Is it possible to be more afraid of living than of dying?

Question: BELOVED MASTER, I AM MORE AFRAID OF LIVING THAN OF DYING. IS IT POSSIBLE? Yogananda, it must be possible if it is happening to you! Do you think you are managing the impossible? In fact, it is a very common phenomenon, nothing extraordinary about it -- very normal. Nobody is more afraid of dying than of living. The fear of death is nothing compared to the fear of life. That's why thousands of people around the earth commit suicide, and many more think many times in their lives of committing suicide. Many try but are prevented; many try but try halfheartedly. But very few people try to live. The number of people who try to live life is much less than those who try to commit suicide or actually commit suicide. The man who lives life becomes a buddha. How many buddhas do you have?

Why do I seem to feel more afraid of life than of death?

DEATH IS UNKNOWN. You cannot be really afraid of that with which you are not at all acquainted. Fear is a relationship -- you have to know something to be afraid of it. Nobody really is afraid of death. And whenever somebody says 'I am afraid of death' he is simply saying that he is afraid to lose life. Death is absolutely unknown. So everybody is afraid of life -- it is life that is the problem, not death. It is life that gives you anguish and nights without sleep. And what is the fear of life? There are many fears but they can be reduced to a few basic fears. One is that life is slipping by and you have not lived yet. That's the panic, basic panic -- that life is going out of your hands, every moment you have less and less life. And you have not…

Osho, to remain awake to life, is the fear of death necessary?

I did not speak of fearing death, because what does fear of death even mean? It is essential to know that death is. The one who does not know this is the one who is afraid. To be afraid means we carry the notion that someday we will die—that what we presently take to be life will be snatched away. So the fear is that death might take away our life. That is what the fear is. But if you come to know that you are already dead, what is there to fear? If you come to see that every day you are dying, that much of you has already died, what is there to fear? As long as what you take to be life appears to you as life, the fear of death appears. And if this very thing begins to be seen as death, what fear of death…

Beloved Osho, why such an enormous fear of allowing myself to be really alive?

The Jews have been tortured for two thousand years because they crucified Jesus, and now this is a crucifixion for all the Jews -- Israel. They have poured their money into it, they have come from faraway lands, they have been working hard, because it is a desert; and besides there is continuous harassment from the Mohammedans who are not going to accept that Israel is not theirs. On their maps they still show Palestine, not Israel. The trouble has increased more and more just now, in a way in which the Jews were not even aware would happen. There are outside enemies all around, and now there are inside enemies. Firstly, the Mohammedans who have been living for centuries in the land are still there; they function as informers to the Mohammedans, because their devotion is to Mohammedanism. And now something new, inconceivable is happening... because some Jews have…

Osho, I can bear neither sorrow nor joy. I am frightened of everything. I am afraid of death, of course, but I am also afraid of life. What is the path for me?

You will be surprised. You say, “We want to live happiness with our whole heart, but it is rare; and who would want to live sorrow wholeheartedly! Why would one? And it is plentiful.” Try living sorrow wholeheartedly too. What do I mean? Suppose you have a headache. The usual concern is: how to get rid of it? If it doesn’t go, at least forget it. Take an Aspro or an Anacin. If it won’t go, may I at least not feel it. Try an experiment: Sit quietly; accept that there is a headache today. Acknowledge it. Drop the tension. Drop the ill will toward the headache. Drop the notion that it should go. It is—accept it. Relax and observe the headache peacefully. You will be amazed: as acceptance deepens, the pain diminishes. Try it; it’s experimental. These are the ordinary processes of yoga—this is real yoga. Physical calisthenics and…