Let the pretend ‘I’ fade so your real you can show up.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, you said last night that those who have become void, valley-like, do not react but they respond, and that the responses of these different enlightened ones will be different -- that the valley will reecho in its own unique and individual way. Now a question arises whether those who become absolutely void, nothingness, still have a personality and individuality. If so, then please explain how this becomes possible.
THIS is one of the paradoxes of spiritual life: the more one dissolves into the Divine, the more unique one becomes. The dissolution is not of the individuality but of the self. The dissolution is not of the uniqueness but of the ego. The more you are an ego, the more you are like others, because everyone is an egoist. The ego is the most ordinary thing in the world. Everyone is an egoist; even a newborn child is an egoist -- a perfect egoist. So it is not anyone's achievement; it is not extraordinary. Really, it can be said that to be just ordinary is the most extraordinary thing possible because no one feels just ordinary. So to feel oneself extraordinary is just the most ordinary thing. Everyone feels like that! So ego is not something unique. If you have an ego, it is not something unique. Really, egolessness…
Osho, you said that awareness created centering and crystallization, but I personally feel that awareness brings a feeling of deep void within me. Please explain the relationship between centering and inner void.
As man is, he is without a center -- without a real, authentic center. He has a center, so to speak, but the center is false. He only thinks he has a center. The ego is a false center. You feel that it is there, but it is not. If you go to find it, you will not find it at all. Bodhidharma reached China 1100 years after Buddha. He was a Buddha himself. The Emperor Wu came to receive Bodhidharma. When no one was there, he asked Bodhidharma, "I am very, very disturbed. My mind is never at ease. What can I do? Tell me. Make my mind at peace, at ease. I am in deep conflict; an inner struggle continues -- so do something." Bodhidharma said, "I can do something. Come early in the morning at four o'clock, but remember to bring your self." The Emperor felt: "Either…
If enlightenment and samadhi mean total consciousness, cosmic consciousness, all-pervading consciousness, then it seems very strange to call this state of cosmic consciousness centering, as the word `centering' implies one-pointedness. Why is cosmic consciousness, or samadhi, called centering?
It is like small children doing arithmetic. They can always go to the back of the book and can know the answer. The answer is there; at the back of the book, the answers are given. They can look at the question, then they can go to the back and know the answer. And once a child knows the answer it is very difficult for him to learn the method, because there seems to be no need. When he already knows the answer, there is no need. And really, he will do the whole thing in reverse order. Then through any false, pseudo method he will arrive at the answer. He knows the real thing, he knows the answer, so he can arrive at the answer by just creating a false method. And this happens so much in religion that it seems, as far as religion is concerned, everyone is…
And a friend has asked: Osho, this matter of meditation—is it, after all, auto-hypnosis, self-hypnosis?
There is a great deal of similarity to self-hypnosis; at the final point the path diverges. For a long stretch there is a connection with hypnosis. All three stages are of hypnosis; only the witnessing state is not. That which must remain in the background the whole time—the witnessing: that I know, I see that the breath has come and gone; I know, I see that the body is trembling, spinning. I know, I see—this very sense is not of hypnosis. That is the difference. And it is a very fundamental difference. The rest is all the process of hypnosis. The process of hypnosis is very precious: if it is joined to witnessing, it becomes meditation; if it is separated from witnessing, it becomes stupor. If you use only hypnosis, you will become unconscious; if you also use the witnessing, you will become awakened. The difference between the two is…
In the cavity of the heart, which is situated in the body, dwells the unborn who is eternal.
THE EARTH IS ITS BODY. IT DWELLS IN THE EARTH, BUT THE EARTH DOES NOT KNOW IT. WATER IS ITS BODY. IT DWELLS IN WATER,BUT WATER DOES NOT KNOW IT. FIRE IS ITS BODY. IT DWELLS IN FIRE BUTFIRE DOES NOT KNOW IT. AIR IS ITS BODY. IT DWELLS IN THE AIR, BUT THE AIR DOES NOT KNOW IT. THE SKY IS ITS BODY. IT DWELLS IN IT,BUT THE SKY DOES NOT KNOW IT. THE MIND IS ITS BODY. IT DWELLS IN THE MIND, BUT THE MIND DOES NOT KNOW IT. THE INTELLECT IS ITS BODY. IT LIVES IN THE INTELLECT, BUT THE INTELLECT DOES NOT KNOW IT. THE EGO IS ITS BODY. IT DWELLS IN THE EGO,BUT THE EGO DOES NOT KNOW IT. THE CONSCIOUSNESS IS ITS BODY. IT DWELLS IN THE CONSCIOUSNESS, BUT THE CONSCIOUSNESS DOES NOT KNOW IT. THE UNMANIFEST IS ITS BODY. IT DWELLS IN THE…