Emotions

 

 

Letters come to me saying, “Somebody passed by me and I had a gut feeling that he was angry with me.” Somebody passed by you, and you have a gut feeling that he was angry about you.... At least you could have asked the person, “Are you angry with me? – because I am having a gut feeling....” You owe him this much courtesy at least before you determine that he is angry with you.

 

He may not be at all interested in you, he may be angry about something else. You may give him a good laugh. But it is possible – he may be angry with something else, somebody else, with himself, and you may get a gut feeling of anger. His anger can touch your feelings. It may not be addressed to you because the emotions are not linear. They don’t move from A to B, they move in circles, concentric circles.

 

Just as when you drop a stone in the lake, concentric circles arise and they go on spreading all around, when somebody is angry there are concentric circles around him of anger. Anybody passing by him, if he is sensitive, can get the feeling that he is angry. And naturally you decode this feeling as if he is angry with you.

 

It is better, then and there, to hold the man and ask, “What is the matter? because I am feeling a gut disturbance. I feel waves of anger arising around you. I don’t know for whom, for what, but at least be clear: if they are addressed to me tell me, so I can do something about them. If they are not addressed to me thank you. You go on your way, I go on my way.”

 

But this is not what people do. That's why I say you are not straightforward, you are not authentic. Now you are just carrying an idea, and with this idea, whenever you pass that man you may start projecting that he is looking with anger, or he is moving with anger. These may be just projections now because you have got a certain idea that he was angry, so he must be angry.

Now whatever he is doing you will try to convince yourself that it is a proof of that. Now you can go on piling up and making a big story out of nothing. And now, later on, even if you tell him, he may not be able to remember what you are talking about. It is better to be very immediate.

Don't start borrowing problems from people. And everybody is doing it -- most of your problems are somebody else's problems. The other may have even solved them, or dissolved them, and you are still carrying them.

Try to keep your life as clean and unburdened as possible.

Clarity is not something that needs any special talent. It is not something like the talent to be a painter, a poet, a musician. Everybody cannot be a musician, it is clear. There is no need either, because there is enough noise already. There is no need that everybody should be a painter, because almost every wall, every bathroom, every place where somebody can practice his art is full.

 

-Osho, "From Misery to Enlightenment, #20"

 

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If you have lived this moment truly, authentically, lovingly, prayerfully, out of this prayerful moment the next will be born. It will have more intensity of love in it, more intensity of prayer. It will be more alive. Out of that moment another moment will be born. But you need not think about them; there is no need. Why waste this moment?

And be true.... Sometimes if you feel like being angry, be angry -- nothing is wrong in it. The problem is that if you are not angry you will not be loving. All emotions are so together that if you repress anger you will repress love also. If you repress anger you repress compassion also. If you release compassion, suddenly you will become afraid that anger is also being released. You have to just sit upon the whole pile of your emotions -- and that is very uncomfortable.

Release all that. When you are here with me, just be true. Then by and by I will give you certain methods in how to be aware and yet not repressing, because if awareness becomes a repression, the whole point is lost; then the medicine is already poisoned. Awareness is really good, but it should not be in any way repressive. First allow, first be expressive. Nothing is wrong.

Be human; don't try to become superhuman. Just be human and accept the limitations of a human being. Sometimes, yes, there is anger; sometimes there is jealousy, sometimes there is hatred. Accept. Man has these limitations. Don't enhance your ego and say that you don't have all these things. They are there and they are good. They make man humble.

So here just be relaxed, expressive, and live the moment. By and by I will tell you how to take hold of awareness in such a way that it is never repressive. Then it makes you happy and aware. It makes you blissful and aware. Otherwise you can become aware and can become very unhappy.

 

-Osho, "Dance Your Way to God, #7"