to be constantly alert. Otherwise you can fall back into the old patterns very easily. And the old patterns have persisted so long. They have become so ingrained in your blood, in your bones, in your very marrow, that one moment of unconsciousness and you are back. You have to go on being aware.
Something beautiful is happening; much more is going to happen. One never knows how much more is possible. We are never aware of our potential unless it becomes actual.
You have seen a beautiful space of non-jealous love. Passion is a kind of fever and it consumes much energy. Fever naturally consumes energy. And passion is fever. When passion disappears, compassion arises. And compassion is cool. Passion is hot, it burns you. Compassion is cool, not cold, remember. Hatred is cold, lust is hot. Exactly between the two is the golden mean, neither hot nor cold. Then you are in a state of cool-warmth. Very paradoxical it seems: cool-warmth. It is not hot, but it is warm; it is not cold, but it is cool.
And the real flower of love opens up only in that climate of cool-warmth. A warm-coolness is the right climate for the lotus of love to blossom.
But don’t take it for granted. Never take anything for granted! Each moment you have to conquer it again and again. Life is a continuous conquest. It is not that once and for all it is settled and then you can fall asleep and be unconscious and there is no worry left. Again you will be back in the same rut.
I am happy. I have been watching you. You are looking both warm and cool. It is a non-ending process. Be alert, be watchful. Don’t destroy this beautiful flower that is growing in you.
When you have something precious you have to be more aware. When you have nothing to lose you can be unconscious, you can sleep; there is no problem. But when you have something to lose – and this is something precious – be more conscious, be more alert. You have discovered a treasure.
The seventh question:
Osho,
What is intelligence?
First, know well that intellectuality is not intelligence. To be intellectual is to be phony, it is pretending intelligence. It is not real because it is not yours, it is borrowed. Intelligence is the growth of inner consciousness. It has nothing to do with knowledge. It has something to do with meditativeness.
An intelligent person does not function out of his past experience, he functions in the present. He does not react, he responds. Hence he is always unpredictable. One can never be certain what he is going to do.
A Catholic, a Protestant and a Jew were talking to a friend who said he had just been given six months to live. “What would you do,” he asked the Catholic, “if your doctor gave you six months to live?”
“Ah!” said the Catholic. “I would give all my belongings to the Church, take communion every Sunday, and say my ‘Hail Marys’ regularly.”
“And you?” he asked the Protestant.
“I would sell up everything and go on a world cruise and have a great time!”
“And you?” he said to the Jew.
“Me? I would see another doctor.”
That is intelligence!
Janet, a pert secretary, sashayed into the boss’ office. “I have some good news and some bad news.” she announced.
“No jokes, please,” said her boss, “not on quarterly report day. Just give me the good news.”
“Okay,” declared the girl, “the good news is that you are not sterile.”
This is intelligence!
The outraged husband discovered his wife in bed with another man. “What is the meaning of this?” he demanded. “Who is this fellow?”
“That seems like a fair question.” said the wife, rolling over. “What is your name?”
That is intelligence!
Enough for today.
Chapter: 3
The State of No-Mind
One day the King of Yen visited the Master Chao Chou, who did not even get up when he saw him coming. The king asked, “Which is higher, a worldly king, or the ‘King of Dharma’?”
Chao Chou replied, “Among human kings I am higher; among the Kings of Dharma I am also higher.” Hearing this surprising answer, the king was very pleased.
The next day a general came to visit Chao Chou, who not only got up from his seat when he saw the general coming, but also showed him more hospitality in every way than he had shown to the king.
After the general had left, Chao Chou’s attendant monks asked him, “Why did you get up from your seat when a person of lower rank came to see you, yet did not do so for one of the highest rank?”
Chao Chou replied, “You don’t understand. When people of the highest quality come to see me, I do not get up from my seat; when they are of middle quality, I do; but when they are of the lowest quality, I go outside of the gate to receive them.”
Man lives in a very upside-down state. Hence, whenever there is an enlightened master, his actions, his words, his behavior; all appear absurd to the ordinary man. Jesus is misunderstood for the simple reason that a man of eyes is talking to the men who are blind. Socrates is not understood for the same reason, because he is talking to people who are utterly deaf. And so is the case with all the buddhas of all the countries, of all the races. Unfortunately, this is going to remain the case forever. It is something in the very nature of things.
Man is unconscious. He understands the language of unconsciousness. And whenever somebody talks from the peaks of consciousness it becomes utterly un-understandable, unintelligible. He is so far away! By the time his words reach the dark valleys of our unconscious, we have distorted them to such an extent that they have no reference at all anymore to their origin.
The master looks sometimes mad, sometimes irrational, sometimes stubborn. But the only reason that he cannot behave like you, that he cannot be part of the crowd mind, is that he has become awakened and the crowd is fast asleep.
To understand a master you have to learn great sympathy. Only that will create a bridge. That’s what the relationship of a disciple to the master is. You can listen to a master without being a disciple. You will hear the words but you will miss the meaning. You will hear the sound but you will miss the music. You will hear the argument but you will miss the conclusion. You will know what he is saying but you will not be able to see where he is indicating.
To understand the significance which is wordless, to understand the meaning, a totally different kind of relationship is needed. It is not that of a speaker and the audience: it is that of two lovers. It has to be a love affair; only then is there sympathy enough to have a bridge, to have communication.
And once the sympathy is there, it is not very far away from empathy. Sympathy can be transformed into empathy very easily; in fact, it changes on its own accord into empathy. Just as you sow seeds and in the right time they sprout and the spring comes and there are many flowers, sow the seeds of sympathy. That is, initiation into disciplehood, then soon there will be flowers of empathy.
In
