" I used to know one man in Jabalpur(India). I liked that man, I was
really impressed by him: he was something unique .... For one year I was
living in a bungalow which was facing six roads, so all kinds of
processions were passing by there. And it was near the high court, the
collector’s office, the commissioner’s office. They were all just within a half-mile radius.
So every kind of procession – protests, either going to the chief justice, or going to the commissioner, or going to the collector .... I used to enjoy seeing them. The most exciting thing for me was one
who was always in every protest, whether it was the communist party, socialist party, congress party, president’s party – any party. And in India there are all kinds of parties.
Whether it was a religious protest – Christians protesting that something was being done against their religion, or Mohammedans, Hindus, Jainas, Buddhists – he was always, inevitably there. I could not believe it. That man was something! One day I caught hold of him and I said, "You have to come inside with me.”
He said, "Right now I cannot come, I am going in the protest.”
I said, "You can go later on – I will send you, I will drive you. But for five minutes you just come in – because now it is too much, I cannot bear it any more.”
He said, "But what is the problem? What have I done to you?”
I said, "You have not done anything to me; I just want to know to which party you belong.”
He laughed. He said, "As far as parties are concerned, I am a member of all the parties.”
I said, "But ...?”
He said, "You will not understand, nobody understands. I enjoy shouting, screaming. Now, who is screaming against whom, that is not material. I simply enjoy – I shout, jump, have a flag. I don’t care whose flag, I don’t have any flag of my own. And I am not interested in what they are demanding, whether they get it or not, but I enjoy it.”
Now this man has no political interest, no religious interest. What his interest is, is in finding unconsciousness in shouting, screaming, getting involved in something in which he has no ideological interest. But he has psychological involvement, he forgets himself. For the two, three hours that the protest continues, he forgets himself. Now, how can he miss if some other party is protesting? His psychological interest is the same.
He said, "It is not very costly.” In India you can become a member for one fourth of a rupee; that is a one-year membership. And that too you don’t have to pay, somebody will pay for you, you have just to vote for him.
So I asked him, "So many parties, so many religions and you must be paying so much money ....”
He said, ”No, they pay it. And those idiots don’t even ask, ‘Are you a member of any other party?’ I have not yet been asked, so I have not yet been forced to lie. Nobody asks me. I say, ‘I want to become a member of your party.’ They say, ‘Very good, you just become a member of the party, fill in the form.’ I have filled in all the forms of all the parties. I go to all religious prayers, religious meetings. I believe in the unity of all.”
I said, "That’s very good.”
But he was really getting juice. You try protesting, shouting, and soon you get involved in it. Your thinking disappears, your past, your present, disappear. You are suddenly herenow – but not in a conscious way – through an unconscious trick. You can do it by alcohol, you can do it by politics, you can do it by religion. You can do it in a church, you can do it in a movie house. You can do it in a thousand and one ways, and people are using all kinds of ways.
People are not interested in consciousness.
Consciousness is painful, because you will have to drop so much which you have carried your whole life thinking it very valuable.
You will have to uncover your wounds which you have covered and completely forgotten.
You will have to revive all worries and anguishes that somehow you have repressed.
You will have to face again your original face which you have lost far back. You have become somebody else. You have been somebody else so long, that now to face your original face is going to shatter you completely. "
To be conscious not a game.
To be conscious is to go through a deep surgery.
And the problem is, you are the surgeon, and you are the patient. "
~ O S H O , From Darkness to Light,
So every kind of procession – protests, either going to the chief justice, or going to the commissioner, or going to the collector .... I used to enjoy seeing them. The most exciting thing for me was one
who was always in every protest, whether it was the communist party, socialist party, congress party, president’s party – any party. And in India there are all kinds of parties.
Whether it was a religious protest – Christians protesting that something was being done against their religion, or Mohammedans, Hindus, Jainas, Buddhists – he was always, inevitably there. I could not believe it. That man was something! One day I caught hold of him and I said, "You have to come inside with me.”
He said, "Right now I cannot come, I am going in the protest.”
I said, "You can go later on – I will send you, I will drive you. But for five minutes you just come in – because now it is too much, I cannot bear it any more.”
He said, "But what is the problem? What have I done to you?”
I said, "You have not done anything to me; I just want to know to which party you belong.”
He laughed. He said, "As far as parties are concerned, I am a member of all the parties.”
I said, "But ...?”
He said, "You will not understand, nobody understands. I enjoy shouting, screaming. Now, who is screaming against whom, that is not material. I simply enjoy – I shout, jump, have a flag. I don’t care whose flag, I don’t have any flag of my own. And I am not interested in what they are demanding, whether they get it or not, but I enjoy it.”
Now this man has no political interest, no religious interest. What his interest is, is in finding unconsciousness in shouting, screaming, getting involved in something in which he has no ideological interest. But he has psychological involvement, he forgets himself. For the two, three hours that the protest continues, he forgets himself. Now, how can he miss if some other party is protesting? His psychological interest is the same.
He said, "It is not very costly.” In India you can become a member for one fourth of a rupee; that is a one-year membership. And that too you don’t have to pay, somebody will pay for you, you have just to vote for him.
So I asked him, "So many parties, so many religions and you must be paying so much money ....”
He said, ”No, they pay it. And those idiots don’t even ask, ‘Are you a member of any other party?’ I have not yet been asked, so I have not yet been forced to lie. Nobody asks me. I say, ‘I want to become a member of your party.’ They say, ‘Very good, you just become a member of the party, fill in the form.’ I have filled in all the forms of all the parties. I go to all religious prayers, religious meetings. I believe in the unity of all.”
I said, "That’s very good.”
But he was really getting juice. You try protesting, shouting, and soon you get involved in it. Your thinking disappears, your past, your present, disappear. You are suddenly herenow – but not in a conscious way – through an unconscious trick. You can do it by alcohol, you can do it by politics, you can do it by religion. You can do it in a church, you can do it in a movie house. You can do it in a thousand and one ways, and people are using all kinds of ways.
People are not interested in consciousness.
Consciousness is painful, because you will have to drop so much which you have carried your whole life thinking it very valuable.
You will have to uncover your wounds which you have covered and completely forgotten.
You will have to revive all worries and anguishes that somehow you have repressed.
You will have to face again your original face which you have lost far back. You have become somebody else. You have been somebody else so long, that now to face your original face is going to shatter you completely. "
To be conscious not a game.
To be conscious is to go through a deep surgery.
And the problem is, you are the surgeon, and you are the patient. "
~ O S H O , From Darkness to Light,
CHAPTER 7.
TIME IS VERY SHORT BUT MY METHODS ARE VERY QUICK
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