Osho's perspective on Curiosity
When Osho Spoke About Curiosity
Passages from the discourses where this theme comes alive.
Osho, you said the first condition should be curiosity and thirst, and secondly that one should be able to give oneself totally. As long as there is curiosity, there is doubt—then how is total giving possible?
In fact, on the day inquiry is complete, doubt will no longer remain. This is a very interesting point; it’s worth understanding a little. When does doubt actually arise? Inquiry is not doubt. Doubt happens only to those who have some belief. One who has a belief can doubt; but if one has no belief, what is there to doubt? On what will doubt stand? How will you doubt? Where there is search, there is neither doubt nor belief. Doubt arises only when there has been some prior belief; it is born in opposition to a preconceived belief. Someone says, “I doubt God.” That means he must have had some belief in God—otherwise how would the doubt arise? No—the seeker has neither doubt nor belief. The seeker says, “I don’t know—so how can I doubt? How can I believe?” The seeker is not an unbeliever. The seeker’s mind is unclouded,…
ओशो, आपने कहा कि पहली शर्त जिज्ञासा और प्यास होनी चाहिए और दूसरी बात कही कि अपने को पूरी तरह दे सकते हैं? जब तक जिज्ञासा है, शंका है, तब तक पूरी तरह से देना कैसे संभव होगा?
असल में, जिस दिन जिज्ञासा पूरी होगी उस दिन शंका नहीं रह जाएगी। यह बड़े मजे की बात है। इसे थोड़ा-सा समझ लेना उचित है। असल में संदेह कब होता है? जिज्ञासा संदेह नहीं है, इंक्वायरी डाउट नहीं है। असल में संदेह तो सिर्फ उन्हीं लोगों को होता है जिनका कोई विश्वास होता है, जिनके पास कोई बिलीफ होती है। जिसका कोई विश्वास है उसे संदेह हो सकता है। लेकिन जिसका कोई विश्वास नहीं उसे संदेह कैसे होगा? संदेह होगा किस पर? संदेह करोगे कैसे? जहां खोज है, वहां न संदेह है, न विश्वास है। क्योंकि संदेह पैदा ही तब होता है जब हमारा कोई विश्वास रहा हो। पूर्व-विश्वास के विपरीत ही संदेह पैदा होता है। जैसे कोई आदमी कहता है कि मुझे ईश्वर पर संदेह है। लेकिन इसका मतलब है कि ईश्वर पर उसे थोड़ा-बहुत विश्वास रहा होगा। नहीं तो संदेह कैसे होगा? नहीं, खोजी को न संदेह होता, न विश्वास होता। खोजी कहता है, मुझे पता ही नहीं, तो संदेह कैसे करूं? विश्वास कैसे करूं? खोजी अविश्वासी नहीं है। …
I am a very curious person. That's why I have come to you. Osho, what do you say about curiosity?
Curiosity is good, curiosity is beautiful, but don't stop at it. It is a good beginning, but not the end, because curiosity always remains lukewarm. It is an intellectual gymnastics. It is good to be curious because that is how one starts the journey of inquiry into existence; but if one simply remains curious, then there will be no intensity in it. One can move from one curiosity to another -- one will become a driftwood -- from one wave to another wave, never getting anchored anywhere. Curiosity is good as a beginning, but then one has to become more passionate. One has to make life a quest, not only a curiosity. And what do I mean when I say one has to make one's life a quest? Curiosity creates questions, but your life never becomes a quest. Questions are many, a quest is one. When some question becomes so…
Question: BELOVED OSHO, WHY AM I NOT CURIOUS ABOUT ANYTHING ANYMORE? Devageet, twelve hundred years ago there was a mystery school exactly like this. The mystery school belonged to one of the greatest Sufis, Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi. The Turkish word mevlana means Beloved Master; it has never been used for anyone else. In front of his mystery school was written in bold letters: "This place is not for those who are only curious." Curiosity has no spiritual meaning. Curiosity is something like itching in your mind: if you itch it goes; if you don't itch it goes also. Curiosity has no passion in it; it is very superficial. Just by the way, an inquiry, a question arises in you -- but it is not your quest, you are not to dedicate your life in searching for the answer to it.
Beloved master, could you please say something about curiosity? I often have experienced it as something which makes me feel alive and excited. But when I tried to meditate, it turned out to be a disturbance. And now, when I sit in your presence, getting more and more silent, I don't want to know anything anymore.
Anand Preeti, curiosity is childish. It certainly keeps you excited, but it has never made anyone wise, in tune with himself and the universe. Curiosity is a kind of itching in the head. You scratch, it feels good, but don't scratch too much; scratch in different places. But itching is not going to make your intelligence more pure, more clear, more far-reaching. That's why in meditation it becomes a disturbance. It is your old habit, so you go on being curious about everything, what it is. But in meditation you have to remain centered within yourself: no curiosity, no thinking, no question. And I am happy that you managed and that you can say, "Now when I sit in your presence, getting more and more silent, I don't want to know anything anymore." To not want to know anything anymore is to be at the stage of a sage. He…
What is the significance of curiosity?
definitionProfound Quotes on Curiosity
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