Some of you do the work: you know who you are.
The most frequent issue that comes through to me in email is trying to understand.
But there is an issue with that.
The Thinking Man, i.e. the Man of the Mind, thinks about it, tries to understand.
Alas, there is no way the understanding is going to help.
The Work is outside of understanding. It is a seeing phenomenon, an action where the mind can’t contribute much, or when it does, it takes you off the path.
All the mind is capable of doing is compare things it has already seen. And that labeling, that comparing effectively removes seeing: now you are not herenow, you are somewhere in the past, maybe in a dream, in a vision, in a concept… but not herenow.
The work is to remove what’s between you and You. Garbage. weeds. Ego. Nastiness. Concepts. Societal demands.
See them and see them with the Observer, where consciousness resides. See them for what they are: stuff in the way, stuff between you and the authentic You. Pretense, safety buffer, knowledge… stuff.
Nothing to understand. If consciousness was allowed to see it, it will do the guidance from now on. You don’t have to do anything else. Your job is to notice things, non-verbally, non-judgmentally, see them for what they are.
Consciousness will do the rest.
It will take work. Thousands of things are buffering You from you. And your ability to look, nonverbally, aware, conscious, is next to nothing.
You are really good at feeling good, or feeling bad, or seeing colors, and vibrate, and other happy horseshit, but just be with what you see: you are really not very willing.
So, you see, mind doesn’t help. Understanding doesn’t help.
You just need to see what you see, and stay awake, stay aware.
Feelings, attitudes, desires, longings, urges, actions… all to be observed.
You can also observe other people. You can observe everything.
The more of the time you are aware, the faster you’ll get the work done.
And here is an excerpt from Osho… maybe he speaks clearer than me:
The mind has to be penetrated and understood. One thing: the mind has no present, it has only past and future. The present is so narrow that the mind cannot catch it. The moment the mind catches it, it has already become the past. So the mind can remember the past, can desire the future, but cannot see the present. The past is vast, the future also is vast; the present is so atomic, so subtle, that by the time you become aware, it is gone. And you are not so aware! A very great intensity of awareness is needed, only then will you be able to see the present. You have to be fully alert; if you are not totally alert, the present cannot be seen. You are already drunk with the past or with the future.
The other day it happened, Mulla Nasruddin came to see me. He hailed a taxi, entered it and said,
“Driver, take me to Osho Commune.”
The driver came out of the car very much annoyed because the taxi was standing before 17, Koregaon Park. He opened the door and said to Mulla Nasruddin, “Fellow, we have reached the Commune. Come out!”
Nasruddin said, “Okay, but don’t drive so fast next time.”
The mind is drunk. It cannot see the present, that which is before you. The mind is filled with dreams, desires. You don’t have a presence. That’s why Jesus is missed, Buddha is missed, Krishna is missed, and then for centuries you weep and cry, then for centuries you feel guilty. For centuries you think, pray, imagine, and when Jesus is there you miss. Jesus can be met only if you attain to a presence of mind, such a presence that has no past, that has no future. Only such a presence can look into the present, and then the present is eternal. But eternity is in depth, it is not a linear movement, it is not horizontal – it is vertical.
The second thing to remember: you can understand the past, because to understand anything you need time to think, theorize, philosophize, systematize, argue. Then intellectually you can sort things out. But when a Jesus is present you cannot think – you have no time to think. Mind needs time to think. It gropes in the dark. Somehow it creates a sort of understanding which is not understanding at all. If you have understanding, then you can look directly into a fact and the truth of the fact is revealed. If you don’t have understanding, you have to think.
Remember, a man of understanding never thinks, he simply looks at the fact. The very look reveals.
A man of non-understanding thinks. It is just like a blind man who wants to go out of this house: before he leaves the house he will have to think, “Where is the door, where is the staircase, where is the gate?” But a man with eyes, if he wants to go out, simply goes out. He never thinks, “Where is the door, where is the staircase, where is the gate?” Because he can look, there is no need to think.
If you are blind, then there is much need to think. Thinking is a substitute, it hides your blindness. A man who can see directly never thinks: Jesus is not a thinker, Aristotle is a thinker, Buddha is not a thinker, Hegel is a thinker. A man who is enlightened never thinks, he simply looks, he has the eyes to look. And the very look reveals where the way is, where the door is, where the gate is, and then he goes.
When Jesus is there the gate is open. But you are blind: there is every possibility that you will ask Jesus himself, “Where is the door? Where is the gate? Where should I go?”
