Never born. Never died.

On December 11th, 1931, one of the most brilliant minds and hearts to ever grace this planet was born in Bopal State, India. Known at the time of his transition (January 19, 1990) as Osho (formerly Rajneesh, born name Chandra Mohan Jain). To his devotees and others who love and revered him, he was a mystic, Guru, “Bhagwan”, and founder of the Rajneesh movement that rocked Oregon in the 1980’s. What most of the world knows of him is related to his controversial nature, the threat he posed to governments, and the commune he started here in the U.S. However, the best parts of this being are to be found in his texts and talks (vast in number). His mind was unmatched. His wit unharnessed. And his understanding of the complexities of being human–the very contradictory nature of all humans–and his encouragement for people to live in their totality, not denying anything, but rather to embrace it all with love—those were the things millions of people across the world fell in love with and awe of. I can only encourage someone to pick up just one of his books, or to listen to just one Youtube video or talk. The man was magnetizing, and a living genius of our time. Today, while we celebrate his existence and legacy, and all he gave to the world in terms of knowledge and skills to best navigate the human experience with freedom, I think back to the summer of 2018, before the “plandemic” when I was privileged to spend a week in his former home and ashram (Osho International, Pune, Maharashtra, India) where he lived and “died”. After being there a week, I compiled some basic take-aways and reflections that I came across today. I find they are as applicable today for not just my Self, but for the greater collective. I thought it best to share them in hopes they resonate with at least two people. And those two people are intrigued enough to take up discovery of Osho’s work. And that those two people spread it like all the variants of this global “virus”, the way his philosophies spread through my heart and changed my perspective on life and people for the better.

1. Get out of your head and into your heart. You will never find your own voice within your mind. There is nothing there but conditioning and past experience/data, neither of which have anything to do with you (the real you), or the present.
2. Learn to sit with sadness. It is a part of you, a beautiful part of the human experience. Only in sadness are we reminded of how great our capacity to love is.
3. As a woman, let your feminine side lead sometimes. This will require allowing her to step put of hiding, out of the shadows, and opening her heart to be exposed to whatever is there. She no longer needs protecting. She is strong and beautiful, soul deep.
4. Life is not logical, so stop trying to understand it all. It is a wasted energy and moves us away from presence and acceptance for what is.
5. We live in a society of slaves–slaves to conditioning, rules, customs, traditions, morals, etc. The free individual poses a dangerous threat to this system. “Live dangerously,” Osho says. We choose our existence. I choose freedom, at all costs, even if I walk alone in this freedom.
6. Being alone is beautiful. It does not mean you have no attachment or care for a person/thing. It means you are content within and need nothing outside of your to feel safe and supported in the world. We are enough. I am enough.
7. Open your heart to receive whatever existence has to share with you. And in return, empty your heart into the world like wildfire. You were born to love and be loved.
8. Make time for silence, for meditation, for communion with yourself and the divine. Going within we are able to connect to truth, a truth we can never come to without visiting the silence and allowing it to speak.

There are not many days since I discovered this once ethereal being and living “master” in 2015, that I do not read something of his or listen to him speak. Beyond Osho’s wildly intelligent mind, his humor was his best quality if you ask me. He was entrancing, using his jokes to keep people light-hearted, having an ability to reach people wherever they were at in their journey. You either loved him or hated him, which said everything about a person if you ask me. Many thought his followers mad. I saw, and still see, them all as courageous enough to not only hear Osho, but to be brave enough to step into the whole of their human experience while here on Earth; to live as dangerously as possible within a space of love.