According to Osho, the path of the negative mind demands inner poverty—ongoing 'not-knowing.' Anything accumulated—knowledge, experiences, and the memories that store them—becomes an obstacle, feeding inner arrogance and dulling creativity. Do not rely on or hoard past knowing; drop it moment to moment. Remain humble, empty, poor in spirit. From this unburdened openness, true seeing, inquiry, and discovery flower.
Let go of what you think you know and don’t cling to memories; stay empty and curious so real understanding can happen now.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, on the path of the negative mind, must we put aside all memories? Can we not retain at least some understanding that would encourage every fresh approach of the negative mind, or help us in the effort to know?
Nothing you accumulate can ever give a boost to the negative mind. It is like a man saying, “I want to be a beggar,” and then piling up wealth so that the wealth may support his beggary. Do you see my point? To be a beggar means to be without possessions. A man says, “I am gathering wealth so that when tomorrow I become a beggar it will be convenient to be a beggar.” That is upside down! Negative mind means this: “I know nothing,” and that this state remains continuous. Whatever I come to “know” will become an obstacle to it, not a support—because it will lessen it, diminish it. Gradually we forget that we know nothing, and we accumulate so much knowledge that it becomes a problem. There was a Muslim fakir, Bayazid. He was passing through a village at dusk. All day he had met no one;…
Remember: memory is others’ knowledge; knowledge is one’s own knowing. So science is memory, and religion is knowledge. Memory will not do. I have seen it—visited many ashrams, met many sadhus—they all make people memorize scriptures; they run schools of scripture. Those who gather around them become parrots by rote. They start repeating. Ask them anything—an answer is ready for everything. Those who have not a single answer of their own collect the answers of others and begin to give them. It satisfies the ego, but no one attains knowledge. So let me say the first thing to you: knowledge is not memory. Therefore, even if you memorize someone, even if you learn scriptures, agamas by rote, the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Gita, the Koran—commit them all to heart—it will make no difference. They will only become a burden; they cannot become your liberation.
I am negative, I am not a positive mind. I am totally negative. I will negate what you say, but I won't say anything as my position, because to me a positive mind cannot become a vacuum, cannot become vacant, cannot be a nonentity. A positive mind can never be; only a negative mind. A mind which comes through thinking to be negative, negates everything. When you negate everything then the mind becomes a vacuum. This is my position. (Laughter) QUESTION: CAN YOU TELL US HOW YOU MANAGE TO GET AN UNOCCUPIED MIND -- BECAUSE THAT IS THE FIRST STEP FOR YOUR EXPERIENCE, YES? Osho: I try to understand the occupied mind. My own mind, occupied constantly -- I observed it. The very observation of the occupied mind makes the mind unoccupied.
Quieten your mind. Reflect. Watch.
NOTHING BINDS YOU. YOU ARE FREE. YOU ARE STRONG. YOU HAVE COME TO THE END. FREE FROM PASSION AND DESIRE, YOU HAVE STRIPPED THE THORNS FROM THE STEM. THIS IS YOUR LAST BODY. YOU ARE WISE. YOU ARE FREE FROM DESIRE AND YOU UNDERSTAND WORDS AND THE STITCHING TOGETHER OF WORDS. AND YOU WANT NOTHING. "VICTORY IS MINE, KNOWLEDGE IS MINE, AND ALL PURITY, ALL SURRENDER. "I WANT NOTHING. I AM FREE. I HAVE FOUND MY WAY. WHOM SHALL I CALL TEACHER?" THE GIFT OF TRUTH IS BEYOND GIVING. THE TASTE BEYOND SWEETNESS, THE JOY BEYOND JOY. THE END OF DESIRE IS THE END OF SORROW. When you have reached to your innermost core suddenly you become aware that all that you have been desiring was useless and what you really needed, what was your real nourishment, has been waiting for you inside you. Your search has to be inner,…
Nonmemory is convention's truth and mind which has become no-mind (is ultimate truth).
THIS IS FULFILLMENT, THIS IS THE HIGHEST GOOD. FRIENDS, OF THIS HIGHEST GOOD, BECOME AWARE. IN NONMEMORY IS MIND ABSORBED; JUST THIS IS EMOTIONALITY PERFECT AND PURE. IT IS UNPOLLUTED BY THE GOOD OR BAD OF WORLDLINESS LIKE A LOTUS UNAFFECTED BY THE MUD FROM WHICH IT GROWS. YET WITH CERTAINTY MUST ALL THINGS BE VIEWED AS IF THEY WERE A MAGIC SPELL..... IF WITHOUT DISTINCTION YOU CAN ACCEPT OR REJECT SAMSARA OR NIRVANA, STEADFAST IS YOUR MIND, FREE FROM THE SHROUD OF DARKNESS. IN YOU WILL BE SELF-BEING, BEYOND THOUGHT AND SELF-ORIGINATED. THIS WORLD OF APPEARANCE HAS FROM ITS RADIANT BEGINNING NEVER COME TO BE; UNPATTERNED, IT HAS DISCARDED PATTERNING. AS SUCH IT IS CONTINUOUS AND UNIQUE MEDITATION; IT IS NONMENTATION, STAINLESS CONTEMPLATION, AND NO-MIND. This is a very small beginning, but small beginnings can end in big things. When the Ganges comes out of the Himalayas, it is…