Is the experience of feeling loved and accepted during imagination real or just a mind game?

Beloved Osho, my imagination is very strong. Sometimes when I close my eyes, I see myself sitting with you and there are no more questions. Then I feel loved and accepted. Whenever I experience this, I feel so joyful. Is this real, or just a mind-game to keep me away from reality?

If you can manage it exactly the same, again and again, then it is not imagination. Then it is not the stuff dreams are made of, because you cannot repeat a dream. But if you can imagine such a thing only once, and you cannot manage to experience it exactly the same again and again, then it is a dream; then it is a mind game. Don't waste time on it. This is the distinction between dream and reality: reality is that which remains as it is. Dream is something that happens once and is gone. And it is not in your hands to bring it back, you cannot manage to dream it. Every morning you will open your eyes -- your room will be the same. Every night you will close your eyes -- your dreams will be different. That which remains the same is the real, and that…

Osho, if in your presence a person has an inner experience but later cannot, what is that? Would you call it a direction toward liberation or dependence?

There can be two kinds of reasons. In fact there can be many, but broadly two will do. - One: he may only be imagining, not actually experiencing. Even for imagination my presence gives support. Alone, even imagining becomes difficult. Imagination too asks for props. So in my presence he will be able to imagine more easily, and it will be easier to mistake imagination for experience. At home, if the same kind of thing happened, he might suspect it is only imagination. - The other, less frequent, possibility: you did not imagine; you actually took a leap. For a moment you jumped two feet off the ground; you lifted your head and saw a little higher. Then you fell back to the ground. That is possible too. Both can be useful. Even imagination is an indicator that you want to imagine—really, that you want to experience; that is why…

I often feel your energy running through me. It is as apparent when I am in the west as when I am back in india. Yet when I am here I wonder whether the feeling that you have been with me is my imagination or not.

If it is your imagination, so what? Why not enjoy it? What is wrong in imagination? Imagination is as divine as anything else. If you feel happy and blissful, enjoy it. Let it be there. This is the mind which goes on creating trouble. Again and again, if people feel good, if they feel beautiful, they come and ask: We are worried. Maybe it is just imagination. But when they are suffering and when they are in pain, they never come to me and say: Maybe it is just imagination that we are suffering. This is beautiful! You are so addicted to suffering that suffering is always real, but bliss looks suspicious -- it may be imagination. So what? If it is imagination, let it be an imagination. Enjoy it. Delight in it. And always remember that the criterion of the true is delight, celebration -- there exists no other…

Kalpana means imagination and deva means divine -- divine imagination. And that you have to remember: that your path will go through imagination. You have a tremendous capacity to imagine. If you can use it, it can be an immense help. If you don't use it, it can become a barrier. If one has some capacity, one has to use it, otherwise it becomes like a rock on the path. One has to step over it and transform it into a stepping stone. You have a very deep potentiality for imagination. So use it. Start three things. One is -- imagine yourself as happy as possible. Within a week you will start feeling that you are becoming very happy -- for no reason at all. That will be proof of your dormant capacity. So the first thing to do in the morning is to imagine yourself tremendously happy.

Beloved Osho, does it really matter that I can't distinguish imagination from reality? If I can be aware that "I am", is this not enough?

It is certainly enough. It does not matter. There is no need to make any effort to discriminate between imagination and reality. You simply remain aware of yourself. And whatever is imagination will slowly disappear, and whatever is real will remain. It is again from Chetana. But remember, your friendship with ghosts.... Those ghosts will disappear. Because you cannot discriminate between who is a ghost and who is a real person, there may be fear that perhaps you are thinking that this is a real person -- and he disappears. But that much risk has to be taken. In the commune Milarepa used to disappear. That was because of your awareness of yourself. Then you can't find where he is. So if you are not afraid, then there is no problem. You simply remain aware of yourself. And I have never been teaching discrimination. Imagination is that which disappears. Reality…