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According to Osho, to ‘live in danger’ means dropping the cozy prison of the past and staying ready to move into the unknown. Security from what is familiar breeds stagnation. Real care for the future arises from two moves: first, completely release the past; second, live the present as totally and consciously as possible. This alert openness invites growth, freshness, and a future not mechanically repeated from yesterday.
Don’t hide in what you already know; bravely let go of yesterday and fully pay attention to now so life can grow new.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, what do you mean by "live in danger"? Should man not be careful for the future? Please explain it.
The second care that can be taken is to live in the present as totally as possible, because it is out of the present that future grows. And you never bother about the present; you think only of the future. You constantly think of the future. Either you think of the past or you think of the future, and both are foolish. Live in the present. That's what I mean when I say live dangerously. I have come across a story. Somebody like you must have invented it because there is no reference about it anywhere -- neither in Christian sources nor in non-Christian sources. Two women are crying and weeping under Jesus' cross. One says to the other, "I would give everything to be able to take the nail out of his hand!" After a few minutes, the other replies, "Yes, me too! I would give everything to he…
What does it mean to live dangerously?
If you enjoy many more things for their own sake, you will be more alive. Of course, your life will always be in a risk, danger. But that's how life has to be. Risk is part of it. In fact the better part of it is risk, the best part of it is risk. The most beautiful part of it is risk. It is every moment a risk. You may not be aware. You breathe in, you breathe out. There is risk. Even breathing out, who knows whether the breath will come back or not? It is not certain, there is no guarantee. But there are a few people whose whole religion is security. Even if they talk about god, they talk about god as the supreme security. If they think about god, they think only because they are afraid. If they go to pray and meditate, they are going…
No, Osho, what happens is that our mind is in one of two states. Either I feel I will be able to solve it, or I’m afraid that I won’t be able to solve it...
Because of that ignorance, we create many problems we don’t even suspect. For instance, in India almost everyone assumes that the sexual act is devastating. Physiologically that is absolutely wrong—completely wrong. In fact, sexual inactivity is devastating. Activity is not devastating. And it is also interesting that anyone who thinks he can go to extremes in sexual activity is mistaken. The body has checks. You cannot go to extremes; there are bodily checks. Nature has arranged it so you cannot expend surplus force beyond what the body allows. But one can misuse it, right? Even misuse is not possible—if you use full understanding. As far as sex has been understood, misuse is not possible. Misuse is impossible. Then not just sex—by that argument you can’t misuse anything! If we extend that very argument, you can’t misuse anything! No, no—you can misuse many things. Why not sex? Because the entire arrangement…
15. The discriminating person realizes that everything leads to misery because of change, anxiety, past experience, and the conflicts that arise between the three attributes and the five modifications of the mind. 16. Future misery is to be avoided.
17. THE LINK BETWEEN THE SEER AND THE SEEN THAT CREATES MISERY, IS TO BE BROKEN. I have heard that Mulla Nasrudin went into a restaurant. The waitress said, 'What you need, I am ready to do.' He was the first customer that day, and it was in India. The first customer has to be treated and welcomed like a guest, because he starts the day. Mulla Nasrudin said, 'Treat me in a homey way. Bring things.' The waitress brought things, whatsoever he ordered: coffee, this and that. Then she asked, 'Anything else?' Mulla Nasrudin said, 'Now sit in front of me and nag. I am feeling homesick.' Even if the wife fights every day, it becomes a habit. You cannot afford to lose it, you miss it. I told the man, 'Don't bother again now. It is just a modification of the mind, a habit. You are a lazy…
Osho, if there is danger in Kundalini awakening, what is that danger? And if there is danger, then why awaken it at all?
When there is insecurity, danger, we flee in fear, we hide. Thus we lose life. Many people lose life trying to save it. Only those live who do not try to save life, but move through it with a leap. There is danger. That is precisely why you should go—because there is danger. And it is the greatest danger. There is not so much danger in climbing to the summit of Gaurishankar (Everest). Nor in going to the moon. Recently some travelers lost their way—great danger—but the danger was only to their garments. Only bodies could be exchanged. But the danger in meditation is greater—greater than going to the moon. Why are we so afraid of danger? Have you ever thought why we fear it so? Behind the fear of every kind of danger is ignorance. We fear we might dissolve. We fear we might be lost. We fear we…