Why does it feel frightening to open our eyes to awareness?

Osho, you ask us to open our eyes, but why does it feel so frightening to open them?

Vedant! Of course there will be fear. With eyes closed, sweet dreams are going on. Open your eyes and those dreams will be scattered, shattered. With eyes closed, the lamp of hope is lit. Open your eyes and that lamp will go out. I have heard: Mulla Nasruddin one night dreamt that an angel appeared and said, “Take this—ninety-nine rupees, take them!” Mulla said, “Ninety-nine!” As the human mind is—anyone, even you would say—“What’s this? Ninety-nine? If you are giving, then at least make it a hundred. Something always feels off with ninety-nine.” You’ve heard the story of “the circle of ninety-nine,” haven’t you? There’s something troublesome about ninety-nine—so the mind says, “Just one more. Let it be complete!” Even in dreams, our arithmetic doesn’t break. Mulla said, “If you’re giving, brother, then at least make it a hundred! Give me a full bundle—what is this, ninety-nine!” The angel insisted,…

Osho, without asking, you filled my bag with true gems; without my even wanting, you filled my life with joys. How—what happened? Please tell me, Bhagwan: what was “impossible,” you made happen.

Don’t laugh at the ostrich. That is precisely the argument of all atheists: “How can God be, we don’t see him!” All atheists are ostriches, and all ostriches are atheists. The fundamental viewpoint of atheism is: what is not seen cannot be. The irony is: you do not see. Even if someone tries to show you, you won’t open your eyes. The latest researches reveal that man allows only two percent of events to enter and blocks ninety-eight percent outside. You see only two percent; ninety-eight percent you don’t. You hear only two percent; ninety-eight you don’t. You live only two percent; ninety-eight you don’t. That is why your life is lukewarm, without urgency, without intensity, without density. And without density and intensity, how will bliss be? Joys poured because you agreed, Jagdish, to remove a few obstacles. You agreed to open your eyes. People find it costly to open…

Osho, “If there is awareness, the other is always beneficial.” Is this what you mean by a buddha, an awakened one?

If there is awareness, the other is neither beneficial nor harmful; if there is awareness, you draw your well-being from everywhere. Without awareness, you draw your ill-being from everywhere. If there is awakening, wherever you are, heaven begins to be created—because of your awakening. If there is no awakening, wherever you are, the stench of hell begins to rise—because of you. Understand it this way: to live in stupor builds hell; to live awake builds heaven. No one has ever suffered while awake. No one has ever known happiness while asleep. In sleep, at most you can hope for happiness; happiness never arrives. In the hope of happiness you can bear a great deal of suffering, but happiness never arrives. What comes with wakefulness—that alone is happiness. There is no relation to the other at all. If you understand rightly, there is no other; it is you. Your idea about…

Osho, can fear—despite being negative—still help wake one up or heighten awareness? Why do so many Zen masters always frighten disciples with a stick? Many times you too have told us such stories and have also struck us with a stick.

Zen masters use the stick, but not to frighten you. Seeing a stick in the master’s hand, you may feel fear. That is your interpretation; that is your mistake. You become afraid because in the stick you have always only seen fear—never the master’s love, never his compassion. Toward that you are blind; toward that your heart has no sensitivity. The master lifts the stick out of compassion—not to frighten you, but to awaken you. He even strikes—not to destroy you, but to create you. He hits so that he can bring you to life. But to you it will feel like fear. You are afraid of everything, because fear is within you. Until the fear within dissolves, you will not be able to understand the master’s compassion; even his compassion will seem frightening. Often people ask me: Zen masters have wielded the stick, but in India—Jain, Buddhist, Hindu masters—did…

I am groping in darkness. Osho, can't you take me out of it?

I DON'T SEE ANY DARKNESS ANYWHERE. Only you are keeping your eyes closed; the darkness exists not. It is your creation. The sun is everywhere, the light is everywhere, it is full noontide. But you go on clutching your eyes shut, you go on keeping your eyes shut -- hence the darkness. Now, nobody can force your eyes to open. There are a few things you will have to do yourself. If you want to sneeze, you will have to sneeze -- I cannot do that for you. If you want to blow your nose, you will have do it yourself -- I cannot do that for you. There are a few things you will have to do for yourself. This is one of the most fundamental things in life, and it is good that you have to do it yourself. Otherwise, even in your freedom you will be a…