Osho: The art of walking the tightrope

tightropeIn this series of Osho talks he examines stories from different ancient cultures. This is an excellent companion to what I teach. Enjoy!

ONCE, WHEN THE HASIDIM WERE SEATED TOGETHER
IN ALL BROTHERLINESS,
PIPE IN HAND, RABBI ISRAEL JOINED THEM.
BECAUSE HE WAS SO FRIENDLY THEY ASKED HIM,
‘TELL US, DEAR RABBI, HOW SHOULD WE SERVE GOD?’

HE WAS SURPRISED AT THE QUESTION,
AND REPLIED, ‘HOW SHOULD I KNOW?’

BUT THEN HE WENT ON TO TELL THEM THIS STORY..
THERE WERE TWO FRIENDS OF THE KING,
AND BOTH WERE PROVED GUILTY OF A CRIME.

SINCE HE LOVED THEM THE KING WANTED TO SHOW THEM MERCY,
BUT HE COULD NOT

Thanksgiving… if you want to be honest, it is just a meal.

thanksgiving-dinnerWhy would I say something sacra-religious like this?

Because saying what you are grateful only includes what you like.

What about the 99% of your life, of people, of things, that you don’t like, or just barely tolerate?

Can you say: I am grateful for that?

When it is a dark day: can you be grateful for that? When your friend is pushing your buttons: can you be grateful for that? When you feel bad, tired, nauseated, can you be grateful for that?

Yeah, I know, you can say you are, but are you?

You are lying.

Because you only see value where you see value, not everywhere.

Osho on money and happiness

If you ask anyone, they all want to be happy. But happiness eludes people, the more you want it the further it goes. In this talk, Osho addresses the issue. He approaches it from many different angles, blaming it on your parents, blaming it on society, and then finally he gives you a glimpse of …

Go read the rest of the article

Rose Colored Glasses, Hope, and other stuff that takes you out of the present moment

The purveyors of hope
When “picking” a state of being, an attitude, a mindset, conventional wisdom can be detrimental to our well-being.

Unless you are a prisoner in a concentration camp, and what’s predictable is that you will not make it out alive, hope is a very bad-for-you state to pick. But even there, unless it gives you actions that keep you alive longer, that make you take care of yourself, hope as a being, hopeful is the right word, will be just a feeling… and you know how it is with feelings: they come and go at their own accord: you can’t control feelings. Hope and hopeless are the two sides of the same coin. Being doesn’t have a flip side.

Go read the rest of the article