According to Osho, the sense of meaninglessness and emptiness arises from the mind’s constant craving for “more.” Desire builds a wall; non-desire opens the door. Simply watch the urge to want, and in that awareness desiring dissolves. Then fullness, bliss, and spontaneous sharing emerge—life regains poetry, harmony, and dance. Meaning appears not by acquiring more, but by dropping the hunger for more.
If you stop chasing ‘more’ and just watch the wanting, the empty feeling fades and you feel naturally full and alive.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, why do I feel that if life is meaningless and empty? It seems that I am deathly afraid of being alone. How can I go totally into my aloneness with joy instead of fear?
I am not in favor of all these five "existentialists" -- in quotes -- because I am not even ready to call them existentialists. Kierkegaard never really lived, or if you call his life, life, then it was worse than death. He came out of his house only once a month, and the house was not much, just a small room. His father, seeing that his son seemed to be a little crazy -- continuously reading and writing -- tried to read his books, and threw them away because he could not manage to figure out what Kierkegaard wanted to say. And he goes on and on about nothing, much ado about nothing. Kierkegaard never got married. One foolish woman was in love with him... must have been foolish, because he was an ugly man in the first place, and a strange type, eccentric, who lived in the darkness of…
Osho, what is the meaning of existence?
Buddha says: The inner emptiness is so beautiful, don't stuff it with junk, leave it as it is. And that's what meditation is all about, that's what Zen is. It means living out of emptiness, asking nothing from life, living moment to moment for no other reason, just enjoying being alive. It is more than you can ask for! What more meaning do you need? Is breathing not enough? Is this chirping of the birds not enough? Is the green and the red and the gold of the trees not enough? Is this vast existence with all its splendor not enough? You want some meaning? Yoka says: <q>THE MOON RISES ABOVE THE RIVER. ON THE BANK THE WIND PLAYS SOFTLY IN THE PINES ALL NIGHT LONG, PURE AND CALM. WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THAT SERENITY? LOOK ON THE BUDDHA'S PRECEPTS OF NATURE. WINTER AND AUTUMN MISTS, DEW, CLOUDS, SPRING…
Osho, what is the meaning of life? Life has no meaning by itself; we have to pour meaning into it. Life is an opportunity; if you infuse it, it becomes meaningful.
Life is like a blank canvas; paint upon it and meaning will appear. The meaning will depend on your skill. If a Picasso paints, it will be worth millions; if you paint, perhaps it won’t fetch millions. There is as much meaning in life as we put into it. Life in itself is empty; life is a bare opportunity. Possibility is all; actuality is nothing. That’s why people so often think: life is futile! What meaning? People come to me asking, “What is the meaning of life?” They are imagining that meaning is some ready‑made thing—lying around somewhere to be handed to you, like predigested food. No; meaning is born of creativity. Compose a few songs; make a sculpture; dance a little. Love a little; meditate a little. Explore; dive into inquiry. And you will find that meaning begins to arrive. And the more multidimensional your being, the more unending…
Beloved master, is this really all there is? My life seems so meaningless and empty. I keep thinking there must be something more. I want there to be something more.
The more you will want the more you will miss. You can choose. If you want to remain miserable, want more, more and more, and you will be missing more and more. This is your choice, remember, this is your responsibility. Nobody is forcing you. If you really want to see that which is, don't hanker for the future, for more. Just see to that which is. The other day Buddha was saying: See that which is and see that which is not. That is meditation, and meditation takes you beyond mind. Mind is constantly asking, desiring, demanding and creating frustration because it lives in expectations. The whole world is suffering through meaninglessness, and the reason is that for the first time man is asking more than he has ever asked. For the first time man is desiring more than he has ever desired. Science has given him so much…
Question: Second question: Osho, life seems meaningless. What should I do? He asked the second son. He smiled and said, “I was clever beforehand—I wouldn’t fall into that trouble.” He quickly opened the safe. A terrible stench rose—the seeds had rotted. From which flowers could have bloomed, from which an incomparable fragrance could have arisen—there was only ash. The father said, “These are seeds? This is ash. Are seeds to be kept in a safe? Madman! Are seeds banknotes? Banknotes are already dead—you can keep them anywhere. Do notes contain any possibility? They are corpses. Have you ever seen anything deader than money? If they were notes, a safe would do. But seeds? Do you store seeds in safes? They are not minted in man’s mint; God creates them. You do not lock them away. You have killed them—you have destroyed all possibility.