Illustrations: Pujan

Commentary: Osho

I was rather bitter at being given The Tower yesterday. Today I am using the Osho Transformation Tarot— which is actually an oracle deck— because it always speaks to me in a kind voice. I said, “Give me some good advice.”

Osho replied with the tale of Alexander the Great meeting the sage Diogenes in India. It is a good story: Diogenes has nothing. Alexander admires him so completely that he wishes to be him in his next life. When asked what is preventing him from being Diogenes now, Alexander replies that he has to conquer the world, then he will rest. Diogenes replies that he himself is resting without having conquered the world; that something will always remain unconquered and Alexander will die in the middle of his journey. Which is exactly what happened. Then Osho said to me:

Those who say, “We are waiting for an opportunity,” are being deceptive, and they are not deceiving anybody but themselves. The opportunity is not going to come tomorrow. It has already arrived, it has always been here. It was here even when you were not here. Existence is an opportunity; to be is the opportunity.

Don’t say, “Tomorrow I will meditate, tomorrow I will love, tomorrow I will have a dancing relationship with existence.” Why tomorrow? Tomorrow never comes. Why not now? Why postpone? Postponement is a trick of the mind; it keeps you hoping, and meanwhile the opportunity is slipping by. And in the end you will come to the cul-de-sac— death— and there will be nothing left. And this has happened many times in the past. You are not new here, you have been born and you have died many, many times. And each time the mind has played the same trick, and you have not yet learned anything.

The saying “Never not put off until tomorrow what you can do today” may not mean “Go conquer the world— start now” but rather “Live the life you love.” The advice is not “do more, accomplish more, make more money,” but rather “be in love with your life; be happy.”

The hard part is taking the time to stop, stand back and ask, “What do I truly love? What is happiness?” The answer to this question will not come when the brain is full of thought and seeking. It will come as a revelation when the brain is relieved of the hindrance of thought.

Perhaps that is what The Tower was trying to tell me, yesterday. Perhaps I was too annoyed with it to listen.