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

On suppression… the cost of positive thinking

think-positive-collage2Whoever thought that the well-meaning positive thinking will become a prison and a sentence to a ‘no joy life’ for most who become a “practitioner” of it, about 80% of humanity at this time.

Whether you know it or not, your powers of comprehension depend on your powers of distinguishing.

In the old est training, the trainers came to the room on the first day blasting: “for you everything is the same as everything else…” and they were as accurate as accurate they would be today: you can’t tell your ass from your elbow.

This is true for everybody, including yours truly… the dif

The poisonous tree that you are… and what you can do about it…

nothing-in-life-is-to-be-feared

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” —Marie Curie, Our Precarious Habitat

The “What’s The Truth About You” workshop series is kicking off this afternoon.

As usual I haven’t done any preparation: I never do. I like my life, my teaching fluid. Freezing it would be to ignore guidance, stop growing, and start becoming a sculpture on a pedestal.

I slept well last night. I had a ton of guiding dreams. All about what I am trying to do

Life is a lot like traveling by train…

senior-man-traveling-train-15401290Life is like being in a train: you can look out on the left side, the right side, the back, the front… but it won’t change that you are on a train that will arrive to its destination, no matter where you look.

Most of us live this way most of the time.

We do our jobs, we do our relationships, we do our projects, we do our lives this way.

Fulfilling? No. Enjoyable? It depends…

Ultimately we are plagued by a nagging sense that we are out of control, that no matter what we do won’t change anything. Some of us feel doomed. Some of

One of the most useful things I have ever done for myself

One of the most useful things I have ever done is this:

I would find a mentor. I offered my services to do whatever needed done. More often than not I learned useful skills through the doing. Skills that I needed for myself. And while I was around the mentor, I could learn from him.

Life needs a lot of skills to do life successfully. The opportunities to learn those skills is sparse… Because skills are not knowledge, even if they are mental, intellectual skills: they are the ability to do, to perform a skill… not to understand it.

skillsTo learn skills on your own stuff is very difficult. Why? Because you are too invested, you

What if you have something blocking you from growing? The Seven Boulders principle

BoulderSome ten years ago I learned a valuable way of looking at making life meaningful, or living a meaningful life. The teacher suggested that we pick a horizon, a direction, and then look what’s blocking the way of getting there.

Since then I saw that even seeing the horizon is blocked… Blocked by seven boulders, lined up one behind the other, blocking your view, blocking your movement.

So, in my coaching practice, when I ask people to set a direction, and they can’t see any, I am inclined to suggest that they choose the direction: living a meaningful live, or a fulfilled life… without specifying what it is.

Making choices: are you a rank amateur?

Risk-Management-2This may be the most important article you read this year, this decade… because this article may inspire you to become a professional at living, instead of remaining a rank amateur… aka bumbling idiot.

Risk Management

You have two options. You need to choose. You need to choose the option that has the lower cost to your reproductive success if it turns out to be wrong.

Now, I suspect, that almost none of us think about cost in terms of reproductive success, but according to evolutionary psychology, you are a mere vehicle to your genes, your genes are only inte

It’s hard to be silently brilliant. Lots of thoughts occur when you open your mouth.

eb3bf6d2bcf2ecaf1ee944306d115dd2Some days I have nothing to say. It doesn’t feel like there is anything to say that needs to be said.

Some people never have anything to say and they talk all the time. Others think that they have to first formulate it in their heads to say it, and it never comes together.

Professional thinkers, writers know that “it is hard to be silently brilliant. Lots of thoughts occur wen you open your mouth.”

Thinking is a lot like digging for gold. Someone or something has to hold the dirt, or you can’t get beneath it.

For something worth thinking, something worth saying

What is the bane of your existence? What kills your life? Your joy, your fulfillment, the love in your heart?

life-is-either-a-daring-adventure-or-nothing-5Everyday arrogance.

What is everyday arrogance? It is simple, and so everywhere, all the time, that it is invisible.

You see something. You hear something. And you know what it means.

That meaning that you know, and you know that you know it is everyday arrogance.

The fact that you know what is your job, how people are, what was the question, where you need to look, what is missing: without looking, is everyday arrogance. Already knowing…

Jumping to conclusions…

Growth is like a spiral… only when you have made a full circle… that you see it

taking-a-showerThe 67 steps spiral… second take… I am at step two… and can see the territory I have covered.

There are a few incredibly useful distinctions in the 67 step program.

Of course, if you listen to the audios through the filter: true/false, right/wrong, agree/don’t agree, you’ll miss them all.

And it’s a pity.

How do I listen? I have said it before: I listen in theta mode… i.e. as if I were taking a shower. I get wet.

I don’t pick and choose which water droplet is right or wrong, true or false, and I don’t evaluate everyth