Goals

Osho, if we put it in the language of science, perhaps we could say this: suppose we have some goal to be attained in the future—should we take it as lila, as play, and let it go into the unconscious mind, while keeping the conscious mind only on what needs to be known in the present, in awareness? Like a scientist who stays with the process he is engaged in, the operation he is carrying out—remaining with that—and forgets what he is to achieve in the future?

No—he has to forget; otherwise he cannot do the process at all. The scientist has to forget; otherwise mistakes will happen right now. He forgets—only then can he arrive. He becomes totally present in what he is doing. For him there is no future, no result, no end. What is happening now is the peak. From that very happening, the end will also come—but that is secondary. That is not the point. A goal has come into your mind—then it has already sunk in. Why keep bringing it up again and again? You are engaged in some work, you are doing a research. The search has already become part of your consciousness. Why keep remembering it? Now plunge wholly into the work. And in fact we don’t notice that the very idea of the search also arose in some present moment. I do not call that the future. Imagine a…

Question: BELOVED OSHO, WHAT IS THE GOAL OF LIFE AND HOW CAN IT BE ACHIEVED? The camels are very difficult people! Whatever you do to them, somehow or other they will express their camelhood. My whole life I have been telling you there is no goal! Life is its own goal. There is nothing outside life that you have to achieve. All achievement is the projection of the ego. The very idea of achievement is ambition. What you achieve does not matter -- money, power, knowledge; these are not in any way going to give you life. In fact, in achieving power, in achieving money, in achieving prestige, in achieving any other ambition, you are losing your life, you are sacrificing your life. You are involved in stupid things, and by the side life goes on slipping out of your hands.

It is not a difficult process because the process of looking is the same, just the object changes: you start turning your consciousness upon yourself. You may have seen many pictures of snakes swallowing their own tails. Those pictures are very ancient symbols of mystery schools; they represent this inner transformation. When your consciousness starts turning upon itself you become a circle, and the moment you are a circle you are no more the same old person. Your life starts having a new grace, a new beauty, a new beatitude. You become golden, you become precious. For the first time you have a contact with god, and that contact is a magical transformation. It is sheer magic and a miracle. Enjoy the trip, don't be too fixated on the target, Osho said in conclusion. Bliss is not a pond, it is a river. It is not static.

Question: Osho, since life and death follow each other, there must surely be some gap in their timing. People say the life that follows death is just a change of dress—the clothing changes, the soul remains the same. The “dress” we receive—do we get it by our own choice, with our consent, or is it forced upon us? Birth seems to be given to us without our consent. If so, does it mean that at that time we had some intention about what we would do with this dress? And have we now forgotten what that intention was—what our goal is? And if it is given to us, surely it must be given with some thought—“Go, and do this.” So what is our goal now? If all of us share the same goal, why then are our environments and “dresses” not the same?