According to Osho, you don’t learn to spot unreal problems—you awaken from them. Problems are projections of an unreal, chattering mind. Become real through silence: sit, meditate, let inner talk cease. In that nonquestioning clarity, questions and problems evaporate by themselves. Recognition isn’t needed; authenticity and meditative awareness dissolve the unreal.
Stop trying to sort fake worries; be silent and meditate until the mind quiets—then you’ll see there was nothing real to fear.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
How can one learn to recognize unreal problems as unreal?
There is no need to learn recognition, because all problems are unreal. Problems as such are unreal. When you are real, all problems disappear. When you are unreal, a thousand and one problems arise. It used to always be the case that whenever a man would come to Buddha he would say, "Please, for one year don't ask any questions. One year remain silent with me, flow with me. Allow me to work within you. Just open your doors and let the sun rays go in. For one year no problems, no questions; remain silent, meditate. After one year, you can ask." A certain man, a great seeker, had come one day. His name was Malingputta, a great brahmin scholar; with five hundred disciples he had come to Buddha. He had many questions, of course. A great scholar has to have many questions, problems and problems. Buddha looked at his…
Osho, what is a problem?
Always be ready to change your mind because life cannot be changed just because of your ideologies. And we have learned ways how to look at life, how to interpret life, and we become fixated in certain routines. Let me tell you one anecdote. A mousy little man used to be very frightened of his boss. One day he told a fellow worker that he was sick. His friend said, "Why don't you go home?" "Oh, I couldn't do that!" "Why not? Don't be silly, he will never know. He is not even here today." Finally the man was convinced and went home. When he got there, he looked in the window -- and there was his boss, kissing and hugging his wife. So he ran all the way back to the office. "A fine friend you are!" he said to his pal. "I nearly got caught." Just an old…
Do real problems exist? Are all problems just mind games? Does awareness make problems disappear? Or is there a possibility that awareness brings repression? If I'd that whenever I feel a little more centered and aware than usual I don't feel any problems, but when I am no more centered all the old problems are back and they look even bigger. Is this repression?
RATNA, ALL PROBLEMS ARE out of unawareness. Unawareness Creates problems, is the ONLY problem really. So when you become alert, aware, problems disappear -- they are not repressed! And if you repress them you will never become aware, remember it; because a person why represses his problems will be afraid of becoming aware. The moment one who has repressed problems becomes aware, those problems will come up. Awareness will bring them to light. It is as if you are hiding rubbish in your house: you will be afraid to bring light in, because then you will have to see all that you have been hiding there. You cannot bring light in. I used to live in a village once, for a few days. There was a river, so dirty -- just such a small river that you cannot even call it a river. And there was no other way, no…
One can go crazy in trying to solve problems individually. It is like cutting the leaves of a tree. The tree is huge and you go on cutting the leaves and new leaves go on coming up. Instead of one, three leaves will pop up; you cut one and the tree will respond with three leaves. It will become thicker, the foliage will be thicker because the tree takes on the challenge; you cannot defeat it so easily. But cut the roots and the whole tree is gone, all the leaves will fall on their own. But roots are invisible and leaves are visible; hence many people go on pruning the leaves for the whole of their life. The case is exactly the same with man: the root of all problems is the mind, but the mind is invisible.
Can problems be solved through thinking?
You can take the explanation that the soul is immortal -- now this is a trick. Not that the soul is not immortal -- I am not saying that -- but for you this is a trick. You are trying to deceive yourself. You are in sorrow, and now you want to escape this sorrow, so this explanation will be helpful. Now you can console yourself that the soul is immortal, no one dies, only the body -- just as if one changes the clothes, or one changes the abode -- so from one house to another the soul has gone. You can go on thinking, but you don't know anything about it. You have heard, you have collected information; but through these explanations you will be at ease. You can forget the death. Really this is no solution to the problem. Nothing has been solved. The next day someone…