Response

 

 

Become natural. And the man who is natural is responsible -- because he responds. The man who is not natural never responds, he only reacts. Reactions mean being mechanical, response is non-mechanical, spontaneous.

 

You see a beautiful flower and you suddenly say something: "It is beautiful." Watch whether it is a reaction or a response. Go deep into it, scrutinize it. What you have said -- that "The flower is beautiful" -- is it your spontaneous response this moment, herenow? Is this your experience, or are you simply repeating a cliche because you have heard others saying that flowers are beautiful. Go into it, watch: who has spoken through you? Maybe it is your mother.... You can remember the day, for the first time she had taken you to the garden, the public gardens, and she had told you, "Look at this rose. How beautiful it is!" And then the books that you have been reading, and the films that you have been seeing, the people you have been talking to -- and they all have been saying "Roses are beautiful." It has become a programmed thing in you. The moment you see the rose flower your program says "It is beautiful," not you. It is just a gramophone record, it is a tape. The rose outside triggers the tape and it simply repeats. It is reaction.

 

What is response? Response is unprogrammed experiencing in the moment. You look at the flower, you really look at the flower, with no ideas covering your eyes. You look at THIS flower, the THISNESS of it! all knowledge put aside. Your heart responds, your mind reacts. Responsibility is of the heart. You may not say anything; in fact, there is no need to say, "This is beautiful."

 

I have heard...

 

Lao Tzu used to go for a morning walk. A neighbor wanted to be with him. Lao Tzu said, "But remember, don't be talkative. You can come along, but don't be talkative."

 

Many times the man wanted to say something, but knowing Lao Tzu, looking at him, he controlled himself But when the sun started rising and it was so beautiful, the temptation was so much that he forgot all about what Lao Tzu had said. He said, "Look! What a beautiful morning!"

 

And Lao Tzu said, "So, you have become talkative You are too talkative! You are here, I am here, the sun is here, the sun is rising -- so what is the point in saying to me 'The sun is beautiful'? Can't I see? Am I blind? What is the point of saying it? I am also here." In fact, the mall who said "The morning is beautiful" was not there. He w as repeating, it was a reaction.

 

When you respond words may not be needed at all, or sometimes they may be needed. It will depend on the situation, but they will not necessarily be there; they may be, they may not be.

 

Response is of the heart. Response is a feeling, not a thought. You are thrilled: seeing a rose flower something starts dancing in you, something is stirred at the deepest core of your being. Something starts opening inside you. The outer flower challenges the inner flower, and the inner flower responds: this is responsibility of the heart. And if you are not engaged in trivialities, you will have enough energy, abundant energy, to have this inner dance of the heart. When energy is dissipated in thoughts, your feelings are starved. Thoughts are parasites: they live on the energy which is really for the feelings, they exploit it.

 

Thoughts are like leakages in your being: they take your energy out. Then you are like a pot with holes -- nothing can be contained in you, you remain poor. When there are no thoughts your energy is contained inside, its level starts rising higher and higher. You have a kind of fullness. In that fullness the heart responds. And then life is poetry, then life is music, and then only can you do the miracle of making deeds prove your words, not before it. Then you don't only say "I love you", your very existence proves the love. Then your words are not impotent words; they have a soul to them. And to live like that is the only life worth living: when your words and your deeds correspond, when your words and deeds are not opposites, when your words are full of your sincerity, when whatsoever you say you are.

 

Before that, you live in a kind of split: you say one thing, you do another. You remain schizophrenic. The whole humanity is schizophrenic unless one comes to this point where words and deeds are no more separate, but two aspects of the same phenomenon. You say what you feel, you feel what you say, you do what you say, you say what you do. One can simply watch you and will see the authenticity of your being.

 

-Osho, "The Secret of Secrets, Vol 2, #3“