Is the feeling of intimacy during discourses part of the myst?

Beloved Osho, during the discourses I feel more intimacy than ever, and it feels like you are talking now to the individuals who are there in the moment with you. I never had this feeling so strongly in poona or on the ranch. Is this part of the mystery school, or am I just more open to you?

First, I have been talking on different levels at different times; it was an absolute necessity. At first I had to talk indirectly because you might get scared. You have to be persuaded to die and to be reborn, but the new life is unknown to you. The old life is the only life you know of. So at first I was speaking very indirectly. For example, I was speaking on Kabir, on Meera, on Thomas, on Heraclitus, on Pythagoras. And in between, whenever I found a chance to hit you I would do it, but basically I would keep you engaged with Pythagoras, Heraclitus. I have been digging up graves and bringing dead people to life and keeping you engaged. So while you are engaged in listening about Gautam Buddha, Mahavira, Shankara... just once in a while I will hit you to see whether you escape or you remain;…

Osho, what is mysticism?

But the same was happening with Buddha too, with no visible dance. Buddha was sitting silently, his disciples were sitting silently; it was called satsang, "being with truth". Buddha has become enlightened, he is a light unto himself. Others who are not yet lit, whose candles are yet unlit, sit in close proximity, in intimacy, in deep love and gratitude, come closer and closer to Buddha in their silence, in their love. Slowly, slowly a moment comes, the space between the Master and the disciple disappears -- and the jump of the flame from the Master to the disciple. The disciple is ready to receive it; the disciple is nothing but a welcome. The disciple is "feminine", a receptivity, a womb. This too is a mysterion, a secret ceremony. It was happening again and again, with Zarathustra, with Lao Tzu, with Jesus, in different ways. This is what is happening…

Osho, whatever you say seems to be right from the point of view of what you are saying at that moment. But it may be contradictory. You draw the listeners in one direction confirming a particular point, and at the same time you go via the back door to the opposite point. It is a spiral -- the listener hardly realizes what may be happening. Is this not fooling the listener -- unless he realizes that the real answer lies beyond your spoken words?

One sannyasin has done well. He has called my path VIA CONFUSIVA -- that's right. That's perfectly right. It is neither VIA NEGATIVA nor VIA POSITIVE -- it is VIA CONFUSIVA. If you can be so much confused that you drop ALL belief, out of that confusion will come clarity. When do you feel confused? When exactly? Whenever one of your beliefs is attacked -- you become suspicious: Now what to believe in? Whenever a doubt arises... but how is a doubt possible if there is no belief? The man of no-belief cannot doubt either. There is nothing to doubt. 13y destroying your belief I am destroying the very pos-sibility of doubt. Can you see the point? Doubt is a shadow of belief. It looks like the opposite -- it is not. Only believers can doubt. If you believe in God, doubt can arise. But if you don't believe in…

Beloved Osho, the master speaks, and the disciples listen. What is it that happens, and remains unsaid?

Yoga Chinmaya, the master speaks, the disciple listens -- yet there is much which the master does not speak, and the disciple listens. In fact, that is the whole secret of disciplehood. If you only listen to that which is said, you are a student. You listen to the words, you miss the wordless. The moment you start listening to the wordless, you are initiated into disciplehood. The master is speaking. Naturally he has to use words, but he is also leaving gaps in between. He is also using wordlessness. He is saying something, and he is also meaning something which cannot be said -- but it can be heard. If the disciple is silent, he will hear the words and he will also hear the wordlessness; he will hear what is being said, and he will hear also what is not being said and yet is transferred. You are…

Twenty-five centuries ago in greece there were many mystery schools. Are you a mystic? Please tell us about your mystery school.

You do not understand the word `mystery' or the word `mystic' or the phenomenon of a mystic or a mystery school. If anything can be said about them, they are no longer mystic. A mystic is one who knows but cannot say it. He can live it; you can look into his eyes, you can look into his gestures, you can feel it in his presence, but there is no way to say it. It does not mean that the mystic remains silent. Many mystics have remained silent for the simple reason that everything you say falls short; the essential thing that you wanted to say is not contained in the words. When you hear your own words you know that which you wanted to convey is not conveyed. So many mystics have remained silent. A few mystics have chosen to speak because it is possible not to say it…