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Osho on Insensitivity

Insensitivity

Insensitivity emerges as a learned survival tactic, where childhood suppression of our innate sensitivity to appease authority leads to walls that shield us from vulnerability; yet, by recognizing this conditioning and courageously embracing our feelings, we can reclaim the innocent joy of being alive, allowing awareness to dissolve our defenses and restore our authentic selves.

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Osho's perspective on Insensitivity

When Osho Spoke About Insensitivity

Passages from the discourses where this theme comes alive.

Vigyan Bhairav Tantra Vol 1 · Discourse 14Question 3 1972-11-17 Woodlands, Bombay English

What are the reasons for man's insensitivities and how to remove them?

That is why insensitivity sets in. It helps you to be in this ugly world without being disturbed; but there is a cost -- and the cost is very much. You are at ease in this world without being disturbed, but then you cannot enter into the divine, into the total, into the whole. You cannot enter the other world. If for this world insensitivity is good and for that world sensitivity is good, that creates the problem. If you are really interested in entering that world, you will have to create sensitivity, you will have to throw away all these walls, these securities. Of course, you will become vulnerable. You will feel much suffering, but that suffering is nothing in comparison to the bliss you can reach through sensitivity. The more sensitive you become, the more you will feel compassion. But you will suffer because all around you there…
Satyam Shivam Sundram · Discourse 13Question 3 1987-11-13 Chuang Tzu Auditorium English

Beloved Osho, why do I get so sensitive? Where does it come from and is it possible to share sensitivity?

And President Truman said, "Of course! I slept as deeply as possible for the first time in a few months. The work is done perfectly. Now Japan is bound to surrender. When I received the news, I was so contented that for once I slept the whole night without even waking up." These are the insensitive people -- and his name is "True Man!" Since that day I have started calling him President Untrueman. But from the very childhood, the head is trained and the heart is left absolutely untrained. Ernie was talking to Ronnie, the little boy from next door. "How old are you?" asked Ernie. "I don't know," replied little Ronnie. "Do women bother you?" inquired Ernie. "No," said Ronnie. "Then," said Ernie knowingly, "You are four." Prem Anugita, my final suggestion to you is, keep climbing upwards. You may never reach the top, but it is definitely…
Nowhere To Go But In · Discourse 11Question 2 1974-06-04 Buddha Hall English

Beloved Osho, with meditation sensitivity increases, making life more difficult because one's reactions are so sharp and intense, and at every step it feels as though one's very life is at stake. How to attain the golden mean, the balance point, in this situation?

A very rich industrialist in Japan has erected a statue of himself outside his office. A very clever man! His psychologists counselled him to keep a statue of himself opposite his office. In his factory there are some ten thousand employees, and it has been announced to them that they should all feel free to maltreat the statue any way they choose! And it is an easy matter for anyone -- especially an employee -- to get angry. He does not need a reason. To have to serve someone else, to be someone's paid slave, is enough in itself to provoke anger. The workers, and even sometimes the managers, habitually abuse and mistreat the statue before they enter the factory, and this has had important results. What it has done is to create a psychological equality between the owner and his employees. We all behave like this. Even today we…
The New Alchemy To Turn You On · Discourse 3Question 1 1973-04-07 Bikaner Palace Hotel English

Kill out desire for sensation.... Learn from sensation and observe it, because only so can you commence the science of self-knowledge, and plant your foot on the first step of the ladder.

When you are looking at something -- a flower or a beautiful face or the stars -- become the eyes. Forget everything else, as if the whole rest of your body has gone out of existence and your consciousness has become just eyes. Then your eyes will be able to look more deeply, and you will become capable of looking at the invisible also. The invisible can also be seen, but you need more penetrating eyes to see it. KILL OUT ALL DESIRE FOR SENSATION, and grow in sensitivity. Think about the world less and about your senses more. Purify them. When you don't ask for sensations they become purified. When you ask for more and more sensations, you are killing your senses. The man who finds the divine is the man whose senses are totally alive. to their maximum capacity Then it is not only that you can see…

"To remove insensitivity, you must recognize the conditioning that taught you to suppress your feelings; drop the bargain, reclaim your joy, and embrace vulnerability, for awareness is the key that dissolves the walls around your heart."

Notice how you numbed yourself to stay safe, then stop fighting your feelings—especially body joy—and gently allow yourself to feel and connect again.
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