I think I’ve mentioned him a few times on this blog before, but I wanted to take a post to officially extend my recommendation for this speaker and author His name is Osho, and his writings have a unique power I have yet to see replicated from another author. He’s rather unconventional in his presentation, and that’s what makes him unique. Think a dark side version of Paramahansa Yogananda (Autobiography of a Yogi), or Eckhart Tolle.
Osho’s writings are confrontational, radical, and provocative. No matter what spiritual or non-spiritual belief you take, he will attack your belief system. The book I’m reading now, The God Conspiracy, has as its introduction him explaining why people who believe in God are idiots, and how Atheists are idiots as well. Are you a moderate who believes in a universal energy and reincarnation? Then you’re an idiot too.
Your response is, “Wait… what?”
Osho is a clean break from depending on other people for your beliefs. While there are many speakers like T. Harv Eker and Lester Levenson who say “Don’t believe a word I say,” Osho takes it to the extreme.
He will intentionally contradict himself for the sole purpose of making you doubt him. At one speaking engagement, he’ll tell a gay man to cure himself of his desires because homosexuality is a disease of the mind. In another speech, he’ll say homosexuality is a perfectly natural way of being. His followers are constantly befuddled by these contradictions.
You don’t know whether he’s telling you wisdom or lies when he talks, so you have no choice but to take everything he says with intention to check it out for yourself.
There’s an old Zen story about a Master who calls his student into the room. The Zen master says “Tell me about reality.” The student says “Reality is an illusion. There are no objects, and there are no people. There is no Buddha or student. There is only nothingness and totality at once.” The master hits the student in the head hard with his cane and says, “If there are no objects, what hit you?”
Osho is the verbal equivalent of the Zen master who will beat you if he senses you’re trusting in blind faith instead of verifying for yourself. It is this quality that makes him probably the best instructor for spirituality and self development. He forces you to challenge your beliefs about the world, yourself, and even what he teaches you.
The man was deported from the US, and refused entry in about 100 countries, from what I’ve read. He had a cult-like commune in the US which had corruption and assassination plots associated with it. His whole life was surrounded by controversy, and you can discover a million reasons to discredit him, if you choose to. However, his content stands up against everything else. Honestly, I’m glad he’s dead so I have no chance to join his cult.
I believe most or all of his books are his speeches put to print, but the publishers have done an amazing editing job so if you didn’t know otherwise, you’d assume, they were originally in book form.
If you look in Borders, you’ll probably want to take 10 books of him home at once, but I recommend at the top of the list The God Conspiracy, Meditation: The First and Last Freedom, The Book of Secrets, The Book of Wisdom, and The Mustard Seed.
I suggest you avoid the books in white covering general topics like Courage, Intuition, Joy, etc. Those are good but his real power comes from when he’s giving commentary on a specific guru or text. Also, while there are plenty of audios of him, his Indian accent can make him hard to understand, so I’d skip those too.
He won’t convert you to anything “New Age,”, and he doesn’t believe in miracles (or does he?), from what I have read. He’s basically a reality melter for you, no matter where you’re coming from.
If I could sum up Osho’s way of guidance in a few sentences, it would be this:
You’re flailing about the ocean, looking for a belief system to hang on to, because ambiguity is so scary. Osho throws you pieces of driftwood that you cling to, and after a moment of security, they each disintegrate in your hands.
“Reincarnation is real,” he tells you, and you feel better. “Actually it isn’t at all, you go into nothingness.” Wait, what? Your driftwood disappears and you’re scared again.
“Jesus knew what he was talking about,” Hmmm, feeling better. “But he was just crazy so everything he said was a lie.” Oh no…..
You’re off on your own again.
He keeps tossing you empty beliefs that seem so real because of his unbridled charisma and centeredness, until you accept that no one can tell you how to live or what to believe.
You stop and just let go of any desire to hold onto any beliefs, not caring if you sink to the bottom of the ocean and drown.
Instead you float. You float freely, and for the first time, you feel completely safe not knowing or believing anything. You just are, and whatever you do is fine, because it’s what you want to do for the moment.
–Dan
