Question : DO YOU RECOMMEND ANY PARTICULAR WAY OF LIVING AS A PREPARATION?
Osho : The moment you become aware, your whole life, your whole way of living will change. But these changes will come to you; they should not be practiced. The moment you practice something, it loses whatever is significant in it. So whatever changes come about should happen spontaneously. There is no question of anything being practiced. The question is simply to understand that you cannot desire the void.
It is not just a contradiction in terms, but an existential contradiction. You cannot desire it because the very desire comes from your old mind, from your knowledge. All that you can do is to be aware of what you are. The moment you become aware of yourself as you are, a separation occurs, a division, a partition. A part of you becomes unidentified with the rest of you. Then there are two: I and me. The ”me” is the memory, the mind; and the ”I” is the consciousness, the atman.
You must listen to me, and simultaneously listen to your inner mind. This process should go on all the time. What I am saying is becoming a part of your ”me,” a part of your accumulation, a part of your knowledge. This knowledge will ask for further knowledge – about the how, the method. And if some method is shown, that too will become part of your knowledge. Your ”me” will be strengthened; it will become more knowledgeable.
My emphasis is not on your ”me”; I am not talking to your ”me.” If your ”me” comes in, then the communication does not become a communion. Then it is simply a discussion, not a dialogue. It becomes a dialogue only if there is no ”me.” If you are here but your ”me” is not here, then there is no question of how. What I am saying will either be seen as a truth or as an untruth, either as a fact or as a hocus-pocus doctrine.
My concern is just to create a situation – either by talking, or by silence, or by confusing you. My aim is to create a situation where your ”I” comes outside of you, your ”I” comes beyond your ”me.” I try to create so many situations. This too is a kind of situation. I am saying absurd things to you. I am talking about attaining something, and still denying any method. This is absurd! How can I be saying something and still say that it cannot be said? But it is absurdity itself that can create the situation. If I convince you, it will not create the situation.
It will become part of your ”me,” part of your knowledge. Your ”me” goes on asking: How? What is the way? I will deny the way and still talk of the transformation. Then the situation becomes so irrational that your mind is not satisfied. Only then can something from beyond take over. All the time I am creating situations. For intellectual people, absurdity must be the situation. Awareness comes only when a situation is created where the continuity is disrupted.
The very absurdity and unreasonableness of the situation must create a gap, shattering and disturbing the individual to the point of awareness. I am reminded of an incident in the life of Buddha…. One morning he came to a village. As he entered the village, someone said to him, ”I am a believer in the Supreme. Please tell me whether God is.”
Buddha denied it absolutely. He said, ”There is no God. There never has been and there never will be. What nonsense you are saying!” The man was shattered, but the situation was created. In the afternoon, another man came to Buddha and said, ”I am an atheist. I do not believe in God. Is there a God? What do you say about it?”
Buddha said, ”Only God is. Nothing exists except him.” The man was shattered. Then in the evening, a third man came to Buddha and said, ”I am an agnostic. I neither believe nor disbelieve. What do you say? Is there a God or not?”
Buddha remained silent. The man was shattered. But a certain monk, Ananda, who always accompanied Buddha, was shattered even more. In the morning Buddha had said, ”There is no God,” in the afternoon he had said, ”Only God is,” and in the evening he had remained silent.
That night Ananda said to Buddha, ”Before you go to sleep, please answer my question. You have shattered my peace! I am at a loss! What do you mean by these absurd, contradictory answers?”
Buddha said, ”None of them was given to you. Why have you listened to them? Those answers were each given to the person who asked. If the answers have disturbed you, good. That is your answer.”
So situations can be created. A Zen monk creates situations in his own way. He may push you out of his room, or slap you on your face. It looks absurd. You ask one thing, and he answers about something else. Someone asks, ”What is the Way?” but the Zen monk’s answer is not concerned with the Way at all. He may say, ”See the river!” or ”See that tree! How tall it is!” This is absurd. The mind seeks continuity. It is afraid of absurdities. It is afraid of the non-rational, of the unknown.
But truth is not a by-product of intellectualization. It is neither a deduction nor an induction. It is not logical; it is not a conclusion. I am not conveying anything to you. I am just creating a situation. If the situation is created, then something that cannot be conveyed is conveyed. So do not ask how. Just be. Be aware if you can, and if you cannot, then be aware of your unawareness. Be attentive to what is. If you cannot, then be attentive to your inattention. And the thing will happen. The thing happens.