Reality

Beloved Osho, does it really matter that I can't distinguish imagination from reality? If I can be aware that "I am", is this not enough?

It is certainly enough. It does not matter. There is no need to make any effort to discriminate between imagination and reality. You simply remain aware of yourself. And whatever is imagination will slowly disappear, and whatever is real will remain. It is again from Chetana. But remember, your friendship with ghosts.... Those ghosts will disappear. Because you cannot discriminate between who is a ghost and who is a real person, there may be fear that perhaps you are thinking that this is a real person -- and he disappears. But that much risk has to be taken. In the commune Milarepa used to disappear. That was because of your awareness of yourself. Then you can't find where he is. So if you are not afraid, then there is no problem. You simply remain aware of yourself. And I have never been teaching discrimination. Imagination is that which disappears. Reality…

Maneesha has asked: beloved Osho, is there just one reality, and can it be perceived only by no-mind?

There are two realities: one that is perceived by the mind, and one that is perceived by the no-mind. For the no-mind, the reality of the mind becomes phenomenal, dreamlike. That's why people who have attained to buddhahood, will call the world just a dream. But a dream also has its own existence -- the buddha also becomes hungry. You cannot eat meditation. You will have something from the world of the mind, something objective to eat, because your hunger is also part of the objective world, your body is part of the objective world. You are standing on the borderline of two worlds: the objective world outside, and the subjective world inside. As you go deeper into the subjective, the outer becomes more and more dreamlike, a faraway echo. But I will not say it is unreal. The people who have said it is unreal simply mean that it…

What if there are only mirrors and mirrors and mirrors reflecting each other?

PRABUDDHA, IT IS SO. That s precisely how it is, because all is consciousness. Consciousness is a mirror -- a mirror reflecting mirrors. When your consciousness is clean, clear, unobsessed by anything, unoccupied, this is how one realizes reality. All is one -- the same consciousness. And this is the beatitude, the benediction, the splendour. Once it happened... Ramakrishna was drinking tea. A few disciples were sitting there, Vivekananda was also there, and Ramakrishna started saying 'This cup of tea is God himself.' NOW, this was too much for Vivekananda. He was a well-educated man, logical, rational -- this looked like absolute nonsense. 'A cup of tea... and God? Ramakrishna must be mad. Now, this is going too far.' Just to reject the whole idea he went out -- just as a protest. He didn't say anything to Ramakrishna, but the protest was there; he simply went out. Another friend…

Beloved Osho, the scientific vision of objective reality and the subjective experience of existence seem to be two completely separate and unbridgeable dimensions. Is this because of the nature of things, or is it only an illusion of our mind?

The scientific approach to existence and the religious approach have been in the past separate and unbridgeable. The reason was the insistence of old religions on superstitions, belief systems, denial of inquiry and doubt. In fact, there is nothing unbridgeable between science and religion, and there is no separation either. But religion insisted on belief -- science cannot accept that. Belief is covering up your ignorance. It never reveals to you the truth; it only gives you certain dogmas, creeds, and you can create an illusion of knowledge through them. But that knowledge is nothing but a delusion. Anything based on belief is bogus. Because religions insisted continuously on belief, and the basic method of science is doubt, the separation happened. And it became unbridgeable. It is unbridgeable if religion does not arise and face the challenge of doubt. The whole responsibility of the religions has been to keep these…