Experiment and Experience

 

 

There is no need to hesitate. Try what I am saying. Experiment with it and come to your own conclusions. But never believe. Experiment, experience, and your experience will prove the truth of what I am saying.

 

-Osho, “The White Lotus, #2, Q2”

 

 

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Experiment and experience are both the same, their directions are different. Experiment means something you can do outside; experience means something you can do inside. Experience is an inside experiment.

Science says: Don't believe, doubt as much as you can. But also, don't disbelieve, because disbelief is again a sort of belief. You can believe in God, you can believe in the concept of no-God. You can say God is, with a fanatic attitude; you can say the quite reverse, that God is not with the same fanaticism. Atheists, theists, are all believers, and belief is not the realm for science. Science means experience something, that which is; no belief is needed.

 

- Osho, "Yoga : The Alpha and the Omega, Vol 1, #1"

 

 

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Whenever you find something that appeals to you, to your reason, to your logic, to your mind – that looks rational, looks to be true – that is not enough. Your reason may say it is true, but it may not be. Unless you experiment with it, unless you experience something through it, nothing has been discovered. Nothing is discovered by using only logic. Logic is a help, but don’t make it the ultimate criterion. The ultimate criterion is always within: experiment and experience. And unless you experience something, don’t believe that you have found it, that the way has become revealed to you. Only through experience do theories become truths.

 

Seek the way by retreating within. Whenever you have found a technique, a way, retreat within, go within. Experiment with it there, in your subjectivity, in your heart. Experience it. Don’t just go on thinking about what meditation is. Do it! Only then will you know what it is. A technique may not give you any experience, then throw it away and try another. There are hundreds of meditation techniques; one technique is bound to fit you.

 

Humanity has been struggling for millions of years, and every type of man has attained liberation. Every type of technique has been found. You are not new, you have been before. And many like you have been before and they have traveled the path. Many techniques have been discovered. Try a technique, but be authentic, sincere when you try it. And try it with your total energy. If nothing comes out of a particular technique, then throw it away and move to another.

 

In the old days, when disciples came to a teacher, the first thing the teacher would try to observe would be whether the disciple suited him, and whether he suited the disciple. If the teacher thought that the disciple was not meant to be with him, if he felt that the disciple would be helped more by someone else – even by someone who was against him – he would tell the disciple, “Go to that master!”

 

The disciple would say, “But I have heard that he is against you. He says that you are wrong.”

 

The teacher would say, “Don’t bother about what he says. He will suit you, his way will suit you. First go there and try.”

 

Go on trying different techniques, but try with your total heart. Otherwise you may throw away a technique that was right for you. So try with your total heart. If something happens, good. Move on it, move deeply. If nothing happens and you have tried with your total mind, then throw it away; it is not for you. But don’t throw it away before you have tried it – before you have tried it with your totality. Seek the way by retreating within.

 

And the fifteenth sutra:

 

Seek the way by advancing boldly without.

 

Even if you experiment and experience something within, there is every possibility that it may be just a delusion. It may be just a projection of the mind, it may be just a dream, may be just wish fulfillment. Don’t think that you have achieved the way. Now, whatsoever you have achieved within, try it without. Whatsoever you know within your heart, now transform it into your character; now live it. You have experienced it, now live it, make it your life.

 

-Osho, "The New Alchemy: To Turn You On, #7"

 

 

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Whenever you find something that appeals to you, to your reason, to your logic, to your mind – that looks rational, looks to be true – that is not enough. Your reason may say it is true, but it may not be. Unless you experiment with it, unless you experience something through it, nothing has been discovered. Nothing is discovered by using only logic. Logic is a help, but don’t make it the ultimate criterion. The ultimate criterion is always within: experiment and experience. And unless you experience something, don’t believe that you have found it, that the way has become revealed to you. Only through experience do theories become truths.

 

Seek the way by retreating within. Whenever you have found a technique, a way, retreat within, go within. Experiment with it there, in your subjectivity, in your heart. Experience it. Don’t just go on thinking about what meditation is. Do it! Only then will you know what it is. A technique may not give you any experience, then throw it away and try another. There are hundreds of meditation techniques; one technique is bound to fit you.

 

Humanity has been struggling for millions of years, and every type of man has attained liberation. Every type of technique has been found. You are not new, you have been before. And many like you have been before and they have traveled the path. Many techniques have been discovered. Try a technique, but be authentic, sincere when you try it. And try it with your total energy. If nothing comes out of a particular technique, then throw it away and move to another.

 

-Osho, “ The New Alchemy: To Turn You On, #7”