Balance

 

 

Live life in all possible ways; don't choose one thing against the other, and don't try to be in the middle. And don't try to balance yourself -- balance is not something that can be cultivated by you. Balance is something that comes out of the experience of all the dimensions of life. Balance is something that HAPPENS; it is not something that can be BROUGHT. If you bring it it will be false, forced; and if you bring it you will remain tense, you will not be relaxed, because how can a man who is trying to remain balanced, in the middle, be relaxed? He will always be afraid: if he relaxes he may start moving towards the left or towards the right -- he is bound to remain uptight. And to be uptight is to miss the whole opportunity, the whole God-given gift.

 

Don't be uptight. Don't live life according to principles. Live life in its totality, drink life in its totality! Yes, sometimes it tastes bitter - so what? That taste of bitterness will make you capable of tasting its sweetness. You will be able to appreciate the sweetness only if you have tasted its bitterness. The man who knows not how to cry will not know how to laugh either. And the man who cannot have a deep laughter, a belly-laughter, his tears will be crocodile tears -- they cannot be true, they cannot be authentic.

 

I don't teach you the middle way: I teach you the total way. And then a balance comes of its own accord. And then that balance has tremendous beauty and grace -- you have not forced it, it has Come. By moVing gracefully to the left, to the right, in the middle, slowly slowly, a balance COMES to you, because you remain so unidentified. When sadness comes you know it will pass, and when happiness comes you know it will pass too. Nothing remains. Everything passes by.

 

The only thing that always abides is your witnessing. That witnessing brings balance. That witnessing is balance.

 

-Osho, ”The Fish in the Sea is Not Thirsty, #11, Q1“