Osho - Life is a soap bubble : 100 ways to look at life

Man is born in slavery. We are born as slaves to ourselves. We come into this world imprisoned in chains of desire, held tight by those subtle chains.

We have been enslaved like this since birth. It is something given by nature; we dont have to do anything to earn it. Man simply finds he is a slave. Freedom has to be earned and only someone who struggles and strives for it will find it. For freedom, a price has to be paid. Nothing of value in life is ever free. This slavery which nature gave you is not a misfortune; it would be a misfortune only if we failed to win our freedom. There is nothing wrong in being born a slave, but it is definitely wrong to die as one. Unless you find inner freedom, nothing in life will have any meaning or fulfillment. You may have been given life, but if you remain trapped in a prison of desires, if you never know the free sky of awareness, then you will never know life. There is no difference at all between someone imprisoned in desire and a bird imprisoned in a cage. You only enter the world of real life when your awareness is freed from desire.

If you want to know truth, become a master of yourself. Victory over truth is not for someone who is defeated by their own self.

You have to be tireless and devoted in your pursuit of truth. You deserve to find truth only if you strive with every breath.

The desire for truth should not be just one among all your other desires. Someone who desires truth half-heartedly doesnt really desire it at all. The longing for truth has to be whole-hearted and total. When your heart thirsts for truth totally and completely, that very thirst becomes the path. Remember, a burning thirst for truth is itself the path to it. Prayer arises only when your being has an infinite thirst for truth, and your heart beats just to discover the unknown. When you live and breathe only for truth, then in that same silent yearning you take the first steps toward it. Only love a love burning with thirst deserves and has the right to truth.

Truth is one, but the doors to find it can be many. And if you become attached to the door itself, you will stop at the door. Then the door of truth will never open for you.

Truth is everywhere. Everything that is, is truth. It has infinite forms. It is just like beauty. Beauty manifests itself in many forms, but that does not mean that beauty itself is many different things. What glows in the stars at night, and what gives off fragrance in the flowers, and what shows in the eyes as love are they different from each another? The forms may be different, but the very same essence is present in them all. But he who gets stuck at the form never comes to know the soul. And he who stops at the beautiful is never able to experience beauty itself. Likewise, those who get stuck with words will remain without the truth.

Those who know this, transform obstacles on the path into stepping stones. And for those who do not know this, even stepping stones will become obstacles.

Self-knowledge is the only knowledge there is. What possible value could there be in those who do not know themselves, knowing anything else?

Mans greatest difficulty is his ignorance about himself. Just as there is darkness underneath a lamp, similarly man is in darkness about the reality of his own self, his own soul. When we dont even know ourselves, it is not surprising if our whole life goes wrong. Without self-realization, life is like a boat whose captain is not in his senses, but just goes on rowing and steering the boat wherever. Self-awareness is the basic essential for bringing the right momentum and destination to your life. Before I can know what I am supposed to be, it is essential to know what I am. It is only after I know what I am, that I can lay the foundation for the future which is dormant in me. It is only after I know what I am, that the unborn in me can be born. If your life is to have any meaning, if your boat is to reach the shore of fulfillment, then your whole effort should be to know yourself, before knowing anything else. Only then can other knowledge be of any use. Otherwise, knowledge in the hands of the ignorant is just suicidal.

The first longing of knowing is to know the self. If there is darkness there, there is darkness everywhere. And if there is light there, then there is light everywhere.

Man has to become discontent with himself; only then does he move toward godliness. He who becomes content with himself destroys himself.

I teach discontent. I teach you to be discontented with just being a person. Human life is just a temporary stopover on the whole journey of life, not the final destination. And those who take it to be the final destination waste a priceless opportunity to rise beyond man. We are a midpoint in a long process of evolution. Our past was part of the journey and so is our future. Evolution does not end with us, it will transcend us also. This would be easy to understand if we really saw ourselves, because the proof is that we are incomplete and unfulfilled in every way. We have not reached the point where nature should stop. Evolution if there is indeed evolution cannot rest before achieving godliness. There can be no meaningful end to evolution, nor any purpose or significance, without experiencing the totality of godliness.

Man is the path to reach godliness. And those who forgo the destination and are satisfied with just the path are indeed unfortunate! We have left the animal behind, and we have to move forward to reach godliness. We are just a bridge between the animal and godliness. That is why I lay so much emphasis on transcending man. We have to leave man behind, just as a snake sheds its skin and moves on. To transcend the state of man is the right use of your life. Other than that, everything else is a misuse. A path is not for stopping on. Its significance lies in going beyond it.

Dont just stop at how you find yourself now. This is not the end of the path, but only its beginning. Understand that you have not reached the end of the path until you have become whole.

Stop worrying about darkness and turn on the light. People who think only about darkness can never find light.

There is a lot of darkness in life. And also evil and immorality. Some people resign themselves to this darkness and then their inner urge to reach the light, to find light, gradually becomes weaker and weaker. I call this resignation to darkness, the greatest sin. This is a crime which man commits against himself. All crimes against others come from this basic crime against yourself. Always remember that a person who doesnt do this to himself cant commit a sin against anyone else either. In an effort to avoid this darkness, some people become preoccupied with denying it. Then their life becomes just an ongoing fight to deny darkness. This is also a mistake. The person who resigns himself to darkness is mistaken and so is someone who fights it. You dont have to be resigned to darkness, nor do you have to fight it. Both are ignorance. The intelligent man does what he can to bring light. Darkness has no existence of its own; it is merely an absence of light. The moment light arrives, darkness disappears. It is the same with evil, immorality and irreligiousness. We dont have to wipe out evil, immorality and irreligiousness; it is enough to simply light the lamp of goodness, morality and religiousness. The light of religiousness is the death of irreligiousness.