Stop trying to make things last forever, enjoy what’s here now, and the tight, unhappy feeling will soften.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho what to do with the feeling of helplessness at the frustration in finding that nothing is ultimately satisfying -- all is not enough?
One great saint died, and by coincidence his great disciple also died after a few hours. The great disciple was very much excited about seeing his master again. And he was thinking on the way -- it is a long journey from the earth to paradise -- he was thinking, "My master must have been received by angels playing on their harps and beautiful women dancing, and he must have been given the most beautiful women because he was such a great saint, such an ascetic. When he was on the earth he had never touched any woman. What to say about touching? He had never allowed any woman to enter into his house. He had never seen any woman face to face; if he had to talk to a woman he would always look downwards or would keep his eyes closed.What great austerities he went through! Now he must…
Osho, what is the relationship between meditation and patience?
If you sit to meditate to remove mental restlessness, you will keep looking back again and again: “Has it gone yet?” And the irony is that when you begin to meditate, restlessness will increase. Because what has been repressed will start surfacing; catharsis will begin. The rubbish you have kept hidden within and never allowed to express—meditation will break open those doors too. It will clean the house. Dust piled up for years, for births, will rise again; there will be gusts and storms. For a while even the little peace you had will be lost. Then you will panic: “I came for peace, and even what I had is gone.” Without patience, you could even become unhinged, because meditation brings such a great storm. The disease is not from a day or two; it’s from lifetimes. Meditation will break through all the layers to reach your innermost core. In…
Osho, I am feeling helpless. I don't know what I can do any more. It is as if everything I do won't change this, it only makes things worse. But also doing nothing does not make things better. You say that emptiness is bliss. For me it seems to be dull and boring; it is like being dead. When there is nothing I cannot see any beauty in it. I am fed up with it, I want to get out out. Please answer me, but please don't answer me like this: that taking sannyas would change everything and make everything beautiful. Thank you.
When I say emptiness is bliss I am not saying that emptiness is full of bliss -- don't misunderstand me. "Emptiness is bliss" is simply making you aware of their synonymousness. You can call it empty or you can call it bliss; both the words are synonymous. Emptiness is bliss because there is nothing which can bore you, which can make you feel dull, which can create anxiety, which can make you afraid, which can create anguish. There is nothing at all! Because there is nothing, the whole mind has gone, that state is called bliss. One can call it emptiness, one can call it bliss; these are just two expressions for the same phenomenon. And, Alexander, don't be a coward. You have such a great name -- Alexander -- don't be a coward! But Alexander himself was a coward in this sense. He was told by Diogenes, one of…
Osho, the very sky you tirelessly describe again and again—why is there still no fulfillment even after repeatedly dissolving into and becoming one with that same sky? In the outer world there seems to be every kind of fulfillment, satisfaction for everything; but within, there is a constant dissatisfaction, a feeling every moment that something is missing, that there is something more that has not yet been known. A little further… ever further—the thirst keeps growing. The more of your grace I receive, the more the thirst increases.
At the moment of life’s transition, when you turn from the outer to the inner, this is what happens. The dissatisfaction that was outside gets attached within. Before, there was money—and you wanted more. There was position—and you wanted it higher. There was a house—and you wanted to build a palace. Your dissatisfaction was fastened outside. Now you have turned your mind away from the outer, so outside there is a sense of satisfaction. Consider this: earlier there was no dissatisfaction within; within there was contentment, outside dissatisfaction. Now you have changed the arrangement. You turned the mind inward. You said, “Know what is within. Recognize the Divine, seek the self, have the vision of truth, attain liberation.” You redirected the dissatisfaction toward the inner, and the satisfaction shifted to the outer. They are two sides of the same coin. It is as if you were holding a coin in…
Osho, I am dissatisfied with everything. What should I attain so that I may find contentment?
As long as you think in the language of getting, you will not find contentment. It is the very language of getting that creates discontent. As long as you keep asking, “What should I get?” you will remain dissatisfied. Contentment is in celebrating what is. Discontent is in the desire to obtain what is not, in craving. And there is so much that you do not have. If you set out to get what is not, you will keep on going and going; you will never get it all. You will never be content. Discontent will remain the tale and the torment of your life. No; what is, is not little. You have been given life—have you offered thanks to the Divine for this life? And if you had to go purchase this life, how high a price would you not be ready to pay? These eyes were given, these…