Familiarity

Osho, there is a Sanskrit aphorism: ati-parichayāt avajñā — from excessive familiarity comes contempt. With all things, persons, and events here, when there is too much familiarity the mind gets bored. But with you, not only does excessive familiarity not breed contempt, even familiarity does not happen; on the contrary, unfamiliarity keeps increasing. What kind of mystery is this?

It is a paradox! As familiarity grows, boredom arises — this is the rule of the world. The more familiarity, the more boredom. Because familiarity means curiosity is lost; what there was to know has been known. Familiarity means nothing remains to search for; recognition has happened. Then the mind’s run — its search, its inquisitiveness, its eagerness — is finished. Boredom simply means the mind has no activity left. This is the worldly rule. And wherever the opposite happens, understand that the event is outside the world. If with someone, as familiarity grows, your curiosity grows; the more familiar you become, the more your attraction increases; and the more you know, the more opens up to be known — such a person we have called one who has attained Buddhahood, nirvana, liberation. You can never exhaust such a one; if you could exhaust him, he belonged to the world.…

Beloved Osho, there is a saying in sanskrit: ati parichayat avagyo -- too much acquaintance with the things, people and events of this world brings boredom. But in so much acquaintance with you not only the boredom does not set in but even the acquaintance does not seem to happen. On the contrary, the feeling of knowing you less and less grows. What is this mystery?

It is ulatbansi! As the acquaintance grows, boredom sets in; that is the law of the world. They grow in the same proportion, because acquaintance means no more curiosity -- whatever was worth knowing has become known. Acquaintance means, now nothing remains to be sought after, all is familiarized. So the race of the mind in the name of search, curiosity, eagerness, is demolished. This is what boredom means, that there is now no activity left with which the mind can keep itself occupied. This is the law of the world. And wherever something contrary is happening, you can be sure it is some phenomenon of beyond the world. If your eagerness and curiosity also grow along with your familiarity with someone -- the more familiar you get the more attraction you feel, and the more you know the person the more reveals itself to be explored -- then this…

Osho, how can one love or be devoted to the Supreme Reality which we do not even know? Is love for the unknown possible?

And you want high position—why? So that you are not below anyone; that brings shame. You do not want to be behind anyone; being behind hurts the mind. You want to reach a place above which there is no other place: become president or prime minister—reach a place beyond which there is nowhere to go; then you can rest. No more pushing, no more being pushed; the last halt, the destination. But it never comes. You reach Delhi—but not the destination. Still, the search is for God. Devotees have called God param-pada—the Supreme Station; and param-dhan—the Supreme Wealth. Why? Because on finding God, all cravings are emptied. On finding God, the running ceases; now there is nowhere else to go. Rest has come; home has come; the destination has come. Now there is only to dive—plunge into this nectar; drown in it. Now the moments of delight arrive—lila begins. No…

Beloved Osho, how is one to overcome boredom? How can one rediscover mystery in things that have become boring, repetitive, demystified?

What to do? Meditate. Whenever you see a thing which you feel is old, meditate. Look deeper, look again, think twice, feel, touch, be sensitive. Try to discover something new in it and you will always be enriched, you will always find something new there. Sometimes sit with your wife or with your child, with your friend, and look in the eyes, touch the face as if you are meeting for the first time. Close your eyes, put the light off, touch the face of your wife or your husband and feel the lines, the curves, as if for the first time. And suddenly the boredom will disappear, the person will become new. The person has always been becoming new only you never touched, your touch was dead. You never felt, your feeling was dead. "How is one to overcome boredom?" The first thing to remember, drop your pattern; your…