The Constant Surprise
Osho, I feel life is very boring. What should I do?
Osho: As it is, you have already done enough. You have made life boring -- some achievement!
Life is such a dance of ecstasy and you have reduced it to boredom. You have done a miracle! What else do you want to do? You can't do anything bigger than this. Life and boring? You must have a tremendous capacity to ignore life.
. . . Ignorance means the capacity to ignore. You must be ignoring the birds, the trees, the flowers, the people. Otherwise, life is so tremendously beautiful, so absurdly beautiful, that if you can see it as it is you will never stop laughing. You will go on giggling -- at least inside.
Life is not boring, but mind is boring. And we create such a mind, such a strong mind, like a China Wall around ourselves, that it does not allow life to enter into us. It disconnects us from life. We become isolated, encapsulated, windowless. Living behind a prison wall you don't see the morning sun, you don't see the birds on the wing, you don't see the sky in the night full of stars. And, of course, you start thinking that life is boring. Your conclusion is wrong. . .
Put aside your knowledge! And then look with empty eyes...and life is a constant surprise. And I am not talking about some divine life -- the ordinary life is so extraordinary. In small incidents you will find the presence of God -- a child giggling, a dog barking, a peacock dancing. . . . The poorest man in the world is the man who lives behind a curtain of knowledge. The poorest are those who live through the mind. . . .
And each moment there are surprises and surprises because life is never the same; it is constantly changing, and it takes such unpredictable turns. How can you remain unaffected by the very wonder of it? The only way to remain unaffected is to cling to your past, to your experience, to your knowledge, to your memories, to your mind. Then you cannot see that which is; you go on missing the present. Miss the present and you live in boredom.
Be in the present and you will be surprised that there is no boredom at all. Start by looking around a little more like a child. Be a child again!
The Constant Surprise
Osho, I feel life is very boring. What should I do?
Osho: As it is, you have already done enough. You have made life boring -- some achievement!
Life is such a dance of ecstasy and you have reduced it to boredom. You have done a miracle! What else do you want to do? You can't do anything bigger than this. Life and boring? You must have a tremendous capacity to ignore life.
. . . Ignorance means the capacity to ignore. You must be ignoring the birds, the trees, the flowers, the people. Otherwise, life is so tremendously beautiful, so absurdly beautiful, that if you can see it as it is you will never stop laughing. You will go on giggling -- at least inside.
Life is not boring, but mind is boring. And we create such a mind, such a strong mind, like a China Wall around ourselves, that it does not allow life to enter into us. It disconnects us from life. We become isolated, encapsulated, windowless. Living behind a prison wall you don't see the morning sun, you don't see the birds on the wing, you don't see the sky in the night full of stars. And, of course, you start thinking that life is boring. Your conclusion is wrong. . .
Put aside your knowledge! And then look with empty eyes...and life is a constant surprise. And I am not talking about some divine life -- the ordinary life is so extraordinary. In small incidents you will find the presence of God -- a child giggling, a dog barking, a peacock dancing. . . . The poorest man in the world is the man who lives behind a curtain of knowledge. The poorest are those who live through the mind. . . .
And each moment there are surprises and surprises because life is never the same; it is constantly changing, and it takes such unpredictable turns. How can you remain unaffected by the very wonder of it? The only way to remain unaffected is to cling to your past, to your experience, to your knowledge, to your memories, to your mind. Then you cannot see that which is; you go on missing the present. Miss the present and you live in boredom.
Be in the present and you will be surprised that there is no boredom at all. Start by looking around a little more like a child. Be a child again!