Subconscious

Beloved Osho, where is my question disappearing to? It is there one minute, and when I want to write it down it is gone, blank. Is it going into hiding in my subconscious? And why?

It is not going into your unconscious. It is coming from your unconscious, but when you start writing it, it becomes conscious. And this is a simple process: anything unconscious becoming conscious starts disappearing; it loses meaning. On this simple principle the whole of psychoanalysis stands. Your dreams are unconscious. Tell them to the psychoanalyst -- by telling them you will be making them conscious. And once they are conscious, they disappear. Unconsciousness is a kind of basement where you go on throwing things, repressing things. Things that you don't want to see, things that you don't want to hear, things that you don't want to accept, you go on throwing into the unconscious. It is your rejected parts -- allow them to surface. And that is what is happening while you are asking the question, and why I am insisting that you go on asking. My answer may help…

Osho, the questions we ask you all arise out of unconsciousness. And your replies come from total awareness. How can the two ever meet? And if they cannot meet, then asking itself seems wrong. Then what do you mean when you tell us to ask?

What is the difference between resonance and string? The string is gross, the resonance is subtle. The string can be grasped; the resonance cannot be grasped. Catch hold of the string and you remain on the surface. Catch the string and you will be bound—the string becomes a chain. Resonance enters your very life-breath. And resonance sets aquiver the resonance already asleep within you. Resonance is liberation. Do not take my strings, my words. Do not be concerned with what I say; be absorbed in what I am. Take the aura, not the form! If you take the form, you are bound. Take a form and you enter a prison. Take the aura! The halo that surrounds a lamp cannot be clutched in a fist, cannot be locked in a safe. But if you look at it with full eyes, your eyes will begin to shine. If you drink in…

Osho, I have always wanted to ask a question, but no question ever takes shape. And the ones that do don’t seem worth asking. What should I do now?

You are fortunate that such a question is arising in you and refuses to be formed. It clearly means the hour to go within has arrived. You have asked a lot of questions outside and gotten many answers outside—now don’t create more wounds. Inquiry is good, as against mere curiosity—remember—but it is nothing compared to mumuksha. Understand these three words well. Curiosity asks anything and everything; it is like small children. A child is walking and he asks, “Why is this bush big? Why the dog’s tail? Why the sun in the sky?” He keeps on asking anything. If you don’t answer, it’s no big deal to him—he keeps asking anyway. He isn’t even much concerned whether you answered or not. Even while you are answering, he has another question ready. He doesn’t even hear your answer. You answer and you find he has no taste for it; his joy…

Osho, when I left home my mind was whirling with countless questions. By now I have heard three of your talks. And yesterday, after hearing the story of the bride in the palanquin, suddenly all the questions disappeared. And now the question is: why and how did this happen? Please explain.

Wait a little—the new one will disappear too. Questions arise in haste; for one who can wait, they vanish on their own. Questions don’t really have answers. No question has an answer. Your understanding grows and the questions disappear. What grows is understanding, not answers to questions. Keep this in mind. A small child plays with toys. Then he grows up. When he was little, if you took his toys away, there was trouble. He couldn’t even sleep without them, couldn’t eat without them. The toys were everything—companions, the whole world. Then one day he suddenly leaves those toys in a corner and forgets them. They don’t even occur to him. What happened? The child grew. The time for toys passed. The intellect matured a little; understanding rose a little. From the level of understanding at which questions arise, if you remain stuck there, there is no solution. Rise just…