Emergencies

 

 

Man is almost unconscious. I say “almost” – there are moments, situations where he becomes conscious, but they are momentary.

 

For example, suddenly your house is on fire. You will feel a flare-up within you, a sense of alertness that was not there before. You may have been tired, you may not have slept for a few days, you may have been traveling and you were hoping that as you reached your house, the first thing you were going to do was to fall asleep – but the house is on fire!

 

All tiredness disappears. You forget the whole nightmare of the journey, and inside you find something new which perhaps you will miss because the house is on fire; so you will become not alert of your alertness, but alert of the fire that is burning your house.

 

In ordinary life also, there are moments when people touch a higher state of consciousness, but miss because that higher state comes as an emergency, and they have to tackle first the emergency that is facing them. And that cannot be the circumstance where they can start exploring what is happening inside them.

 

But if you can remember – even as a memory – some moments in your life when suddenly you were more aware than you usually are, it will be a great help to understand what I mean when I talk about being conscious.

 

-Osho, "From Ignorance to Innocence, #26, Q1"

 

 

 

Paddy is a private in the British army during World War II. One day, the general calls him to his tent and says, “Private Murphy, you have been chosen for a very special mission. You will be parachuted at night behind the enemy lines, where you will be met by a jeep. And the driver will give you your orders.”

 

So that night, Paddy goes up in the plane. They are approaching the enemy lines when Paddy turns to his officer and says, “But sir, I have never parachuted. What should I do?”

 

“Don’t worry,” replies the officer. “All you do is jump. Then three seconds later look up and you will see your parachute open. If it does not, just pull your emergency cord and your second parachute will open. When you land, the jeep will be there to meet you.”

 

“Okay,” says Paddy, and jumps out of the plane. Three seconds later he looks up,

 

but nothing happens. So he pulls the emergency cord and still nothing happens. “My God,” says Paddy as he rushes towards the ground. “And I bet that bloody jeep won’t be there either!”

 

-Osho, "Om Mani Padme Hum, #6, Q1"