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Only a ripe Fruit falls to the Ground

Somebody asks: Beloved Osho, I feel that through developing an attitude of endurance towards difficulties, I have become resigned to much of life. This resignation feels like a weight pushing against my effort to become more alive in meditation. Does this mean that I have suppressed my ego, and that I must find it again before I can really lose it?

Osho Answers:
One of the greatest problems...it will appear very paradoxical, but this is true: before you can lose your ego, you must attain it. Only a ripe fruit falls to the ground.

A man who pursues virtue consciously is unvirtuous

I am only conscious of this activity of the ‘me’ when I am opposing, when consciousness is thwarted, when the ‘me’ is desirous of achieving a result. The ‘me’ is active, or I am conscious of that centre, when pleasure comes to an end and I want to have more of that pleasure; then there is resistance, and there is a purposive shaping of the mind to a particular end which will give me a delight, a satisfaction. I am aware of myself

What is ego?

Ego is nothing but false image of you. It is not substantial; it is just an idea, a substitute without which it will be difficult for you to live. Because you don’t know who you are, you have to create a certain idea about yourself; otherwise, you will simply go mad. You have to fix certain indicators so that you can know, ‘this is me.’

The ego exists because you don’t know who you are. So a name, an address, a certain face that you have seen reflected in the mirror, in the photographs, the album – these all help. They are balloons fastened to you.

What is truth?

Truth means the authenticity of being, not imposing anything that you are not, just being that which you are at whatsoever the risk, never becoming a hypocrite. If you are sad, you are sad. That is the truth in that moment, don’t hide it. Don’t put a false smile on your face because that false smile will create a split in you. You will become two – a part of you will be smiling, and of course that is the minor part and the major part will remain sad. Now a division has arisen.

When people have positive image about you, then your every act revolve around that image. If you are angry, you don’t show your anger -you are afraid it may destroy your image because people think you are so compassionate, and people say that you are never angry. They appreciate it, and it is so gratifying to the ego. Now, being angry will destroy your beautiful image, so rather than destroying the image, you repress the anger. It is boiling within, but on the surface you remain compassionate, kind, polite. Now the division is being practiced. People are practicing it through their whole lives; then the division becomes absolutely settled. It becomes the second nature of people. Even when they are sitting alone and there is nobody, they go on pretending. Now it is not a question of true or untrue; it has just become their habit. For the whole of their lives they have practiced, and as you practice more and more, the distance between two parts of you becomes bigger and bigger.

Surrender to life

There are two ways of living life – one way is you can fight with life and the other way is you can surrender to it. When you fight with life, you have your own private goals against life. You are trying to impose a pattern on life, something of your own. You are trying to drag life to follow you and you are just a tiny part, infinitesimal, so small, and you are trying to drag the whole universe with you. Of course you are bound to be defeated. You are bound to lose your grace; you are bound to become hard.

God is neither humble nor arrogant

God is supreme – he is the one who declares truth. He is neither humble nor arrogant. He is the one who gives authentic, integrated statements, the one who lives with his real self and not the false self and hence he is above arrogance and humbleness.

Arrogance and humbleness are two sides of the same coin “ego”. They are like hot and cold degrees of the same energy. The humble person has as much ego as the arrogant person, the only difference is one claim the ego and the other denies it. The arrogant person says “I am best” and the humble person says “I am nobody”. So in both cases “I” or “ego” is there, the only difference is they are claiming in a different way.

Thoughts are things: CW Leadbeater

'thoughts are things', for every thought impresses itself upon the plastic elemental essence and generates a temporary living entity, the duration of whose life depends upon the energy of the thought-impulse given to it. We are therefore living in the midst of an ocean of other men's thoughts, and whether we are awake or asleep, these are constantly presenting themselves to the etheric part of our brain.

64. So long as we ourselves are actively thinking and therefore keeping our brain fully employed, it is practically impervious to this continual impingement of thought from without; but the moment that we leave it idle, the stream of inconsequent chaos begins to pour through it. Most of the thoughts sweep through unassimilated and almost unnoticed, but now and then one comes along which reawakens some vibrations to which the etheric part of the brain is accustomed; at once that brain seizes upon it, intensifies it, and makes it its own; that thought in turn suggests another; and so a whole train of ideas is started, until eventually it also fades away, and the disconnected, purposeless stream begins flowing through the brain again.

Fate or Free Will?

In response to the question of fate and free will, there are number of answers to it. Spiritually, it is an illusion of mind and therefore, it doesnot matter it is Will or fate.Since, both are same and you get a particular desire or intention to do a particular thing, only when it is in fate and vice-versa. A thought to do a particular action comes only when it is fated. And what is a fate? Sum total of all the energies in the universe and the way they influence us. And we may be bound to certain actions based on the actions we have performed in the past. And this is known as Karma. It is same as Newton's 3rd law. Only thing here we need to remember is that the reason why we are bound to the past actions is because of our Ego-sense. The feeling of 'I', 'me', 'mine'. The feeling of ego and of 'self' as separate and as a doer of those actions. You can perform a certain action without this feeling of 'You' doing it and then you are free from the ill-effects of Karma.