Do answers come from consciousness or from memory?

A friend has asked: Osho, yesterday you said that to know anger completely, one must experience it in its totality. Then how is one to know lust completely? Because the experienced say that lust is never satisfied; the more you indulge it, the more it grows. So how can one go beyond lust?

Surely there is an inherent purpose. And it is this: even these saints could not have been born without lust. They too went beyond only by passing through the experience. They too entered it and found it to be futile. That realization of futility is precious—and it comes only when it happens in your own experience. So do not be in a hurry. Do not rely on borrowed experience. That does not mean you tell the experienced, “You are wrong.” You should simply say, “We do not yet know. We wish to enter and know for ourselves what this lust is. We will know it fully. If it turns out to be wrong, that very knowing will bring liberation. And if it turns out to be right, then there is no need for liberation.” One thing is certain: whoever has known rightly has become free. And another thing is also…

Osho, questions arise—and for many of them the answers also come. What is all this?

Girls want people to tell them they are beautiful. A handful of fools to say it—that’s all it takes—and you’ll always find such fools loitering on the seafront; no matter what she looks like—even if she resembles Kali of Calcutta, motherly and forbidding—some fool will still exclaim, “Ah, what beauty!” It feels good when someone says, “You are intelligent!” You gather your self-image from others’ borrowed opinions. You ask their questions and paste on their answers. You call this your knowledge. All of it stale and borrowed... No—no one else can give you knowledge. No one else can answer your questions. The one who truly wishes you well, who truly wants you to become a flame of life, will tell you: the answer to every one of your questions is within you. Therefore the way is to sit silently and go inward. And a moment comes, as you keep finding…

Osho, the questions we ask you all arise out of unconsciousness. And your replies come from total awareness. How can the two ever meet? And if they cannot meet, then asking itself seems wrong. Then what do you mean when you tell us to ask?

What is the difference between resonance and string? The string is gross, the resonance is subtle. The string can be grasped; the resonance cannot be grasped. Catch hold of the string and you remain on the surface. Catch the string and you will be bound—the string becomes a chain. Resonance enters your very life-breath. And resonance sets aquiver the resonance already asleep within you. Resonance is liberation. Do not take my strings, my words. Do not be concerned with what I say; be absorbed in what I am. Take the aura, not the form! If you take the form, you are bound. Take a form and you enter a prison. Take the aura! The halo that surrounds a lamp cannot be clutched in a fist, cannot be locked in a safe. But if you look at it with full eyes, your eyes will begin to shine. If you drink in…

Osho, why is your memory so miraculous? By the time afternoon comes I even forget what I had for breakfast. Would you kindly share the secret of a good memory?

“So then,” I said, “my concern is with the inner stream. What have I to do with scriptures? If it appears in scripture, fine; if not, fine. I am no scriptural scholar, nor am I interested in being one.” Therefore, when I give quotations, do not assume you will surely find the exact citation. You may find it—or you may not. But the listener will certainly feel that I speak with such force that it must be so. The force is not because it is in scripture; the force is because I know from my own experience that this is the truth. Whether it is in the scriptures or not, it is so. Even if all the scriptures were destroyed, what I am saying would still be true. Even if all the scriptures were opposed, what I am saying would still be true. And even if all the scriptures were…

Therefore, the friend who has asked: “Should we remain continuously calm and aware?”

So, first, bid farewell to false answers. First point: never ask borrowed questions in life; they have no worth. Second point: do not be content with secondhand answers; there is no solution in them—send them away. Let all answers be dismissed. Let your own question remain alone inside, like a burning ember. Accept no answer given by memory or by what you have learned. Then, like an ember, the question will begin to sear your life-breath; like an arrow, it will start to pierce within. And a moment will come when your very soul will answer. Only that answer will be meaningful in your life. Only that answer will transform your life. To live with a question is an art. To give a quick answer is no art. What is needed is to live with the question. The one who quietly hides his question in his heart like a seed…