The art of living

"Man is born to attain life, but it all depends on him. He can go on losing it. He can go on breathing, he can go on eating, he can go on aging, he can go on moving towards the grave - but that is not life. This is gradual death, from the cradle to the grave, a gradual death lasting seventy years. And because millions of people around you are dying this slow, gradual death, you also begin to imitate them. Children learn everything those around them and we are surrounded by the dead. So we have to understand first what I mean by 'life'. It shouldn't just be getting old. It should be developing. And that's two different things. any animal is capable. To develop is the prerogative of human beings. Only a few claim this right.
To develop means to move each moment deeper into the beginning of life; it means turning away from death - not going towards death. The deeper you go into life, the more you understand the immortality within you. You are moving away from death: there comes a time when you can see that death is nothing, just changing clothes or changing houses, changing forms - nothing dies, nothing can die. Death is the biggest illusion there is.
How to develop? Just look at a tree. As the tree grows, its roots grow downward, it becomes deeper. There is a balance; the higher the tree goes, the deeper the roots go. In life, to develop means to grow deep within yourself - which is where your roots are.
For me the first principle of life is meditation. Everything else comes second. And childhood is the best time. As you get older, it means you are getting closer to death, and it becomes more and more difficult to go into meditation. Meditation means entering your immortality, entering your eternity, entering your divinity. And the child is the most qualified person because he is still without the burden of education, without the burden of all kinds of rubbish. She is innocent. But unfortunately her innocence is being considered as ignorance. Ignorance and innocence have a similarity, but they are not the same thing. Ignorance is also a state of not knowing, as much as innocence is. But there is also a big difference that has gone unnoticed by all of humanity until now. Innocence is uneducated - but neither is it willing to be educated. She is totally content, fulfilled...
The first step in the art of living will be to create a demarcation line between ignorance and innocence. Innocence has to be supported, protected - because the child has brought with him the greatest treasure, the treasure that sages find after arduous efforts. The sages have said that they became children again, that they were reborn...
Whenever you realize that you missed out on life's opportunity, the first principle to be brought back is innocence. Abandon your knowledge, forget your scriptures, forget your religions, your theologies, your philosophies. Born again, become innocent - and the possibility is in your hands. Clear your mind of all knowledge that has not been discovered by yourself, of all knowledge that has been borrowed from others, all that has come by tradition, convention, all that has been given to you by others - parents, teachers, universities. Just get rid of it. Again be simple, once again be a child. And this miracle is possible through meditation.
Meditation is just an unconventional surgical method that cuts away everything that is not yours and only preserves what is your authentic being. It burns everything else and leaves you naked, alone under the sun, in the wind. It's as if you were the first man who came down to Earth - who knows nothing and who has to discover everything, who has to be a seeker, who has to go on pilgrimage.
The second principle is pilgrimage. Life must be a quest - not a wish, but a quest: not an ambition to become this, to become that, a president of a country, or a prime minister, but a quest to find 'Who am I? I?'. It's very strange that people who don't know who they are are trying to become somebody. They don't even know who they are right now! They do not know their beings - but they have a goal of becoming. Becoming is the disease of the soul. The being is you and discovering your being is the beginning of life. So every moment is a new discovery, every moment brings a joy. A new mystery opens your doors, a new love begins to grow in you, a new compassion you have never felt before, a new sensitivity about beauty, about goodness.
You become so sensitive that even the smallest blade of grass is of immense importance to you. Your sensitivity makes it clear to you that this little blade of grass is as important to existence as the biggest star; without that blade of grass, existence would be less than it is. And that little blade of grass is unique, it is irreplaceable, it has its own individuality.
And that sensitivity will create new friendships for you - friendships with trees, with birds, with animals, with mountains, with rivers, with oceans, with the stars. Life becomes richer as love grows, as friendship grows...
When you become more sensitive, life becomes bigger. She is not a small well, she becomes oceanic. She is not confined to you, your wife and your children - she is not confined at all. This whole existence becomes your family and unless this entire existence is your family, you have not known what life is. - because no man is an island, we are all connected. We are a vast continent, united in a thousand ways. And if our heart is not filled with love for the whole, in the same proportion our life is diminished.
Meditation brings you sensitivity, a great sense of belonging to the world. This is our world - the stars are ours and we are no strangers here. We intrinsically belong to existence. We are part of her, we are her heart.
Secondly, meditation will bring you great silence - because all the rubbish of knowledge is gone, thoughts that are parts of knowledge are gone too... An immense silence and you are surprised - that silence is the only music there is. . All music is an effort to manifest this silence in some way.
The seers of the ancient east were very emphatic on the point that all the great arts - music, poetry, dance, painting, sculpture - are all born out of meditation. They are an effort to somehow bring the incomprehensible into the world of knowledge for those who are not ready for the pilgrimage - gifts for those who are not yet ready to go on the pilgrimage. Perhaps a song can arouse a desire to go in search of the source, perhaps a statue.
The next time you enter a temple of Gautama Buddha or Mahavira, sit silently and look at the statue... because the statue was made in such a way, in such proportion that if you look at it, you will fall into silence. It is a meditation statue; it is not about Gautama Buddha or Mahavira...
In that oceanic state, the body takes a certain posture. You yourself have observed this, but you were not alert. When you're angry, have you noticed? his body took a certain posture. In anger you cannot keep your hands open: in anger, the hand closes. In anger you cannot smile - or can you? With a certain emotion, the body has to follow a certain posture. Little things are deeply related inside...
A certain secret science was used for centuries so that future generations could get in touch with the experiences of older generations - not through books, not through words, but through something that goes deeper - through silence, through meditation, through peace. As your silence grows, your friendship grows, your love grows; your life becomes a dance, moment by moment, a joy, a celebration.
Have you ever thought about why, across the world, in every culture, in every society, there are a few days in the year for celebration? Those few days for celebration are just compensation - because these societies have taken all the celebration out of your life and if nothing is given to you in compensation, your life can become a danger to the culture. Every culture has created some compensation so you won't feel completely lost in misery, in sadness... But these compensations are false. But in your inner world there can be a continuity of light, songs, joy.
Always remember that society compensates you when it feels that repression can explode into a dangerous situation if not compensated. Society finds some way to allow him to release the repression. But that is not true celebration, and it cannot be true. The real celebration should come from your life, in your life.
And the celebration cannot be according to the calendar, which on the first of November you will celebrate. Strange, all year you are miserable and on the first of November, suddenly, you come out of misery, dancing. Either the misery was false or the first of November is false; both cannot be true. And once November XNUMXst is gone, you're back in your black hole, everyone in their misery, everyone in their anxiety.
Life should be a continual celebration, a year-round festival of lights. Only then can you develop, can you blossom. Turn little things into celebration... Everything you do should express itself; should have your signature. Then life becomes a continuous celebration.
Even if you get sick and you are lying in bed, you will make those moments of rest, moments of beauty and joy, moments of relaxation and rest, moments of meditation, moments to listen to music or poetry. There is no need to be sad because you are sick. You should be happy because everyone is in the office and you are in bed like a king, relaxing - someone is making you tea, the samovar is singing a song, a friend offers to come and play the flute for you. These things are more important than any medicine. When you are sick, call a doctor. But most importantly, call on those who love you because there is no medicine more important than love. Call on those who can create beauty, music, poetry around you, because there is nothing that heals like an atmosphere of celebration.
Medication is the lowest type of treatment. But it seems like we've forgotten everything, so we have to rely on medication and get grumpy and sad - as if you're missing out on a great joy there was when you were in the office! In the office you were miserable - just a day off, but you also cling to misery, you don't let go.
Make all things creative, make the best out of the worst - that's what I call art. And if a man has lived his whole life making every moment a beauty, a love, an enjoyment, naturally his death will be the supreme peak in his whole life's endeavor.
The last touches... your death won't be ugly as it ordinarily happens to everyone every day. If death is ugly, it means your whole life was wasted. Death should be a peaceful acceptance, a loving entry into the unknown, a joyful farewell to old friends, to the old world...
Start with meditation and many things will grow in you - silence, serenity, ecstasy, sensitivity. And whatever comes with meditation, try to bring it into your life. Share this, because everything shared grows faster. And when you reach the moment of death, you will know that there is no death. You can say goodbye, there's no need for tears of sadness - maybe tears of happiness, but not tears of sadness."
OSHO, The Book of Healing