The Search for Peace

By Osho

Peace talks, peace agreements, peace movements… Why is it, although there is a deep longing for peace in the world, every day, wars are being waged?

And why, although so many people long for peace in their lives, does peace seem to be an impossibility even on a personal level? In this series of talks, Osho explains how peace can only become a reality when rigid religious practices and political ideologies are dropped, and an awakened consciousness takes their place.

The key to finding peace is transformation, both outer and inner, one person at a time, and in this book Osho indicates how through meditation this can be achieved. “Finding this truth, touching the shadow of this truth, is known as finding peace. Whoever finds this truth becomes totally calm, at last finds tranquility.

Find truth and like a shadow, peace will follow. The shadow of truth is peace.” Osho “Finding this truth, touching the shadow of this truth, is known as finding peace. Whoever finds this truth becomes totally calm, at last finds tranquility. Find truth and like a shadow, peace will follow. The shadow of truth is peace.” Osho

• Language: English
• Publisher: Osho Media International
• Release date: Jun 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9780880506137

Osho

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. He is the author of many books, including Love, Freedom, Aloneness; The Book of Secrets; and Innocence, Knowledge, and Wonder.

Book preview

Preface

A man of peace is not a pacifist; a man of peace is simply a pool of silence. He pulsates a new kind of energy into the world, he sings a new song. He lives in a totally new way – his very way of life is that of grace, that of prayer, that of compassion. Whomsoever he touches, he creates more love energy.

The man of peace is creative. He is not against war because to be against anything is to be at war. He is not against war, he simply understands why war exists. And out of that understanding he becomes peaceful. Only when there are many people who are pools of peace, silence, understanding, will war disappear.

But withdrawal is not the way to attain peace. Withdrawal is escapist. Withdrawal can give you a kind of death, but not peace. Peace is very alive. Peace is more alive than war – because war is in the service of death, peace is in the service of life. Peace is very alive, vibrant, young, dancing.

Osho, Zen: The Path of Paradox, Vol. 2

Chapter: 1

Who Am I?

My beloved ones.

What is humanity? What is a man? – a thirst, a call, a yearning.

Life itself is a call; life is a yearning; life is an aspiration.

But aspirations can be for hell as well as for heaven; the call can be for darkness as well as for light; the yearning can be for the false as well as for the truth.

Whether we know it or not, if we have asked for darkness, we will continue to be troubled. If we have chosen the false, we will go on being disturbed. If we have chosen wrongly, it is impossible to be at peace. Peace comes like a shadow, born from a longing for that which is right. Peace is born out of right longing.

A seed wishes to flower. If it flowers, it is filled with bliss, but if it cannot, it will experience anguish and pain. The river wishes to become the ocean. If it can reach the sea, if it can merge with the infinite, it will find rest. If not, if it meanders into the desert, it will be in turmoil, troubled, in pain.

A sage has chanted: O God, lead me from darkness to light; from unconsciousness to consciousness; from the false to the truth. That indeed has been the hope, the call, of all humanity. If on the journey of life we find ourselves becoming more peaceful, know that we are moving toward the hidden core of life. But if we are becoming more disturbed, then we are moving in the wrong direction, the opposite direction.

Turmoil and peace are not an end in themselves. They are only signs, indicators. A calm mind indicates that the direction we are moving in is the direction toward life. A troubled mind indicates that the path we are moving on is not the path to take, that the direction we are moving in does not lead to our destination – where we are heading is not where we are born to go.

Turmoil and peace are signs of whether our life has developed in the right direction or the wrong direction. Peace is not the goal. Those who make peace their goal can never attain peace. Turmoil can also not be eliminated directly. The man who attempts to stop the agitation becomes even more agitated. Turmoil is an indicator that life is moving in a direction it was not meant to go; peace tells us that we are on a path toward the temple that is the ultimate aim of life.

A man has a high temperature, a fever; his body is burning. The heat of the body is not the sickness; the body’s heat only indicates that there is sickness inside. When the temperature is normal, it is an indication that there is no sickness inside. The raised temperature itself is not the disease; it is an indicator of a disease. However, having a normal body temperature is also not health; it is only a sign that the internal life is in a healthy state. If a man forcibly tries to bring down the temperature of his feverish body, he won’t be free of his disease – he may even die.

No, fever of the body does not have to be removed. The fever is a friend, informing us about the sickness within, giving news of the disease. If the body doesn’t run a temperature but remains diseased within, a man won’t even know that he has fallen sick, that death may come.

Agitation is the fever – the sickness, the heat – that engulfs the consciousness and informs you that you are taking your life where it should not be going. Feeling calm is a sign that the fever has gone, that life is now moving in the direction it was meant to go. It is essential to understand this fundamental truth. Then, during the coming four days, our journey in search of peace will be totally clear.

Do not long for peace and do not try to remove agitation. Understand the agitation, and transform your life. Transformation of life automatically opens the door to peace. It’s just like when a man goes for a stroll in a garden. As he approaches the garden he becomes aware of the cool breeze surrounding him, the scent of the flowers enveloping him, the song of the birds in his ears. He is certain then that he is near the garden – the songs of the birds, the cool breeze, and the scent of the flowers are all there.

Peace is a sign that you are close to the ultimate reality; it is the scent of the flowers growing in its garden. Agitation is a sign that we have turned our backs on the ultimate reality. Hence, fundamentally, what a man sees as the reasons for his turmoil are not really the reasons at all. If a man thinks that he is disturbed because he does not have wealth, then he is mistaken. Wealth may come, but the disturbance will remain. A man may think he is disturbed because he does not have a large house. He may get the house, but the disturbance will remain; in fact it will even increase a little. When there was no house, no wealth, at least there was the consolation I am disturbed because I do not have a house, do not have money. You get the house, you get the money, and yet the disturbance remains. Then your life will become even more agitated.

This is the reason why a poor man’s agitation is never as great as a rich man’s. The poor man is never able to understand a rich man’s misery. Without becoming rich, it is difficult to understand that a rich man does not even have the poor man’s consolation Because I am poor, I am not at peace – at least there is an identifiable reason why he is not at peace. One day my poverty will end and I will be at peace.

But up to now, no man has attained peace by getting rid of his poverty. Poverty goes, peace does not come, the agitation just increases because for the first time you come to know that obtaining wealth has no relationship at all to removing agitation. Then even the hope that if you become wealthy you will be at peace disappears.

That is why the more a society prospers the greater is its discontent. Today, perhaps no society is as discontented as the American society. In the history of mankind, no society, no country has ever possessed the kind of wealth America possesses. It is very strange that although they have all this, they are still discontented. If in this country we are not at peace, it can be understood, for we have nothing. But having or not having anything has no relation at all to being at peace or in turmoil.

Man’s existence is made up of a body, a mind, a soul. The body has needs. If these are not fulfilled, life becomes painful. The body has needs – food, clothes, shelter – and if these are not met, the journey of life becomes painful. All the time the body will tell you: I am hungry, I am naked, I don’t have medicine, I am thirsty; there is no water and there is no food. All the time the body will complain about this, and the feeling of something lacking fills life with pain. Remember: life is filled not with agitation, but with pain.

It is possible that a man may be in pain but not be agitated, and it is also possible that a man may not have any pain but still be agitated. In fact, this is often what happens. The man in pain is not even aware of any discontent. He is so involved in his pain that he has neither the luxury nor the opportunity to think of any discontent. When the pain disappears, for the first time the awareness comes that there is discontent within. The poor man is in pain. The rich man is discontented.

The body is filled with pain, but once the needs of the body are met, the pain disappears. But even so there is no experience of joy on the level of the body. It is important to understand this: the body can contain pain, but joy can never be in the body. Certainly, if pain disappears, if there is no pain, we mistake it for joy.

If a thorn pierces your foot, there is pain, but if there is no thorn, there will be no joy. You will not go around announcing to the neighborhood that today there is no thorn in your foot, so you are happy; that today you do not have a headache, so you are happy. If we have a headache, we will be in pain, but if there is no headache, we will not be happy. It is very useful to understand that at the level of the body there is never anything like joy; there is only pain or the absence of pain. People mistake the absence of pain for joy. The body can feel pain or the absence of pain, but it can never give joy. That is why those who live at the level of the body never know anything of joy. They know only pain and relief from pain. If they are hungry, they feel pain; once the hunger is satisfied, the pain disappears. These are the limitations of the body.

Beyond the body, within the body, is the mind. The condition of the mind is exactly the opposite. The mind also has its needs, the mind has its demands, and the mind has its own hunger and thirst. Literature, art, philosophy, music – all are desires of the mind, the hunger and thirst of the mind. They are food for the mind. But someone who has not read the poetry of Kalidas will not be in pain. Or someone who has not heard the sitar from a great maestro will not feel pain because of it. If it were so, man would surely die from pain, because there are so many things in the world of the mind of which we know nothing.

In the world of the mind, what you do not know, what you have not experienced, does not cause pain, but knowing it creates joy. If you have an opportunity to hear a sitar performance, it brings joy. If you had not heard it, there would have been no pain. If you do not read poetry, haven’t heard it recited, haven’t understood it, there is no pain. But if you hear it, it brings joy.

Joy is at the level of the mind. If joy has been experienced but later it is not attained, a lack of joy is felt: people mistake that for the pain of the mind. At the level of the body, there is no joy, only the absence of pain. And at the level of the mind, there is only joy or a lack of joy, nothing like pain.

But the mind has one more quality: the joy that exists at the level of the mind is fleeting, never more than that. The pleasure that the mind finds once, it does not find in its repetition. If today you heard someone playing the veena and then he plays for you again tomorrow, you will not experience the same joy tomorrow as you experienced today. The day after, the joy will be even less. If you have to listen to it continuously for another ten days or so, what was experienced as joy on the first day will now begin to feel like pain. And if you are forced to listen to it for three to four months, you will feel like banging your head against a wall, feel like running away – you will not want to hear it any longer.

At the level of the mind,

Reviews for The Search for Peace

[Emmanuel · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Eye opening! It provides a very helpful meditation which if practiced regularly, will help you getting closer to yourself.