What is truth and can it be attained in parts?

The second thing you have asked: What is truth? And can it be attained in parts?

Truth is not attained in parts. Because truth is indivisible; it cannot be broken into pieces. It is not that someone gets a little truth now, then a little more, and then a little more. It doesn’t happen that way. Truth is available only all at once. It is not obtained gradually, in sequence. It comes whole; it comes as an explosion. Yet if I say it comes only all at once, much fear arises: we are such weak people—how will we ever get it all at once! A man goes to climb to the roof. The roof is received all at once when he reaches it, but he climbs the steps one by one. On no step is he on the roof. On the first step he is not on the roof; even on the last step he is still not on the roof. He is becoming near, but…

Osho, what is the definition of God?

Words are very small. If you say God is light, then what of darkness? The scriptures have said that God is light. Suppose we accept this as a definition—then what about darkness? Where will darkness go? Darkness is too; in fact it is far more than light. Light sometimes is and sometimes is not; darkness is always, eternal. Where will you place darkness? If you say God is light, darkness is left out. If you say God is darkness, then light is left out. If you say God is both darkness and light, a contradiction arises: they cannot be together. Try to have both darkness and light in the same room. If you bring in light, darkness disappears; if you preserve darkness, you cannot have light. Then how can both be together? That becomes an impossibility. So you cannot say “both” either. Then the fourth device is to say: it…

Beloved Osho,sometimes while just sitting, the question comes up in the mind: what is truth? But by the time I come here I realize that I am not capable to ask. But may I ask what happens in those moments when the question arises so strongly that had you been nearby I would have asked it. Or if you had not replied, I would have caught hold of your beard or collar and asked, "what is truth, Osho?"

When you fall in love with a woman there is some truth -- if you have fallen absolutely unaware, if you have not 'done' it in any way, if you have not acted, managed, if you have not even thought about it. Suddenly you see a woman, you look into her eyes, she looks into your eyes, and something clicks. You are not the doer of it, you are simply possessed by it, you simply fall into it. It has nothing to do with you. Your ego is not involved, at least not in the very, very beginning, when love is virgin. In that moment there is truth, but there is no interpretation. That's why love remains indefinable. Soon the mind comes in, starts managing things, takes possession of you. You start thinking about the girl as your girlfriend, you start thinking of how to get married, you start thinking…

Question: First question: Osho, can Truth be attained through love? Love and truth are not two events; they are two facets of one event. Realize truth and love manifests. Realize love and truth is directly revealed. Set out in search of truth and, upon reaching the goal, you find yourself entering the temple of love as well. You went looking for truth—love arrived alongside. Or travel by the path of love; the moment you arrive at love’s temple, truth will be there. They go together. Love and truth are two names of the Divine. There are, however, two kinds of people in the world. For some, attaining truth is easy—love follows as its fragrance. For others, love is easy—truth comes as its consummation. Hence knowledge (jnana) and devotion (bhakti) are the two fundamental paths. Woman and man are the two primordial polarities.

Butei, the emperor of ryo, sent for fu-daishi to explain the diamond sutra. On the appointed day fu-daishi came to the palace, mounted the platform, rapped on the table before him, then descended and, still not speaking, left. Butei sat motionless for some minutes, whereupon shiko, who had seen all that had happened, went up to him and said, "may I be so bold, sir, as to ask whether you understood?" the emperor shook his head sadly. "what a pity," said shiko. "fu-daishi has never been more eloquent."

I have heard that Wittgenstein, a great Western philosopher, who comes nearest to the Zen attitude, used to say that he did not solve philosophical problems -- he dissolved them. And he used to say: "We leave things as they are but perhaps for the first time we come to see them as they are." Nothing can be done about things as they are. All that can be done is to help you to see them as they are. "We leave things as they are but perhaps for the first time we come to see them as they are." And again: "Philosophy simply puts everything before us, and neither explains nor deduces anything -- since everything lies open to view, there is nothing to explain." Yes, life is a mystery, and there is nothing to explain -- because everything is just open, it is just in front of you. Encounter…