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Chapter 8 - The taste of your being
8
The taste of your being
16 March 1987 am in Chuang Tzu Auditorium Question 1
BELOVED OSHO,
WHAT IS RELIGION? WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ON ORGANIZED RELIGION?
Anand Maitreya, religion is the highest flight of human consciousness -- it is the individual search for truth.
The inner truth cannot be made an object of common knowledge. Each one has to go within himself; each time, it is a new discovery. It does not matter how many people have attained awakening, realization; the moment you attain it, it will be absolutely fresh -- because it cannot be borrowed.
The search basically consists of knowing your interiority. You have an outside, and no outside can exist without an inside: the very existence of the outside is proof of an inner world.
The inner world consists of three layers: thoughts are the most superficial; feelings are deeper -- and then is the being, which is your godliness. To know one's own godliness, to know one's own eternity, is the basic search of religion.
All your senses lead you outside: eyes open to look outside, ears hear what is happening outside, your hands can touch what is outside. Senses are the doors to go out -- and always remember, the door that takes you out, can also take you in. It is the same door from which you go out of your home and through which you come back in; just the direction changes.
To go out, you need open eyes. To come in, you need closed eyes, all your
senses silent.
The first encounter is with the mind -- but that is not your reality. Although it is inside your skull, it is not you -- it is the reflection of the outside. All your thoughts are reflections of the outside.
For example, a blind man cannot think about colors because he has not seen colors --
hence the reflection is not possible. The blind man cannot even see darkness; and because he has never seen light or darkness outside, there is no possibility of any reflection. The blind man does not know whether there is darkness or there is light -- both words are meaningless.
And if you analyze your thoughts, you will find they are all triggered inside you by outside reality -- so they are basically of the outside, reflected in your inner lake of consciousness.
But because of these thoughts... and they are a tremendous crowd in you; they go on accumulating, they create a China wall. You have to go beyond your thoughts. And religion knows only one method -- there are different names, but the method is one: it is watchfulness, it is witnessing. You simply watch your thoughts, with no judgment, no condemnation, no appreciation -- utterly aloof; you just see the process of thoughts passing on the screen of your mind.
Osho - The Hidden Splendor 80
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