Say everything honestly so your heart feels lighter and your mind can become calm.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, every time after speaking I feel I have been dishonest; only when I remain silent do I feel honest—completely honest with myself. Why is this?
At Harvard University, psychologists ran an experiment. They split a class into two groups. To one half, in a separate room, they said: “The problem on the board is very difficult. There is hardly any hope that any of you can solve it. Even students in higher classes struggle with it. Only great mathematicians can solve it. We’re giving it just to see—by chance, perhaps—there is no assurance at all—maybe one of you might head a little in the right direction. Solving it completely is impossible, still try.” They tried. Out of fifteen students, only three solved it. To the other fifteen, in another room, they said—about the same problem—“It’s very simple. So simple that if any of you fail to solve it, it would be surprising. Students in lower classes have solved it.” Amazingly, twelve solved it; only three failed. What happened? Your confidence is borrowed—others hand it to…
This is the greatest adventure in life; no other adventure can be compared to this. Its ecstasy is great, but courage is needed to be utterly naked with reality, with no mind, to be with reality without the barrier of the mind. That is the meaning of satyarthi: existentially one has to enquire into the reality that is, that which is, that surrounds us, within and without. There is no need to go to second-hand sources. Truth is available first-hand. Truth is constantly available, immediately available; there is no need to bring in Buddha or Mahavir or Krishna. And the beauty is: when you know it without bringing anybody in, they are fulfilled in you. And if you bring them in, you will be simply creating it; it will be your own script.
How do you bring about the catharsis that you are talking about?
Modern man -- the modern mind and the modern body -- is so involved with sex that unless that center is hit, nothing can be done with man. The sex center can be hit in two ways: from without or from within. Sex is the only energy in you; it is the source of all energies. If it moves out, it becomes biological reproduction. If it moves in, it becomes spiritual transformation -- a rebirth of yourself. In the third step, you are to just go on crying, screaming, "HOO!" and hitting the sex center. Soon, within a few weeks, you will begin to feel an uprush of energy starting from the sex center and moving up through your spine. You will feel a warmth, you will feel that a new path has been opened inside you. And once this energy begins to move from your spine toward the head,…
Question: Osho, Near the monastery of the Zen master Bankei there lived a blind man. When Bankei died, that blind man said to a friend: Because I am blind and cannot observe a person's face, I have to judge his character by his voice. Usually, when I hear someone congratulating another on his happiness or success, I also hear in it the hidden undertone of envy. And when sorrow is expressed over another's misfortune, I hear within it a certain pleasure and contentment—as if the one offering condolences is actually happy that some gain is about to come his way. "But in my entire experience, Bankei's voice always reflected only truth. When he expressed joy, I heard nothing but joy. And when he expressed grief, I heard pure grief. Osho, please shed light on this parable. Control must be dropped—only then will the ego die.
Osho, if silence has so much power, why does anyone speak at all? If silence has great power and silence is everything, then why are words spoken? Why does anyone speak?
Silence does have great power, but there has to be someone who can hear silence! Why does the need to speak arise? It arises because I see you heading toward a pit. I see that you will fall into it and break your arms and legs. I am standing here; I could say it to you from silence, but you don’t have ears to hear silence. So I shout, “You’ll fall into the pit!” In that, is my power lost? Is there any harm in that? No, no, no—nothing is lost. The one who has come to know power never loses anything. The one who has not known keeps losing everything. The one who has known never loses anything. In whatever form, to speak of the wordless we use words... That is exactly what I am saying: the difficulty is that if I write something like an autobiography, it will…