Aloneness Is The Last Achievement
Nothing happens before its right time; truth, at least, never happens before its right time. And if I try to give it to you, it will never reach you in the first place. Even if it reaches, you will lose it again. And it will not be an act of compassion on my part if I give it to you. My compassion has to be hard. My compassion has to be so hard that you go on crying for it and I go on hiding it. On the one hand, I tempt you; on the other hand, I hide it. Once tempted, you will become, by and by, crazier and crazier. You will find ways; you have to find ways. Because only through finding, searching, seeking ways, inventing, innovating, inquiring new paths, getting out of the old patterns, finding new patterns, new disciplines, will you grow, will you become rich. In fact, the moment you have grown, suddenly the truth is there within you. One just has to recognize it, but that recognition comes the hard way. You will have to stake everything that you have: that is the meaning of stealing. It is not a business; it is not a bargain. It is like stealing.
Think of the thief: he stakes everything for something which is not known, which he doesn’t know whether it is really there or not. He stakes his property, he stakes his family, he stakes his own life. If he misses and something goes wrong, he may be in prison forever. He’s a gambler; very courageous. He’s not a businessman. He stakes everything for something which may be there or may not be there. The businessman has a dictum: he says, “Never lose your half bread in the hand for a whole bread in the future, in imagination. Never lose that which you have for that which you don’t have.” That is the dictum of the businessman, the businessman’s mind.
The thief follows another dictum totally. He says: “Put everything that you have at stake for something that you don’t have.” For his dream, he stakes the real. It is just a “perhaps.” He risks all his securities for something very insecure. That’s where courage is.
So rather than being a businessman, be a thief, be a gambler. Because the unknown can be found only when you are ready to drop the known. When the known ceases, the unknown enters into your being. When all security is lost, only then do you give way for the unknown to enter into you.
The second question:
Osho,
Cannot one enjoy life alone? Because I am not so aware, that moving into water without getting wet, or going through fire without getting burnt can be possible for me. Cannot one enjoy life alone?
At least the questioner cannot enjoy, because one who can enjoy will never ask the question.
The very question shows that it will be impossible for you to enjoy being alone. Your aloneness will deteriorate and become loneliness. Your aloneness will not be a fullness; your aloneness will be loneliness – empty.
Yes, out of fear you can settle in it. Out of the fear of getting wet in the water, out of the fear of getting caught in the fire; out of fear, you may settle. Many have settled. Go to the monasteries; look into the old ashrams: many have settled just out of fear.
Excerpted From Yoga: The Supreme Science CH: 2
