According to Osho, everything seems topsy-turvy because the mind can't bear not knowing, so it invents culprits and comic explanations to soothe its anxiety. His playful 'blame the Italians' riff exposes this reflex. See the joke, drop scapegoating, and relax into what is. When you stop demanding reasons, confusion settles, humor lightens the heart, and clarity arises by itself.
Life feels messy because our mind makes up someone to blame; laugh at that habit and just let things be.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, I laugh so much at your jokes. I would like to ask one question: why does a joke create so much laughter?
ONE THING: you have never been allowed to laugh; your laughter is repressed. It is like a repressed spring -- any excuse is enough and it comes out. You have been taught to be sad, long faces; you have been taught to be serious. If you are serious, nobody thinks that you are doing something wrong; it is accepted, it is the way things have to be. But if you are laughing, laughing too much, then people will start feeling embarrassed by you. They will start thinking something is weird:'Why is this man laughing'?" And if you are laughing without any reason, then you are mad; then they will take you to the psychiatrist; then they will hospitalize you. They will say, "He laughs without any reason! Only mad people laugh without any reason." In a better world, in a more civilized world, in a really civilized world, laughter will…
Osho, yes, Osho, yes. There is no more bottle, no more you, no more I, only this drunken joy that makes my toes curl in ecstasy. But, Osho... What was the joke?
Yoga Lalita, the ultimate joke, the only joke.... Now the goose is big -- it fills the whole bottle. It is impossible to fulfill the conditions. Either the bottle has to be broken -- that is not allowed, or the goose has to be killed -- that is not allowed. You have to bring the goose out without killing it and without destroying the bottle. That is not possible in the very nature of things. AIS DHAMMO SANANTANO -- this IS how life's law is, it is not possible. So man remains happy because it is not possible, so he can go on carrying the bottle. I see Lalita carrying the bottle with the goose.... But the truth is that the bottle is only our imagination, fantasy, just made of the same stuff that dreams are made of. This is the most difficult thing for humanity to accept. Hence, so…
Question: BELOVED MASTER, IS IT ALL A JOKE? BUT I DON'T GET IT. Vimalkirti, it certainly is a joke, but you cannot get it. You are German, and not only an ordinary German -- you are the great-grandchild of the German emperor! Just think of the old man in his grave: he must be tossing and turning, seeing you in orange, cleaning floors in Poona! What do you think? -- is it not a joke? Could your great-grandfather ever have imagined or dreamed that this was going to happen to his own children one day? Impossible that he would have ever dreamed about it -- but it has happened. You have been told for centuries that life is a serious affair; it has become a deep conditioning. Otherwise life is really a joke. It is playfulness, it is LEELA. It all depends on how you take it.
When I stand back and watch it all, it seems so incredibly and absurdly humorous. Is life really so unserious? Is that all there is to it?
Prem Indivar, what else do you want? What else do you expect out of life? Is this not more than one can ask for? Life is tremendously absurd, that is its beauty. It is ridiculous, that is its joy. It is playful, it is not serious at all. Except for stupid people, nobody is ever serious. Stupid people are bound to be serious because that is the only way to cover their stupidity. Intelligent people have a sense of humor. Stupid people cannot afford it, because a sense of humor needs great intelligence. To be miserable is very easy; anybody can do it. It needs nothing -- no intelligence, no courage. That's why there are so many miserable people all over the world: it is cheap, it costs nothing, it is available free of charge. But to be blissful one needs to risk much. To have a sense of humor…
Beloved Osho, sitting in front of us, what do you see? Do you find all these jokes while looking at us?
Svabhavo, you are right. I have to confess it: looking at you, what else can be found? You are all a joke unto yourself. Gautam Buddha said as his last statement: "Be a light unto yourself." The day I leave the body please remind me, so that I can make my last statement: "Be a joke unto yourself." That is far more joyful than being a light unto yourself. What are you going to do with a light? Light your cigars, or burn people's houses? But being a joke unto yourself, you will be a bliss for everyone. You are right... this is the way I find jokes -- looking at you. So be aware when I look at you; I am searching for a joke! A big old Indian was sitting in a bar out West when a dirty hippy came in and started to drink a lot and…