built as tombs for Egyptian kings and queens. These are cemeteries; and when I call the mind a pyramid, I do so deliberately. The mind is also a cemetery of dead things, past memories, experiences, shadows… all of these are shadows. But little by little, they become so dense that they create a dark veil around you.

If you want to escape from your shadow, what do you think you should do? Run away? The shadow will follow you wherever you go; it will remain with you; it is your shadow. And the shadow is not existential; it is a ghost.
The only way to get rid of it is to turn around, look at it, and try to determine whether there is anything substantial in it. There is nothing in it! – it is pure negativity. And simply because you are standing in the path of the sun's rays, the sun cannot enter; the absence of the sun creates a shadow.

The situation with your thoughts is exactly the same. Because you are not observing, because you are not in silence, because you are not seeing things clearly, without any distortion, thoughts remain substitutes for awareness. Until you become aware, thoughts will continue.

The mind is not you. It is someone else: you are only the observer. And even a few glimpses of observation will prepare you to get out of the pyramid without any struggle, without any confrontation, without any practice. You simply get up and walk out.

People continue to believe in anything that brings comfort. Their ghosts, their gods, their heaven and hell – all of this is just comfort. Their saints, prophets, sages – all of this is comfort. A person who seeks truth needs a backbone to get out of all this rotten mess. And the only way to get out of it is to become a witness to one's own thought process. And this is easy; it is the easiest thing in the world. You only need to do it once; but you never even try to do it even once, and you continue to think that it is the most difficult thing in the world.

I used to think that it was very difficult, because that is what everyone told me, that is what I read in every book – that it is such a great, difficult phenomenon; that it takes many lifetimes to come to a state of no-mind. When everyone says this, and there is not a single exception, it is very natural that a person begins to believe it.

But I am a little eccentric. My logic does not follow the usual direction; it moves in a zigzag. As soon as it became clear that everyone says that it is difficult, that every scripture says that it is difficult… my mind works differently. The first idea that came to me was that, perhaps, no one has tried; otherwise, there would be different opinions. Someone would say that it is not so difficult. The only possibility was that no one had tried – but no one wants to admit their ignorance. The best course of action is to agree with the collective consensus: that it is difficult, very difficult; that it takes many lifetimes.

I discarded this idea. I said: "It must happen in this life; otherwise, I will not allow it to happen in any other life; I will fight it. Either in this life, or never." "Now or never" became my unwavering approach, and on the day I decided: "Now or never," it happened. Since then, I am simply amazed that people remain deceived.

The simplest thing has turned into the most impossible – and the simplest thing opens the doors to the third alternative.
It takes you out of the pyramid: you are no longer the mind. And only then do you know who you are. And to know this is to achieve everything that is worth achieving.
Osho

For the past ten years, I have had many problems. I have gone through a lot of turmoil. It seems my mind is in constant motion. What can I do about this?

Why think about the past ten years? Why? Here is the root cause of your problem.

What have you gained from the past? Only memories and thoughts. And you continue to collect and cherish these memories, and with each passing day, your past grows larger and larger. The burden of the past increases daily because you accumulate thoughts, memories, and experiences. Every day your mind becomes larger and larger, while your consciousness becomes smaller and smaller.

The mind consists of an accumulated past, and its baggage is constantly increasing. What else can the mind do besides repeat thoughts? What is thinking if not chewing over the past again and again? Nothing new penetrates it.

Thinking is never original; it cannot be original because one can only think in terms of the known. You cannot think about the unknown; the unknown can only be reached through the experience of living.

Every day brings the mind new material for reflection. And the mind continues to think: it is a very efficient mechanism. It can even think so quickly that you will not have time to link thoughts together and will reach the point of madness. A madman is someone whose thinking has become pathological: his thoughts overlap one another. You think linearly, whereas a madman thinks in many directions simultaneously; his thinking is very complex.

If you continue to accumulate the past, your mind will expand more and more. You might even completely lose self-awareness, and then you will become an automaton, a computer, a thinking machine, a robot.

You ask what should be done? Let the past be the past. Do not carry it with you.

Forget it. Devote your entire being to the current moment. And surprisingly, if you are truly only in the current moment, you cannot think; it is impossible. Thinking is possible only in the past or in the future, but not in the present. Stay here and now. Do not retreat into the past and do not run ahead into the future. Remain in the moment that is happening right now.

For example, I was just speaking. I think you did not hear what I was saying because your question was likely still spinning in your mind. You missed it. And you may miss the current moment again. If you are truly listening to me, your thinking process must stop. If the thinking process continues, you cannot listen to me. If you are thinking about what I am saying, figuring out how to practice it, you are once again missing the present moment.

When you eat, eat — and do nothing else. When you listen, listen — and do nothing else. When you walk, walk — and do nothing else. Remain in the present moment, stay with the action, and soon you will realize that the past has receded, and a new space has opened within you. In this space, there are no thoughts.

Live from moment to moment. Die to the past and die to the future. Live here and now, so that everything you do becomes meditation.

Meditation is a state, not an action, so any action can become meditative. The so-called meditation that many stubbornly continue to practice is not meditation. The primary, central, essential point of meditation is precisely total presence in the present.

Do what you usually do: walk down the street, run, take a bath, eat, fall asleep, lie in bed, relax — and be fully focused only on that action. Without past, without future, remain in the present. At first, it will be hard, very hard, very difficult, but soon you will taste the present, and then a new door, a new sphere will open. Then the endless work of the mind will stop.

I do not mean to say that you will be unable to think; on the contrary, only then will you gain the ability to truly think. Thinking is different from frantic mental bustle. The crowd of your thoughts is not thinking at all. Thoughts flow and flow, and you can do nothing about them. You are simply a victim, not a thinker; you suffer rather than reflect.

Try to stop any single thought, and you will realize who the master is. Try to stop it. You cannot. The thought will rebel against your control and return for revenge — with even greater force, greater agility and activity. Whatever you think about is not actually thinking; it is just bustle, frantic bustle, a crowd, a traffic jam of thoughts — an incongruous, useless, unnecessary relic of the past.

So be aware. Do not lose the present. Live in the present. Know the meditative quality of the present.

In fact, the present moment has nothing to do with time. The past is time, the future is time, but the present is not time. Usually, we divide time into three parts: past, present, and future. But in reality, it is not so.

The present is eternal; the present exists. It is always here and now, an eternal now. In reality, there is no past and no future. The past lives only in memory, and the future only in imagination. The past and future belong to the mind, but not to existence. If you can understand this, you will see that time is the mind, and the mind is time. Stop the mind, and time will disappear. And vice versa.

This is why all religions claim that in the inner space there is no time, that a deep dive into the inner dimension is a timeless moment. This timelessness is here, in this very instant. You may miss it due to the bad habit of accumulating the past, but it is here, and if you begin to realize it, it can continue.

The moment you are aware, the past steps aside, the future dissolves, and the present moment comes alive. Live in it, exist in it, and then the frantic bustle of thoughts will cease. Then for the first time, you will gain the ability to think. This new thinking means greater awareness, a more concentrated consciousness, a more focused light of your being. You become so aware that as soon as any problem arises before you, your consciousness, the focused light of your being, resolves it. And when the problem is resolved, you know the answer.

Your so-called thinking is more akin to anxiety than to thinking. Current thinking forces you to search for an answer by touch, and this search happens in the dark. Today you think you have solved something, but tomorrow the same problem arises again, everything becomes tangled once more, and you continue your search in the dark. This is why thinkers change their opinions every day. What was truth yesterday is no longer truth today, and what is truth today will not be truth tomorrow. So everything is relatively true: nothing is true, nothing is false; the true and the false can switch places at any moment.

The truth of Buddha has a completely different quality... it exists outside of time. The truth of Jesus exists outside of time. Their truth cannot become a lie because it was found not through thinking, but through meditation; not through continuous listening to thoughts, but in a deep journey inward without any thoughts. Remember: when you are in the present, there are no thoughts."
Osho

The Gospel is not in the Bible. The Gospel is in the rivers and the wild roar of the ocean, in the silence of the stars. Good news is written everywhere. The entire universe contains a message. Decipher it. Learn its language. And its language is the language of here and now.

Your language is the language of the past and the future, and by continuing to speak the language of the mind, you will never be able to tune in to existence, to come into harmony with it. And if you have not tasted the flavor of harmony, how can you break the daydreams? – because that is what your whole life is about.

You ask: “Why do I always daydream about the future?” You daydream about the future because you have not yet tasted the flavor of the present. Start tasting the flavor of the present. Find a few moments when you simply rejoice. Looking at the trees, just look. Listening to the birds, just be a listening ear. Let them reach your deepest core. Let their song spread throughout your being. Sitting on the beach by the ocean, just listen to the wild roar of the waves, become one with it... because in the wild roar of the waves there is neither past nor future. If you can tune in to it, you too will become a wild roar. Hug a tree and relax in it. Feel how its green form flows into your being. Lie on the sand, forget the world, become one with the sand, with its coolness; feel how the coolness saturates you. Come to the river, swim, and let the river flow inside you. Raise splashes and become the splashes. Do everything that brings you a feeling of enjoyment, and enjoy it completely. For these short moments, the past and the future will disappear, and you will be here and now.
Osho