Question :

Is not man the purpose of all evolution?

 

 

Evolution has no purpose. The very idea of purpose is mediocre; it comes from the marketplace. Existence is playful, not purposive. It is leela; it is not work. But we think in terms of economics, business; we think in terms of the marketplace. Everything has to be with purpose.

 

People come to me and they ask, “What is the purpose of meditation?” They take it for granted that there must be a purpose behind it. There is none. Meditation is its own end; there is no end beyond it. What is the purpose of love? Is love a means to something else, or is love an end unto itself?

 

Purpose means division, division between the means and the end. What is the purpose of these green trees, and what is the purpose of the bird singing, and what is the purpose of the sunrise, and what is the purpose of the starry night? What is the purpose? If there is some purpose, you would have a very ugly existence.

 

And then the question will persist. If you say, “‘A’ is the purpose,” then the question will arise, “What is the purpose of ‘A’?” And there will be no end to it.

 

There is no purpose at all. That’s why life is so beautiful.

Somebody asked Pablo Picasso, “What is the purpose of your paintings?” and he said, “Why don’t you go in the garden and ask the rose flower, ‘What is your purpose?’ Why don’t you go to a bird singing: ‘What is the purpose?’ Why don’t you ask the sun and the moon? Why do you bother me? If the rose can bloom without any purpose, why can’t I paint a picture? I enjoy painting, and that’s all.”

 

But we have a very mediocre mind; we always think in terms of purpose. Purpose means “business”; purpose means “I am doing this for that”. And because of this purposive obsession, you never do anything totally — you cannot — because you are not interested in doing it for its own sake. Purpose is there.

 

You are painting to sell it in the market to earn money. Then your painting cannot be great, cannot be, because you will not be lost while you are painting. Continuously you will be thinking, “How much am I going to fetch? Will it be possible to sell it, and who are the potential buyers? Whom should I approach; how should I advertise?” And you are painting! Your painting may be a technically well-performed job, but it will not be art. You are not an artist; you are not a creator.

 

The real artist disappears into his art. While he is painting he is not: he is in a state of fana, he is absent. The painting is happening on its own. He is not doing it; he is not a doer. Then great works arise. That is a secondary thing, whether it is sold in the market or not; that is not the purpose; that was not in the mind of the painter. Also he needs bread and butter, and he will sell it; that is a thing apart. That was not the purpose of the painting; he was not thinking of bread and butter while he was painting it. If he was thinking, then he is not a painter, then he is just a businessman.

 

Remember the difference between a technician and an artist: the technician is one who works with some goal in his vision, and the artist is one who has no other goal — art for art’s sake.

 

And why do you ask it, “Is not man the purpose of all evolution?” Just go and ask the parrots. They may be thinking that they are the purpose of evolution. Look how green they are, and their red beaks. What have you compared to them? And their beautiful wings, and the way they fly — zigzag, playfully — and the way they sing. They must be thinking that they are the purpose of the whole evolution.

 

Or ask the lion or the elephant. They must be thinking they are the purpose. Do you think the lion thinks man is the purpose of evolution? In the bibles of the lions it is written, “God made the lion in his own image.” This poor man is very poor, in fact. You don’t have the energy of a lion; you don’t have the capacity of the eagle to fly far away; you don’t have the grace of an elephant; you don’t have the beauty of a lotus flower. What have you got that you think you are the purpose of evolution, that God has created you specially?

 

This is the way of an egoist; it is the way of the ego. The ego wants: “I am the purpose of the whole of evolution”.

 

You have asked, “Is not man the purpose of all evolution?” Now think, whether woman is the purpose or man? If you are a man you will think man; if you are a woman you will think, of course, woman. Then think — if you are a man and you decide that man is the purpose, not woman — then black or white? If you are black you will think black; if you are white you will think white. If you go on searching deeply into it, finally you will arrive to the point that “I am the purpose of the whole of evolution.” Look at the absurdity.

There is a Russian parable:

 

A man was walking along and happened to spit three times, all in the same place. The man went on, the gobs of spit remained. And one of the gobs of spit said, “We are here but the man is not.” And the second said, “He is gone.” And the third, “That is the only thing he came here for, to plant us here. We are the purpose of man’s life. He is gone but we remain.”

 

Drop all kinds of egoistic ideas. There is no purpose, neither man nor woman, neither birds nor animals. There is no purpose, there is no goal. The existence is not moving towards something. It is a sheer joy, exuberance, a ceremony, for no other purpose at all.

 

Life delights in itself, energy delights in itself. It is like a child, jumping and dancing and shouting. If you ask him for what purpose, he will be surprised at your foolish question. Shouting, jumping, dancing is enough. What other purpose is needed? But as you grow older you forget this; you start doing things only if they pay. If there is a good payoff, only then do you do things.

Otherwise, the question goes on haunting you: “What is the purpose?” You don’t sing a song without any purpose. You don’t dance, you don’t love, you don’t paint, you don’t sing. What is the purpose?

 

Unless you are paid! So money seems to be the end of it all. And what is the purpose of money? You will be gone and the money will be left. And your hundred-rupee notes will think, “So we were the purpose of this man. Now we are here and he is gone. He had certainly come here to collect us, what else?” You will be gone, your house will be here, and the house will say, “Look! So we are the purpose of this man’s life. ”

 

There is no purpose at all. This understanding brings freedom; this understanding is what I call spiritual insight. The man who lives for some purpose is a materialist; and the man who simply lives for no purpose at all, the man who simply lives as if he is on a morning walk, not going anywhere, that man is spiritual, his life is holy. That is sacredness.

 

– Osho,  “the secret, #12, Q2”