What should I do to become alive?

Question: THE SIXTH QUESTION: I GATHER FROM YOUR WORDS THAT I AM DEAD. WHAT SHOULD I DO TO BECOME ALIVE? My friend, if you think so only because of my words it is of no value. Forget what I have said and what others have said and then look again. You have to see it yourself. That vision itself will become a path leading you to life. Then you won't have to ask, "What should I do to become alive?" He who comes to realize that he is dead, that his existence and his personality have been dead all along, will at the same time begin to see that which is not dead. But in order for you to see this your mental restlessness must be cast off. Seeing, darshan, is only possible when the mind is quiet, empty, free of passion. At present there are only thoughts.

Question: Second question: Osho! I can’t make any sense of whether I’m alive or not! You will have to drop all the logic you have collected—borrowed and stale. You will have to rely on your own intelligence. Only your own intelligence can liberate you. No one else’s truth can set you free. Only your own intelligence can give you life. And this crowd all around—these are all dead. It is a crowd of corpses. Seeing them, don’t conclude, “After all, there are so many; they too are alive like me, so I must be alive.” That would be mere logic, empty logic, of no value. In Jesus’ life there is a mention: early one morning he came to the lake and placed his hand on a fisherman’s shoulder. The man had just cast his net.

Question: OSHO, HOW CAN I BECOME A LIGHT UNTO MYSELF? But this is only in the beginning. Just a little patience, just a little awaiting.... If you go on looking, watching these thoughts silently, with no judgment, with no antagonism, with no desire even to stop them -- as if you have no concern with them -- unconcerned.... Just as one watches the traffic on the road, or one watches the clouds in the sky, or one watches a river flow by, you simply watch your thoughts. You are not those thoughts, you are the watcher, remembering that "I am the watcher, not the watched." You cannot be the watched, you cannot be the object of your own subjectivity. You are your subjectivity, you are the witness, you are consciousness. Remembering it.... It takes a little time, slowly slowly the old habit dies. It dies hard but it dies, certainly.

Question: BELOVED OSHO, WHY SUCH AN ENORMOUS FEAR OF ALLOWING MYSELF TO BE REALLY ALIVE? The experience of all those in the whole history of mankind who have lived totally and intensely, who have burned their life's torch from both the ends together, is that they never came across death. They were so alive that a great transformation happened at the moment of death. They don't die, they don't become unconscious; they simply move either in a new form of life, or if they have become so awakened that there is no need for any other form, they move into the formless universe. The whole universe becomes their body and their being. That is the ultimate peak that you are capable of. But if you are afraid of life, then it is very difficult. In India there is a plant, a very beautiful plant.

Question: BELOVED OSHO, WOULD YOU TALK SOME MORE ON THE ART OF HOW TO BE FULLY ALIVE? It has been told by all the religions that love is animalistic. Although I have been watching animals, I have never seen any love in any species of animals. Love is absolutely human. Animals may indulge in sex, but have you watched animals while they are indulging in sex? You will not see any joy. You will find them absolutely British. Such hangdogs, as if they are going through a misery. And in fact they are going through a misery. It is a biological necessity, and they feel it -- that they are being forced to do something by some unknown force in which they are not interested. That's why, except man, no animal makes love all the year round.