How long will the crying, shouting, laughing, and dancing continue?

Another friend has asked—and two or three others have asked the same—Osho, how long will this crying, shouting, laughing, and dancing continue?

It can continue from three weeks to three months. Those who do the practice rightly will see the crying, laughing, and shouting dissolve within three weeks, and from the first stage they will enter directly into the fourth; the two middle stages will drop on their own. Those who don’t do it properly, who proceed slowly, may take anywhere from three weeks to three months. But this is not something that goes on forever; once the mind’s impurities fall away, it dissolves by itself. The length of time depends on how intensely you let the impurities drop. If you do the practice properly for three months, generally all this will settle within that time. Then you will take one or two deep breaths and immediately enter the fourth stage. But this will happen only if you fully complete the two middle stages. If you hold back even a little, it…

Someone else has asked: they have been doing the experiment for six months, yet the catharsis is still continuing, the purging is still going on. The crying, shouting, jumping, laughing continue. How long will this last?

Now enter the third stage. Now enter the third stage. Ask—Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Let it rain down—Who am I? Ask only this one question within, and outside—Who am I? Who am I? Keep swaying, keep dancing, ask—Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Not slowly—ask with power—Who am I? Let every hair of the body ask—Who am I?… Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?… This is the last stage—put in your total strength. Dance, jump, ask—Who am I?… Very good! Very good! Louder… stronger… put in more power… Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?… Louder… louder… a storm must be raised… Who am I?… Dance, jump, ask—Who am I? Who am I?… You must ask strongly—ask strongly—Who am I? Who am…

Can one get over-addicted to catharsis?

Yes. Mind has a very deep-rooted disease I call the disease of O.D: overdose; overdoing. Remain alert for this disease of O.D. You can do anything too much, and then, that which was going to be beneficial will become harmful. Food is good, it is vitality, but you can eat too much, then it becomes poisonous. You can die by overeating -- in fact, medical researchers say that people die more of overeating than of starvation. Newspapers go on reporting that a few people have died somewhere because of starvation, they never report how many people are dying by overeating -- that should be reported first. Always, more people are dying through overeating. A man can live for three months without eating anything at all. But you overeat for even three weeks, and you cannot survive. You try. For three days eat as much as you can.... It happened, Mulla…

Another friend has asked: if we accept what you say and understand that everything is destiny’s play, then laziness will engulf the world.

Then let it engulf the world. What trouble does that cause you? Do you know what harm the lazy have done to the world? Hitler was no lazy man, Genghis Khan was no lazy man, Tamerlane was no lazy man. All the troublemakers of the world—none of them are lazy. Can you name even one lazy person who has harmed the world? Even to cause harm, laziness won’t do, will it! In the entire history of the world there isn’t a single person we can blame who was lazy and harmed anyone. A lazy person cannot be a thief, nor a politician. Neither a thug nor a murderer. What problem do you have with the lazy? What faults do they have? All the faults lie with the industrious. The whole web of mischief rests on the doers. A little less doing in the world would not hurt. Besides, realize this:…

How do you bring about the catharsis that you are talking about?

Modern man -- the modern mind and the modern body -- is so involved with sex that unless that center is hit, nothing can be done with man. The sex center can be hit in two ways: from without or from within. Sex is the only energy in you; it is the source of all energies. If it moves out, it becomes biological reproduction. If it moves in, it becomes spiritual transformation -- a rebirth of yourself. In the third step, you are to just go on crying, screaming, "HOO!" and hitting the sex center. Soon, within a few weeks, you will begin to feel an uprush of energy starting from the sex center and moving up through your spine. You will feel a warmth, you will feel that a new path has been opened inside you. And once this energy begins to move from your spine toward the head,…