Osho's perspective on Self-Awareness
When Osho Spoke About Self-Awareness
Passages from the discourses where this theme comes alive.
Beloved Osho, since being with you so much growth and maturity has happened in me -- I have changed in every aspect. At the same time, when I look into myself, I feel the same as I did when I was a little child. Is this my witness, or something else?
It is your witness. Just remember one thing, that the feeling of being a child can be experienced in two ways. You can be a witness and the experience of childhood can be an object. Then one more step is needed: You have to become the purity, the innocence of the child... not separate -- you are it. It will come. This is how it comes: first it comes as an object; you are still separate and watching it. This is beautiful and a great experience -- that all rubbish is thrown out and you are feeling a very pure, innocent state -- but you are still separate from it. Just go on witnessing it, and soon even the childhood will disappear, and there will be only the witness, the subjectivity. There will be only the mirror without mirroring anything. Then you have arrived home. You can mirror beautiful things,…
Beloved Osho, these days I feel like a fruitcake. Also I'm reading the idiot by fyodor dostoevsky. Do you think there is any connection?
Vimal, there is nothing wrong in feeling like a fruitcake. It is really delicious. It is so nice... and it cannot have any connection with the reading of the great masterpiece of Fyodor Dostoevsky, THE IDIOT. THE IDIOT is only the name, but the person he calls the idiot in that great novel... That novel has to be considered one of the ten great novels in the whole world literature. There is no way to think that anything better than Fyodor Dostoevsky's IDIOT can be created. The idiot is a sage. He is called idiot by the people because they can't understand his simplicity, his humbleness, his purity, his trust, his love. You can cheat him, you can deceive him, and he will still trust you. That's why people think he is an idiot. He is really one of the most beautiful characters ever created by any novelist. The novel…
Beloved Osho, can you talk about the difference between so-called self-consiousness and self-awareness? Is self-consciousness a form of unawareness, or is there something of awareness in it?
Prem Anudeva, self-consciousness is a disease, it is sickness. Self-awareness is health -- it is wholeness. Both words appear to be the same, but in fact, because language is created by unconscious people, they cannot make the fine demarcations. Self-consciousness simply means ego consciousness and self-awareness means soul consciousness. Your ego is a false entity. Because you have so much money, because you have so much power, because you are born in a very respected family... your education, your position in life -- all these things constitute your ego. But your soul comes with you when you are born, it has nothing to do with anything. Whether you are educated or uneducated -- Kabir was not educated; Jesus was not educated -- whether you come from a respectable family or not, does not matter. It is not known whether Kabir was born from a Hindu family or a Mohammedan family.…
Witnessing, awareness, meditation, suddenly seem distant and sterile adult ideas in the face of the flood of wild and childish adoration which fills me while I am listening to you talk about jesus. My adult self says, "beware; don't indulge in sloppy, sleepy sentimentality -- this is just the mind, childhood christian conditioning." but the impulsive, yearning seven-year-old feels like sticking out her tongue at the twenty-eight-year-old seriously spiritual seeker. Which is the real me?
Neither -- but the one who is watching both, the one who has asked the question. You are neither a seven-year-old nor a seventy-year-old. Oldness is irrelevant to you, age does not belong to you. You are eternal -- neither the child, nor the young man, nor the old man. Always fall back to the witness, go deeper and deeper into witnessing. Never allow any other identification to settle: of the child or the adult -- no. All identifications are bondages. Total freedom is not in identification; total freedom is in non-identification with each and every thing. Someday, when all identifications are broken and they fall down -- like clothes drop -- and you are absolutely nude in your freedom, then you will know who you are. You are gods in exile. Only by witnessing will you remember who you are. Then all misery disappears, all poverty disappears. You are…
"To be called a 'nut' for embracing innocence and dropping ambition is often the first sign of true sanity; judge your path by the peace and freedom it brings, not by the approval of the crowd."
"Awakening is the leap from sleep to self-awareness, where the timeless flaws of human nature dissolve in the light of understanding."
"Feelings of shallowness arise not from a lack of an inner center, but from forgetting your inborn essence while identifying with the masks you wear. The journey is not to create a center, but to rediscover the original innocence that lies beneath the layers of conditioning."
"When the personal doer dissolves, life simply happens, free from the duality of surpriser and surprised."
"Commitment is not to dogmas, but the living radiance of awareness that transforms love into an overflowing share."
"You are not to become a light; you are already a light waiting to be discovered within. Turn inward, watch your thoughts, and let your innate luminosity reveal itself."
"When the Whole flows through you, the personal 'I' dissolves into vast emptiness; in that flow, there is no doer, only the river."
"Genuine self-awareness transcends the split of within and without, allowing energy to flow freely, merging opposites into a harmonious whole."
How seriously should one take oneself?
definition"Do not take yourself too seriously; in the lightness of laughter, the weight of ego dissolves, allowing love and awareness to flourish."
"To live moment to moment, drop the illusion of a separate 'me' and trust in the interdependence of life; in surrendering to the Whole, presence unfolds effortlessly."
"Face your fears directly and witness them without labels; in this awareness, what once seemed frightening transforms into a stepping stone for your growth."
"Trust the hidden work within you; growth often unfolds in the darkness of your awareness, revealing its fruits in due time."
"Authentic qualities blossom from within; they cannot be forced or proclaimed, for true uniqueness arises from deep understanding and transformation, not suppression."
"Your unchanged sense of being, the same as when you were a child, is the witness; in witnessing, even childhood dissolves, revealing the pure subjectivity of awareness."
Is there a connection between feeling like a fruitcake and reading The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky?
outcome"Real sanity often appears foolish to the crowd; it is better to embody childlike simplicity and love than to follow the cunning of politicians and priests."
"When questions fall away, wonder and joy remain; true intelligence lies in embracing the mystery of life rather than seeking to solve it."
"Do not seek a chief characteristic; instead, witness every movement of the mind without identification, for in that awareness lies the direct path to freedom and enlightenment."
"In the purity of self-awareness, there are no closets to hide in; true freedom lies in the simplicity of being transparent and innocent."
What does Bulleh Shah mean by being tightly closed and the non-existent appearing before the eyes?
definition"Open your heart and move beyond the confines of fear, for only then will the illusion of the non-existent dissolve, revealing the truth of your buddha-nature."
"Self-awareness is the eternal witness that never goes down; it is your identification that shifts, making it seem lost. Turn your attention back to the watcher within, and you will rediscover your true essence."
"To be an unripe fruit is to cling to the tree of desire, never fully experiencing life; true ripeness comes when you embrace your impulses and let go of the ego, allowing the divine to emerge."
"In every breath, you inhale life and exhale death; the present moment is the bridge where they meet, inviting you to embrace what comes and gracefully release what goes."
What does it mean to be in a corner?
definition"To be in a corner is to be trapped by the walls of your own beliefs; only by dropping your prejudices can you open the sky of true freedom."
What does it mean to look within oneself?
definition"To look within is to embrace a witnessing awareness that transforms innocence into wisdom, allowing silence and simplicity to reveal the truth beyond appearances."
"Not having a question is a blessing; it is the silence in which the answers can bloom effortlessly. Embrace the wordless thirst of inquiry, and let understanding unfold within you."
Profound Quotes on Self-Awareness
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