Is choiceless awareness a kind of choice, and what is the paradox involved?

Osho, is choiceless awareness also a kind of choice? It seems to come down to a paradox.

No, choiceless awareness is not a choice. Choiceless means we do not make any choice, we do not select any option; we simply awaken. In that awakening we do not decide, “This is right, that is wrong; this should be accepted, that should be dropped.” We make no decision. We simply look, awake. In this awakened seeing there is no choice at all. And as long as there is choice, we cannot see with awareness. “Awareness with choice”—there is no such thing. Awareness, as such, is without choice. Awareness by its very nature is choiceless. So awareness can never be together with choice, because choice means bias has begun; sleep has begun. There are so many people sitting here: if I say, “Bacchu-bhai is a fine man,” then I cannot be aware in relation to Bacchu-bhai either, because my attachment has begun. Nor can I be aware in relation to…

Question: BELOVED OSHO, YOUR STORY ABOUT BUDDHA AND THE FLY HAS ALWAYS INTRIGUED ME. DO YOU HAVE THE CHOICE STILL TO BE AWARE OR NOT? No, I don't have any choice any more. I am in a choiceless awareness. I don't have to be aware. I am simply aware. Now it is just like my heartbeat or like my breathing. Even if I try not to be aware, it is not possible; the very effort will make me more aware. Awareness is not a quality, a characteristic; it is your whole being. When you become aware, there is no choice left to be otherwise.

One who has attained to the eternal absolute shall remain so even after death. So, oh innocent, attain samadhi, the highest state of unity with the supreme, and be free of the choices. The knot of ignorance in the heart is destroyed, the moment one achieves self-realization, through nirvikalp samadhi, choiceless awareness.

ONE SHOULD GIVE UP THE SELF BASED ON EGO BY STEADYING ONESELF IN UNITY WITH THE HIGHER SELF. AND ONE SHOULD BE INDIFFERENT TO EGOISM, ET CETERA, AS ONE REMAINS INDIFFERENT TO POTS, CLOTHES, AND OTHER THINGS. FROM BRAHMA THE CREATOR, DOWN TO THE STONE, ALL APPEARANCES ARE FALSE; THEREFORE, SEE EVERYWHERE YOUR OWN EXCELLENT SELF, WHICH IS EVER-UNCHANGING. THE SELF IS THE BRAHMAN, THE SELF IS VISHNU, THE SELF IS INDRA, THE SELF IS SHIVA, THE SELF IS THE WORLD, AND THE SELF IS EVERYTHING; AND THERE IS NOTHING OTHER THAN THE SELF. This sutra is concerned with choicelessness. Mind is always choosing -- choosing this against that. Mind is the mechanism of choice. Have you observed this? Observe: Mind is always choosing this against that. There is not a single moment when the mind is not in a state of choosing. We go on choosing -- choosing pleasure…

Osho, if the ego decides on non-choice—“choicelessness”—what will be its state?

The ego cannot make such a decision. Non-choice, “choicelessness,” is the name of the state of consciousness when the ego is not. The ego cannot decide, “All right, from now on we are choiceless.” That itself is a choice. You have chosen again. You remain the chooser. People come to me and say, “The mind doesn’t become quiet. We try hard to meditate, but the mind won’t settle.” I tell them, “Drop worrying about peace. Just meditate; it will quiet down.” They ask, “Then it will become quiet?” I’m telling you to drop the concern. They say, “We agree to drop even the concern—but will it become quiet or not?” They don’t drop it. Even when they say they agree, they don’t really agree. A fortnight later they come back: “You said drop the concern; we did—but it still hasn’t become quiet.” They don’t even notice what they are saying:…

Assagioli says that all the awareness in the world will not help until you choose -- "it is the willingness to choose that produces change and thus growth." yet you talk of choiceless awareness. Is there really a choice?

I don't teach you will. It is because of will that you have become so miserable. It is because of will that you feel guilty. It is because of will that you go on carrying scorpions, snakes and crocodiles and all kinds of things inside you. You have lost all beauty and grace. What is will? Will means struggle against the whole. The real man of understanding is absolute will-lessness. That's why Jesus says: THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE. How is Assagioli going to explain it? -- THY WILL BE DONE.... Not mine! Because whatsoever is MY will is going to be against God's will. I have to efface my will completely. I have not to be. When I am in an absolute will-lessness, then God's will starts functioning. And about synthesis too -- Assagioli's idea of synthesis is more philosophical than existential. There are two possible kinds…