Recently I came upon the writings of Osho and it is a measure of how much my spiritual journey has shifted in that I now read his work. In the past I had dismissed him when I heard about this fleet of Rolls Royces and his Rolex watches but now I see that what he was doing was making a statement about materialism and consumerism Oshos total philosophy was that anything that is repressed in consciousness is a barrier to enlightenment. This is why the free attitude he had to sex has been so heavily criticized. But one only has to look at the effect of the repression of the sexual energy in the Catholic religion and see how destructive that was in terms of the men of God who have been convicted of paedophilia. The sexual impulse is one of the strongest because it is driven by instinct. Instinct is animal and has as its motivation the continuation of the species. To deny the expression of the impulse and to twist its nature so that it becomes something to be ashamed or guilty of is unforgiveable but this is what the Catholic religion has done down through the ages.
Desires and attachments are not disappeared by fasting, austerity, denial. In fact they grow stronger when dealt with like this. These can only disappear when they have been fully experienced. Buddha was only able to give everything up when he had experienced everything. This is why we have been born as humans to enjoy to the full everything that life has to offer and then to 'see' the emptiness of it and realize something higher. This is what is meant by surrender. It is having it all and realizing that 'all' is empty. All of us at one point will have this moment but unfortunately what so many choose to do is to 'stuff' that moment rather than to 'see' clearly the moment and the opportunity that it brings.
So for one day, enjoy and participate fully in all of life, the next day there may come a moment when the realization dawns that things material can never bring the holy grail of enlightenment and then surrender is not forced but a willing and joyful letting go.....
