Life, Love, Laughter Celebrating Your Existence

In this collection of reflections, Osho's inspiring and loving stories go far beyond the usual chicken-soup fare.Life, Love, Laughter establishes a new genre of reflective and inspirational text stripped of all platitudes and cliches, and absolutely in tune with the realities of the 21st century. In this artful work, Osho mixes entertainment and inspiration, ancient Zen stories and contemporary jokes to help us to find love, laughter, and ultimately, happiness.Life, Love, Laughter includes an original talk by Osho on DVD. This visual component enables the reader to experience the direct wisdom and humor of Osho straight from the source.

OSHO is one of the most provocative and inspiring spiritual teachers of the twentieth century. Known for his revolutionary contribution to the science of inner transformation, the influence of his teachings continues to grow, reaching seekers of all ages in virtually every country of the world.

Please visit www.osho.com

Chapter One

No beginning, no end
 

People ask me, "Why is this life so mysterious?" How am I supposed to know? It is so! It is simply a fact, I am not talkingabout theories. I’m not saying that it is my theory that life is mysterious— then you could ask why. It is simply so.The trees are green. You ask why. The trees are green because they are green. There is no question of why.

 

If you can ask why and the question can be answered, then life will not be a mystery. If the why can be answered, then life cannot be a mystery. Life is a mystery because no "why" is relevant.

 

I have heard:

 

Mulla Nasruddin was saying to one of his disciples that life is like a woman. I

 

was surprised, so I listened attentively to what he was saying.

 

He was saying, "The man who says he understands women is bragging. The man who thinks he understands them is gullible. The man who pretends to understand them is ambiguous. The man who wants to understand them is wistful. On the other hand, the man who does not say he understands them, does not think he understands them, does not pretend to understand them, does not even want to understand them—he understands them!"

 

And that’s how life is also. Life is a woman. Try to understand life and you will become a mess. Forget all about understanding. Just live it and you will understand it. The understanding is not going to be intellectual, theoretical; the understanding is going to be total. The understanding is not going to be verbal; it is going to be nonverbal. That is the meaning when we say life is a mystery. It can be lived but it cannot be solved.

 

You can know what it is, but you cannot say what it is. That is the meaning of mystery. When we say that life is a mystery, we are saying that life is not a problem. A problem can be solved. A mystery is that which cannot be solved. Insolubility is unbuilt. And it is good that life cannot be solved, otherwise what would you do then? Just think of it. If life is not a mystery and somebody comes and explains it to you— then what will you do? There will be nothing left except to commit suicide. Even that will look meaningless.

 

Life is a mystery; the more you know it, the more beautiful it is. A moment comes when suddenly you start living it, you start flowing with it. An orgasmic relationship evolves between you and life, but you cannot figure out what it is. That’s the beauty of it, that’s its infinite depth.

 

And, yes, there is no beginning and no end. How can there be any beginning to life and any end to life? Beginning will mean that something came out of nothing, and end will mean that something was there and went into nothing. That will be an even bigger mystery. When we say life has no beginning we simply say it has always been there. How can there be a beginning? Can you mark a line and say that at this moment life started, as Christian theologians used to say? Just four thousand years before Jesus Christ, they say, life started on a certain Monday. Of course, it must have been in the morning. But how can you call it Monday if there was no Sunday before it? And how can you call it morning if there was no night before it? Just think of it.

 

No, you cannot make a mark— that is foolish. It is not possible to mark a line because even to mark a line something is needed.

 

Something is needed to precede it, otherwise demarcation is not possible. You can mark a line if there are two things, but if there is only one thing how can you mark a line? The fence around your house is possible because there is a neighbor. If there is no neighbor, nothing beyond your fence, the fence cannot exist. Just think of it. If there is absolutely nothing beyond your fence, your fence will fall down into nothing. How can it exist? Something is needed beyond the fence to hold it.

 

If on a certain Monday life started, a Sunday is needed to precede it. Otherwise the Monday will fall, topple down and disappear. And in the same way there is no possibility of any end. Life is, life simply is. It has been, it will be. It is eternity.

 

And don’t start thinking about it. Otherwise you will be missing it, because all the time that you waste in thinking about it is simply waste. Use that time, use that space, use that energy to live it.

 

Excerpted from Life, Love, Laughter by Osho.
Copyright © 1987 by Osho International Foundation, Switzerland
Published by St. Martin’s Press.

 

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