Seriousness
Those who take life seriously become pathological, because life is not a serious phenomenon, it is all playfulness, from the top to the bottom. It is a song to be sung, a dance to be danced, a love to be lived -- but with utter playfulness. The moment you become serious you become blocked, the flow stops; you are cut off from the universal energy. You cannot dance when you are serious because seriousness is basically sadness. Seriousness is also calculation, business: one is always looking for the motive -- why? One is always asking "Why do it? What am I going to gain out of it? What will the profit be?" These are businesslike attitudes. They are good in the marketplace but they are absolutely wrong when you start moving inwards. The more you move inwards, the more life appears as fun, as tremendous fun. A sense of humor is needed and a sense of playfulness.
In the past just the opposite has been the case: the saints have been very sad and very serious, as if life was a burden, a heavy burden; they were carrying mountains on their heads. They were not free like children, playing for no reason at all, playing just for the playing itself, playing for play's sake... no idea of gaining anything out of it.
Now modern science says that man's head, his brain, is divided into two hemispheres. The left hemisphere of the brain, which is joined with the right hand, is calculative, mathematical, logical, businesslike. The right hemishpere which is connected with the left hand, is playful, poetic, aesthetic, innocent.
Religion belongs to the right hemisphere, science belongs to the left hemisphere -- and to be a sannyasins means to move from the scientific approach to the religious approach, from the left hemisphere to the right hemisphere. It is a movement from logic to love, from seriousness to playfulness. Love will give you the key for transformation because love is the most basic play, a natural sport; but people take love very seriously also. In fact they don't take anything more seriously then they take love. And they make such a mess of their lives just because they take it too seriously.
Let this be my message for you, let this be the foundation for your sannyas: playfulness has to be the color you dye your whole being in; let it vibrate through each fibre and cell of your being. And whenever you find yourself serious, drop seriousness immediately. Don't allow it to remain with you for long because the longer it is there, the deeper its roots start reaching into you. Drop it immediately! Our roots have to go into a totally different direction; the direction is playfulness. That has to be your dimension.
-Osho, "Even Bein' Gawd Ain't A Bed of Roses, #26"