Remembering

 

 

Think over the word "remembering." It really means becoming part again of the whole, becoming a member again of the family that existence is: "re-member." It means that we suddenly learn the language that we had forgotten. It is like a name forgotten: you see somebody on the road, you recognize him, you feel that you know who he is, but you cannot remember his name. You have forgotten, although you can remember this much: that you have known him before. You say, "His name is just on the tip of my tongue." But if it is on the tip of your tongue, then why is it not coming? You feel absolutely certain, the name is just on the tip of your tongue. And then you try hard: the harder you try, the more difficult it becomes, because whenever you try to do something very hard you become tense, you become closed. Your consciousness becomes narrower and narrower. And it becomes more and more difficult in such tension, in such anxiety, to remember.

 

Then you drop the whole project, thinking that it is not possible. You forget all about it. You start listening to music or you go into the garden and you sit under a tree, or you start doing something else, sipping tea or talking to somebody... and then suddenly from nowhere the name surfaces.

 

This is the whole secret of enlightenment: it happens in relaxation, it happens in a deep state of rest. Surrender means relaxing. Ego means tension, carrying a load of anxiety, and unnecessarily.

 

-Osho, "Guida Spirituale, #14, Q1"