Osho – A thought arises only because one wants to do something

Osho – When the inner sky becomes one with the outer sky, when the inner emptiness merges with the outer emptiness, everything becomes desireless and actionless. Desires cannot arise without a thought: thought is disturbance of mind. Remember, a thought arises only because one wants to do something.

People come to me and tell me they are unable to be free of thoughts. You will not be free of thought; you have a desire to do something. And when you want to do something, how can you be free of thought? That desire to do something, that very plan is thought. Even if you wish to be free of thoughts you won’t be, because there will be thoughts engaged in planning it.

People tell me that they sit and try hard to become thoughtless. But this planning to be thoughtless by itself is an opportunity for thinking. So the mind goes on thinking, “How to become thoughtless? Up to now you have not become thoughtless. Will it ever be possible for you to be thoughtless? When?”

Remember, as long as there is any desire — for heaven, for self-realization, for meeting God — thoughts will continue. Thoughts are not at fault. All that is meant by thought is that whatever you desire, your mind thinks about how to achieve it. As long as there is anything left to be achieved, thoughts will continue. The day you are willing to accept the fact that, “I don’t want to achieve anything, not even desirelessness,” suddenly you will find that the thoughts have started to disappear; they are not needed anymore.

When everything within becomes a void, when there are no plans, when nothing remains to be achieved and there remains nowhere to go, when all running about becomes meaningless and the consciousness settles down on the side of the road… dropping all concern for the goal, the goal has been attained.

Source – from Osho Book “Finger Pointing to the Moon”