The non achieving mind!!

[VeganAwake]

From Osho:

Only a nonachieving mind can be at peace. But a nonachieving mind is possible only with the background of a cosmic purposelessness. If the whole existence is purposeless then there is no need for you to be purposeful. Then you can play, you can sing and dance, you can enjoy, you can love and live, and there is no need to create any goal. Here and now, this very moment, the ultimate is present. If you are available the ultimate can enter you. But you are not available here; your mind is somewhere in the future, in some goal.

Life has got no purpose and this is the beauty of it. If there was some purpose life would have been mean — just futile. It is not a business, it is a play. In India we have been calling it leela. Leela means a cosmic play… as if God is playing. Energy overflowing, not for some purpose, just enjoying itself; just a small child playing — for what purpose? Running after butterflies, collecting colored stones on the beach, dancing under the sun, running under the trees, collecting flowers — for what purpose? Ask a child. He will look at you as if you are a fool. There is no need for purpose.

Your mind has been corrupted. Universities, colleges, education, society, have corrupted you. They have made it a conditioning deep down within you that unless something has a purpose it is useless — so everything must have a purpose. A child playing has no purpose. At the most, if the child could explain he would say, “Because I feel good. Running, I feel more alive. Collecting flowers, I enjoy, it is ecstatic.” But there is no purpose. The very act in itself is beautiful, ecstatic. To be alive is enough, there is no need for any purpose.

Why ask for anything else? Can’t you be satisfied just by being alive? It is such a phenomenon. Just think of yourself being a stone. You could have been, because many are still stones. You must have been somewhere in the past, sometime, a stone. Think of yourself being a tree. You must have been somewhere a tree, a bird, an animal, an insect. And then think of yourself being a man — conscious, alert, the peak, the climax of all possibilities. And you are not content with it. You need a purpose, otherwise life is useless.

Your mind has been corrupted by economists, mathematicians, theologians. They have corrupted your mind, because they all talk about purpose. They say, “Do something if something is achieved through it. Don’t do anything which leads nowhere.” But I tell you that the more you can enjoy things which are useless, the happier you will be. The more you can enjoy things which are purposeless, the more innocent and blissful you will be.

When you don’t need any purpose you simply celebrate your being. You feel gratitude just that you are, just that you breathe. It is such a blessing that you can breathe, that you are alert, conscious, alive, aflame. Is it not enough? Do you need something to achieve so that you can feel good, so that you can feel valued, so that you can feel life is justified? What more can you achieve than what you are? What more can be added to your life? What more can you add to it? Nothing can be added, and the effort will destroy you — the effort to add something.

But for many centuries all over the world they have been teaching every child to be purposive. “Don’t waste your time! Don’t waste your life!” And what do they mean? They mean, “Transform your life into a bank balance. When you die you must die rich. That is the purpose.”

Here in the East — particularly the mystics we are talking about, the Upanishads — they say, “Live richly.” In the West they say, “Die a rich man.” And these are totally different things. If you want to live richly you have to live here and now, not a single moment is to be lost. If you want to achieve something, you will die a rich man — but you will live a poor man, your life will be poor.

Look at rich people: their life is absolutely poor, because they are wasting it transforming it into bank balances, changing their life into money, into big houses, big cars. Their whole effort is that life has to be changed for some things. When they die you can count their things.

Buddha became a beggar. He was born a king, he became a beggar. Why? Just to live richly… because he came to understand that there are two ways to live: one is to die richly, the other is to live richly. And any man who has any understanding will choose to live richly, because dying a rich man doesn’t mean anything; you simply wasted yourself for nothing. But this is possible only if you can conceive that the whole existence is purposeless; it is a cosmic play, a continuous beautiful game, a beautiful hide-and-seek — not leading anywhere. Nowhere is the goal.

If this is the background, then you need not be worried about individual purposes, evolution, progress. This word progress is the basic disease of the modern age. What is the need? All that can be enjoyed is available, all that you need to be happy is here and now. But you create conditions and you say that unless these conditions are fulfilled you cannot be happy. You say, “These conditions must be fulfilled first: this type of house, this type of clothes, this type of car, this type of wife, this type of husband. All these conditions have to be fulfilled first, then I can be happy.” As if by being happy you are going to oblige the whole universe.

And who is going to fulfill your conditions? Who is worried? But you will try for those conditions, and the effort is going to be so long that they can never be fulfilled really, because whenever something is fulfilled, by the time it is fulfilled the goal has shifted.

A meditator needs a nonachieving mind, but a nonachieving mind is possible only if you can be content with purposelessness. Just try to understand the whole cosmic play and be a part in it. Don’t be serious, because a play can never be serious. And even if the play needs you to be serious, be playfully serious, don’t be really serious. Then this very moment becomes rich. Then this very moment you can move into the ultimate.

The ultimate is not in the future, it is the present, hidden here and now. So don’t ask about purpose — there is none, and I say it is beautiful that there is none. If there was purpose then your God would be just a managing director or a big business man, an industrialist, or something like that.

Jesus says…. Somebody asked him, “Who will be able to enter into the kingdom of your God?”

Jesus said, “Those who are like small children.” This is the secret. What is the meaning of being a small child? The meaning is that the child is never businesslike, he is always playful.

If you can become playful you have become a child again, and only children can enter into the kingdom of God, nobody else, because children can play without asking where it is leading. They can make houses of sand without asking whether they are going to be permanent. Can somebody live in them? Will they be able to resist the wind that is blowing? They know that within minutes they will disappear. But they are very serious when they are playing. They can even fight for their sandhouses or houses of cards. They are very serious when they are creating. They are enjoying. And they are not fools, they know that these houses are just cardhouses and everything is makebelieve.

Why waste time in thinking in terms of business? Why not live more and more playfully, nonseriously, ecstatically? Ecstasy is not something which you can achieve by some efforts, ecstasy is a way of living. Moment to moment you have to be ecstatic, simple things have to be enjoyed. And life gives millions of opportunities to enjoy. You will miss them if you are purposive.

If you are not purposive, every moment you will have so many opportunities to be ecstatic. A flower, a lonely flower in the garden… you can dance if you are nonpurposive. The first star in the evening… you can sing if you are nonpurposive. A beautiful face… you can see the divine in it if you are nonpurposive. All around the divine is happening, the ultimate is showering. But you will be able to see it only if you are non-purposive and playful.

– OSHO

[ivory]

Nice post. I don't completely disagree. Life has no inherent no meaning. That doesn't mean that it is meaningless. Each person is responsible for discovering what is truly valuable in life, and adhering to those values. For some it may be play, exercise, art, sports, relationships, work, learning, etc. All are rooted in the present moment. Enjoyable activities.

To believe that life is meaningless, and pointless, is nihilism. To realize that life is meaningless, but full of joyful activities, is essentially existentialism.

[VeganAwake]

1 hour ago, ivory said:

Each person is responsible for discovering what is truly valuable in life, and adhering to those values. 

Thanks, I understand what you mean.

Nobody has to adhere to any values though. Like there are no real responsibilities. Those are just beliefs.

Meaning, purpose and value of life = The meaning, purpose and value someone places on it.

I dont believe our existence requires meaning purpose or value, existence is enough. It is so very beautiful ❤ ❤ 

 

 

[ivory]

We are not on the same page at all. Notice in your osho quote that nowhere did he say do nothing until you die. He said to play and enjoy life. If you really want to enjoy life you have to know what you value. The best way to learn this lesson is to pray for an existential crisis. That will show you the truth.

[Nahm]

Great post / read, thanks. 

[VeganAwake]

@ivory Well of course I know Osho didn't say that because I read it thoroughly before I posted it. Why would anyone do nothing until they die, is that what nihilist do? 

Yes we are free to play and enjoy life. I guess if I had to place value on life it would be equal across the board, as in nothing would be higher than the other. 

Do you think children know what they value when they enjoy life?

These are really interesting thoughts thank you. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 10, 2019 by VeganAwake

[ivory]

58 minutes ago, VeganAwake said:

Why would anyone do nothing until they die, is that what nihilist do? 

Sorry, I was exaggerating a bit. But sadly, most people are doing nothing. Youtube, social media, and tv has sucked the souls out of a lot of people. If you really want to see this in action, ask the next 10 people you socialize with... What do you want to do that you aren't currently doing? It's easy to slip into nihilism if you forgot the things that brought you joy when you were a child.

59 minutes ago, VeganAwake said:

Do you think children know what they value when they enjoy life?

A child's environment is different from an adult's. Adults acquire loads of conditioning which must ultimately be purged for them to learn to enjoy life again. Most people end up slipping into distractions, taking a shitty job, or staying in a shitty relationship. And they settle because it's the easy thing to do. To know what you value, and to commit to that, will get you out of a rut. But you're never really out of the woods because there are so many distractions and it's easy to get sucked back into complacency.

Anyways, interesting discussion.

[VeganAwake]

@ivory  wow that makes complete sense I totally agree. You are a great person to have around especially on a forum like this ❤

I love how Osho describes living spontaneously like a child, living  in the moment and doing what makes you happy without needing any Rhyme or Reason. My friend described a great example of this: he saw a child hitting a metal bar on a tree and listening to the funny sound it made and laughing. Being free to do what makes you happy.

Yes purging yourself of the conditioning is wise indeed. This is my work also, I would describe it as becoming nobody so you are free to be anybody or shedding the layers of the false self to realize what you truly are. No person can enter the gateless gate so be nobody. Here is a video that describes this path so well I stumbled onto it after my own Awakening....thank you!!! ❤

 

[Matt8800]

19 hours ago, VeganAwake said:

 

Look at rich people: their life is absolutely poor, because they are wasting it transforming it into bank balances, changing their life into money, into big houses, big cars. Their whole effort is that life has to be changed for some things. When they die you can count their things.

Buddha became a beggar. He was born a king, he became a beggar. Why? Just to live richly… because he came to understand that there are two ways to live: one is to die richly, the other is to live richly. And any man who has any understanding will choose to live richly, because dying a rich man doesn’t mean anything; you simply wasted yourself for nothing. But this is possible only if you can conceive that the whole existence is purposeless; it is a cosmic play, a continuous beautiful game, a beautiful hide-and-seek — not leading anywhere. Nowhere is the goal.

 

@VeganAwake This is a reasonable approach if one is going live a monastic life or the life of a beggar. That is certainly one valid approach but most people that will be reading this will never choose to live the life of a beggar. Most people will get a job and pay bills so this approach is not reasonable. 

If one rejects money, than they will never have money. If they dont want money, than why are they working at a job?

Regular yoga is body and physical realm negative. Tantra is body and physical realm positive. Tantra affirms that the physical realm is divine and should be mastered, like all realms. Like Yoga, Tantra denounces attachment and grasping however. Ancient texts say that Tantra is a faster, but more risky, route to enlightenment (I could probably find the texts if someone is interested). 

It would be a mistake to assume that asceticism is required for enlightenment. It is just one possible path. Either way, one should pick a path and commit fully.

If one really wants the ascetic life, than anything more than being a wandering beggar is falling short. Whatever one does, they should do it all the way.

Edited October 10, 2019 by Matt8800

[VeganAwake]

@Matt8800  you have some great information my friend!!

I don't think Osho is really describing a path to enlightenment. It's more of a  recipe to live a happy non achieving non grasping non-attachment way of life. You just live free and spontaneous.

It's a you can take it or leave it mindset. 

I believe his Buddha story was just an example of how you don't have to physically be rich to live richly.

I looked up the definition of asceticism: Severe self-discipline and avoidance of all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons.

This was not osho's work nor my own.

 I love what you said here: Whatever one does, they should do it all the way. Nice !! ❤ 

Edited October 10, 2019 by VeganAwake

[Matt8800]

27 minutes ago, VeganAwake said:

@Matt8800  you have some great information my friend!!

I don't think Osho is really describing a path to enlightenment. It's more of a  recipe to live a happy non achieving non grasping non-attachment way of life. You just live free and spontaneous.

It's a you can take it or leave it mindset. 

I believe his Buddha story was just an example of how you don't have to physically be rich to live richly.

I looked up the definition of asceticism: Severe self-discipline and avoidance of all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons.

This was not osho's work nor my own.

 I love what you said here: Whatever one does, they should do it all the way. Nice !! ❤ 

@VeganAwake Thanks

I agree with you that living a life free and spontaneous while knowing we "need" nothing is an important realization. I felt I would throw a caution out there since it seems many times people confuse not needing/non-attachment with shouldnt have/rejection....or worse, as an excuse to avoid what the Buddhists call "right action".

If I have to earn money for food and shelter, I will work to excel at it since I believe anything we do, we should do it with excellence. After that, let the chips fall where they may. If I am poor, I will be happy. If I am rich, I will be happy. 

 

Edited October 10, 2019 by Matt8800

[ivory]

6 hours ago, VeganAwake said:

You are a great person to have around especially on a forum like this ❤

Thanks. Good to meet you

6 hours ago, VeganAwake said:

My friend described a great example of this: he saw a child hitting a metal bar on a tree and listening to the funny sound it made and laughing. Being free to do what makes you happy.

Haha awesome. Sounds like something I would do

[VeganAwake]

5 minutes ago, ivory said:

Thanks. Good to meet you

Haha awesome. Sounds like something I would do

Haha me to... nice to meet you!!

[VeganAwake]

4 hours ago, Matt8800 said:

@VeganAwake Thanks

I agree with you that living a life free and spontaneous while knowing we "need" nothing is an important realization. I felt I would throw a caution out there since it seems many times people confuse not needing/non-attachment with shouldnt have/rejection....or worse, as an excuse to avoid what the Buddhists call "right action".

If I have to earn money for food and shelter, I will work to excel at it since I believe anything we do, we should do it with excellence. After that, let the chips fall where they may. If I am poor, I will be happy. If I am rich, I will be happy. 

 

I got you, yeah there are no prerequisites to Enlightenment work, no should or should nots. 

It's the pathless path to the gateless gate where nobody discovers their everybody.(my experience)

My thought process or belief system differs a bit, as in I don't believe in belief systems. 

For example: I don't believe anything has to be done a certain way, but if in the moment I feel like perfecting something I will, but if I don't I don't. I don't hold myself to a standard.

Now if it's for my job and I don't want to get fired yes there are standards one has to follow but I don't buy into their standards as a way one should live their life. 

I don't believe in right or wrong ways to live life and ultimately from what I can tell "nothing really matters".

But that's just my opinion haha. Awesome and interesting conversation thank you!!

I'm going to read about the Buddhist right action you talked about.

 

Edited October 10, 2019 by VeganAwake