Inner Voice

 

 

Find out the witness and then obey him. First find the witness and then obey him, because to find the witness means to find one's own innermost core.

 

We live on two layers, two levels. One is the periphery: the world of action. The other is the inner being, the world of no-action: the world of existence, not of doing. All that we do is on the periphery and al! that we are is at the center. We have to continuously move from the center to the periphery to do some thing. Whenever you are doing something, you are on the periphery. Whatsoever you are doing, U is on the periphery. When you are nondoing, not doing anything, then you are at the center. Witnessing is a nonact. Meditation is a nonact.

 

We are doing meditation here. For thirty minutes you are on the periphery doing something: breathing, catharsis, the hoo mantra. You are doing something; you are on the periphery. When I suddenly say, "Stop!" I mean: now be in the nonact, in nondoing. When you suddenly stop you are thrown from the periphery to the being, to the innermost center, because when you are not doing anything you are not needed on the periphery. You need to be on the periphery only while you are doing something. Now you are thrown back to your center. That center is your witness.

 

Once you know this center, once you recognize this center, once you have felt this center -- follow the orders. You will be directed; you have found your master. Now follow whatsoever is said to you from the center and don't listen to the periphery. The periphery is cultivated by others and your center is untouched, virgin; it is from the divine.

 

The periphery comes from the society. That's why we say that a sannyasin goes beyond society. Not against society, beyond society. Now he follows his own innermost center; he's not following anyone else. All orders from others are meaningless now.

 

You have found your own inner being, and now that being can direct you. That being is infinitely stronger and wiser than thyself. The 'you' on the periphery is a weakling; the 'you' at the center is infinitely potent. The 'you' on the periphery is just a worldly thing; the 'you' at the center is God himself.

 

But first, find the witness. Jesus has said, "First seek ye the kingdom of God. Then all else will follow." Don't bother about other things. First find out the innermost core of the kingdom of God. Then you need not worry about anything; all else will follow.

 

Just follow the inner voice. But how? You don't know what the inner voice is, you don't know what the inner is. Society has confused you deeply. It goes on saying that its own voice is your inner voice. It has placed many voices in you just to control you from within.

 

It is a social need. Society controls you in two ways. One, by outer arrangements: the policeman on the street, the court, the judge, the law, the government. This is the outer arrangement, but it is not enough. You can deceive the law, you can manipulate the court. And the policeman, of course, is just another human being. So that arrangement is not enough.

 

What is good for a Hindu may not be good for a Jain. No matter what you say is true, the contradictory is also true somewhere; it is not absolute. Now that we have become aware of the whole complexity of the human conscience we know that your conscience is just a social product. So many societies exist together that the inner policeman has become weak. Human societies are less moralistic now because the inner policeman is almost dead. You know that what it says means nothing: don't bother about it. Just observe the outer law... and try to find a way around it.

 

What I'm saying is that the voice of the inner policeman is not your voice. Find out the witness. Only then will you find out the inner voice.

 

The inner voice will direct you. Its directions will be absolutely different from what society says -- absolutely different. But for the first time you will become religious, not simply moral. You will be moral in a much deeper sense. Morality will not be a duty, it will not be something imposed upon you. It will not be a burden; it will be spontaneous. You will be good, naturally good. You will not become a thief -- not because society says, "Don't be a thief," but because you cannot be. You will not kill because it is impossible. You love life so much now that violence becomes impossible. It is not a moral code; it is an inner direction.

 

You affirm life, you revere life. A deep reverence comes to you, and through that reverence everything follows. That is what Jesus says. "Find out the kingdom of God first, and then everything will follow." Find out the inner voice, and then everything will follow.

 

-Osho, "The New Alchemy: To Turn You On, #10“