Self-Knowledge

Questioner: how can one know his own distinctive type?

It is not that difficult to know one's type. One way is to remember this simple maxim: that which attracts you is not your type; it is the opposite of your own nature, because the opposite attracts. So beware of the opposite, reflect for a while on it and know that it is not your cup of tea. It seems paradoxical, and difficult too, to understand that what repels you is your type. How does a man know he is a man? Another man does not attract him, while a woman does. How does a woman know she is a woman? She wants to be with a man, not a woman. A woman repels another woman; it is difficult to keep two women together. So take it for a rule: you are not what attracts you; you are its opposite. You are really that which repels you. It is really…

Osho, what is more important in your religion -- to be thyself or to know thyself?

Gurdjieff calls them "selves; it is the same. You can call personalities selves or egos, and you can start looking for them -- it is a tremendously charming game to look at them. In the evening, you decide that tomorrow morning you are going to get up at five. This you have been deciding for many years, and you know it -- that every evening you decide.... But this night is different! -- that too, you know. Every night you have been saying, "This night is different; tomorrow I am going to get up. There is a limit to everything!" But all these things you have been saying every night. You are not saying a single new thing, but you are not aware of it. And at five o'clock when the alarm goes, you just press the button; and you are angry at the clock. You may throw the clock,…

Osho, through self-study of Vedanta and texts like the Ashtavakra Gita I have come to see that what is worth attaining is already attained, and striving for it is wandering. I have even deepened this conviction, yet why has self-knowledge not happened? Please guide.

Mulla Nasruddin came one day with a very beautiful umbrella. I asked, “Where did you get it? Such a beautiful umbrella isn’t made here!” He said, “My sister sent it as a gift.” I said, “Nasruddin! You have always said you have no sister!” He said, “That’s true.” “Then how is it a gift from your sister?” He said, “If you won’t accept it, it’s written right on the handle: ‘A gift from sister to brother.’ I was leaving a hotel, and this was written on the umbrella. I thought, well then, there must be a sister—when it’s written, one must believe. And anyway, some cousin-sister perhaps. And spiritual people always say: except for your wife, consider all women to be mother or sister.” Words that are written—and then, written in scripture!—evoke faith very quickly. You tell someone something and he asks, “Where is it written?” Show it printed and…

Question: BELOVED OSHO, IS IT POSSIBLE THAT I KNOW MYSELF LESS AND LESS? Prem Pradeepa, it is not only possible that you know yourself less and less: the more you are here, the closer you come to me, the more your knowledge will evaporate; the more you will become innocent, not knowing, but full of wonder -- just like a small child wondering about each and everything. This is absolute freedom and liberation from mind. Socrates is reported to have said, "When I was young I thought I knew everything; when I became a little more mature I also became aware that there is much that I don't know. When I became still older I was puzzled because I used to know more when I was young -- and now I know less and less every day. And finally, before he died, he said, `I know nothing.