Osho - Absurd

Osho - Absurd

The absurd is nothing but another name of God — and a far more beautiful name than "God" itself, because over the centuries the theologians, the philosophers have destroyed the beauty of the word "God". They have painted it and polished it with such rational garbage that it has no more life left in it. The God of the philosophers is not the true God because it is nothing but a rational concept.

The God of the lovers is a totally different phenomenon. It has nothing to do with reason, with mind; it is the heart pulsating in tune with the whole. It is a song, a symphony.

It is a dance, a celebration. It is more poetry than prose. It is more intuitive than intellectual. It is something felt not thought. Hence I say "the absurd" is a far better name for God.

Tertullian is always worth remembering—a great Christian mystic. He says: "I believe in God because God is absurd—credo pia absurdum." The reason that he gives for his belief is that there is no reason to believe.

Unless you have something in your life which cannot be supported by reason at all, your life will not have any significance. Unless you have something for which you can live and for which you can die without any rational grounds, you will go on missing the very meaning of life and existence. You will remain superficial.

Hence the absurd can release something tremendous in you; it can become an explosion. It can make you see the whole world anew, because it is a rebirth. You slip out of the mind. You are no more covered by the dust of the mind.

Everything is fresh and new then... If you can have a contact with the absurdity of it all, with the irrationality of existence, then you are moving into a totally different dimension—moving from mind to no-mind, moving from mind to meditation. That's what meditation is all about: taking you out of the prison of the mind, out of the prison of the past. And there is no other prison; the past is the only prison...

It is very difficult to drop reason because one feels frightened. Reason gives you a sense of order. Reason gone, there is only chaos. But remember: reason is barren, chaos is a womb. Out of that chaos something of tremendous importance is born: you are reborn.

Yes, if the absurd can overwhelm you, you will have an insight into the gestalt of everything: an insight which is untransferable, an insight which is inexpressible...

Now the time is ripe. Now the West has the possibility of opening up a new door—the absurd—and of entering through that door. That is the only door to the temple of God.

Excerted from 'The Book Of The Books', Vol.8 by Osho