About a month ago, someone asked why me anyone would want to do this type of work: personal, self-development work (like The Bridge or The Grail), and pay over $1,000 to do it, when it would be so much more fun to go to Las Vegas for the weekend.
Here are my thoughts on the subject. I guess I feel there is something infinitely more valuable than a good lay, the thrill of winning at craps, or sleeping on 800 thread count sheets. Seems there are quite a few who would rather go to Vegas, or pursue security in work and money, or just roll over as if nothing is happening. This journey for me is a series of peaks and valleys, and sooner or later, all of our eyes will get scorched by the sun.
I wrote this, and then found some great Osho words to go along with it. May it open some part of you, or close the door even tighter.
Utterances
Ultimate truth is not far away, it is not distant. It is near you, close, closer than you are to yourself, but still you go on missing it, and you have been missing it for millions of lives. This continuous missing has become a habit. Unless this habit is broken, the closest remains the most distant; unless this habit is transcended. Osho
Heed the words of a free man. Do not heed the words of a man who only proclaims he is free.
A fish may proclaim his freedom, until he is elevated out of the bowl, and shown a more expansive view of his world. This is the illusion of freedom. Rarely revealed yet ever so common!
Likewise, a man’s life is spent watching a movie. It seems real enough. Everyone plays their part. Freedom abounds. Eventually, by the grace of God, the man leaves the theater and is exposed to the mid-day sun. Is that air you are breathing?
These words are spoken in the light of day, and they are the musings of a free man.
I have felt exuberant joy and debilitating pain.
I have breathed in heavenly love and endured crushing heartache.
Trust and betrayal, I know them well. They have been my friends, my teachers.
I am ancient as sand, having witnessed the ebb and flow of generations.
At long last, the grime has been wiped off the lenses, and light is shining in.
In truth, I have no choice. The die was cast a long time ago. It is cast for us all.
I choose to accept the reality of my existence and banish all superstition. I look at the social mores of society and marvel at the power of the tribe mentality. No longer will I play by anybody else’s rules. No longer will I pretend I don’t know the rules.
I will outshine all forms of control, all self-appointed authority, and all of Maya’s misdirection.
I am a sovereign being. This is my natural state. Now I remember! Now I remember.
Let freedom ring.
I claim my heart, my soul and spirit as my own. The masculine and the feminine live mysteriously and dynamically within me. Yin and Yang empower and nurture me. I co-exist and demand nothing in return. I appreciate and honor all beings.
Remember, untruth is not such a great hindrance as the belief in the truth. If you believe, you stop seeking; if you believe you have already taken it for granted. It cannot be so. You will have to pass through a mutation; really you will have to die and be born again. Unless the seed that you are dies, the new life cannot sprout out of it. Belief becomes a barrier; it gives you a false assurance that you have known – but that is all you have got. Osho
No longer will I have beliefs, for there is only one truth.
I live by a code which I know to be the Way, based not on stories and myth, but on experience, and divine guidance.
I trust only that which is true. All that is not true, while it has played a vital role in my life, taking me willingly down this road and that path, these lies no longer serve me. They are anathema.
I breathe fire upon non-truth. I am a fire maker, as are you. It is our birthright. It is our magic.
I have lived in delusion, and so, therefore, profoundly appreciate the rich and focused view of truth.
The truth has set me free. “Know thyself” is my mantra. The air I breathe is my reward.
Moment to moment you feel grateful to existence, a gratitude happens to you, and this gratitude I call prayer. It is not a prayer to some god. This gratitude is an inner attitude towards existence which has given you life, love, light; towards this existence which has blessed you in millions and millions of ways, and which goes on showering upon you more and more blessings – but a unity is needed within. Osho
I acknowledge the wisdom that comes from a life boldly lived. I do not own any wisdom, nor am I the creator of it. I have blindly stumbled forward, step by shaky step, to be a clear vessel, a hollow bone for wisdom and singular clarity to manifest.
I live in gratitude. I live knowing that each breath could be my last. Death lives on my shoulder, is my teacher, and guides me in all actions. If today were my last day, I would die in gratitude and serenity.
I acknowledge my ego, my social face, and know it is not the deepest version of me. Yet, it must be.
There is no true version of me, for there is no me. I, as I am arbitrarily called, I am a wisp of wind fleetingly filling this body. I look at you and see myself.
I can no longer see another.
I look at the ocean and sob.
The beauty. The power. The peace.
The knowing. The edge of mystery. The dive into the chasm. Release. Surrender.
I am the ocean, and waves of recognition lap upon my shores. I breathe deeply, and slowly.
My life is a miracle. I embrace simplicity and discipline.
I shall be a pure demonstration of a simple life.
The search is over. All I ever wanted was always right here, deep within. The want is gone.
I choose the sacred. It resonates in my bones. It satisfies.
These are the words of a free man. Hear them or not. The choice, as always, is yours.
The same happens to the sage. When a man becomes enlightened the man has disappeared from him with all the interpretations, judgments. He has become pure, as if he is no more. The mind has been dropped. He is conscious, fully conscious, but with no contents to project. He looks at the world as it is, without any interpretation. And for the first time he comes to know reality. Osho
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