GOLD

“All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

“Just because you are soft doesn’t mean you are not a force. Honey and wildfire are both the colour gold.”
― Victoria Erickson, Edge of Wonder: Notes from the Wildness of Being

How can people who love each other connect in a better way?

“Love is relating. It is always a river, flowing, unending. Love knows no full stop; the honeymoon begins but never ends. It is not like a novel that starts at a certain point and ends at a certain point. It is an ongoing phenomenon. Lovers end, love continues. It is a continuum. It is a verb, not a noun.

“And why do we reduce the beauty of relating to relationship? Why are we in such a hurry? – because to relate is insecure, and relationship is a security, relationship has a certainty. Relating is just a meeting of two strangers, maybe just an overnight stay and in the morning we say good-bye. Who knows what is going to happen tomorrow? And we are so afraid that we want to make it certain, we want to make it predictable. We would like tomorrow to be according to our ideas; we don’t allow it freedom to have its own say. So we immediately reduce every verb to a noun….

“Forget relationships and learn how to relate. Once you are in a relationship you start taking each other for granted. That’s what destroys all love affairs. The woman thinks she knows the man, the man thinks he knows the woman. Nobody knows either. It is impossible to know the other, the other remains a mystery. And to take the other for granted is insulting, disrespectful.” – Osho

Can you say more about the art of relating?

“If you relate, you respect; you cannot possess. If you relate, there is great reverence. If you relate, you come very close, very, very close, in deep intimacy, overlapping. Still the other’s freedom is not interfered with, still the other remains an independent individual; the relationship is that of I/thou, not that of I/it – overlapping, interpenetrating, yet in a sense independent.

“Khalil Gibran says: ‘Be like two pillars that support the same roof, but don’t start possessing the other, leave the other independent. Support the same roof – that roof is love.’

“Two lovers support something invisible and something immensely valuable: some poetry of being, some music heard in the deepest recesses of their existence. They support both, they support some harmony, but still they remain independent. They can expose themselves to the other, because there is no fear. They know they are. They know their inner beauty, they know their inner perfume; there is no fear….

“Relating is exploring – exploring the other’s consciousness, exploring the other’s territory. But when you explore the other’s territory, you have to allow and welcome the other to explore you; it cannot be a one-way traffic. And you can allow the other to explore you only when you have something, some treasure within you. Then there is no fear. In fact you invite the guest, you embrace the guest, you call him in, you want him in. You want him to see what you have discovered in yourself, you want to share it.”

To continue reading this OSHO Talk, visit: The Soul Is a Quest

Why is it so difficult for us to relate?

“Because you are not yet. There is an inner emptiness and the fear that if you relate with somebody, sooner or later you will be exposed as empty. Hence it seems safer to keep a distance with people; at least you can pretend you are.

“You are not. You are not yet born, you are only an opportunity. You are not yet a fulfilment – and only two fulfilled persons can relate. To relate is one of the greatest things of life. To relate means to love, to relate means to share. But before you can share, you must have. And before you can love you must be full of love, overflowing with love….

“But being is the basic requirement. If you are, courage comes as a consequence. If you are, great desire for adventure, to explore, arises – and when you are ready to explore, you can relate.”

To continue reading this OSHO Talk, visit: The Soul Is a Quest

How can we learn to relate?

“Meditate, be, and then relating will arise out of it on its own accord. One who becomes silent, blissful, one who starts having overflowing energies, becomes a flower, has to relate. It is not something that he has to learn how to do, it starts happening. He relates with people, he relates with animals, he relates with trees, he relates even with rocks.

“In fact, twenty-four hours a day he relates. If he is walking on the earth, he is relating with the earth, his feet touching the earth, it is relating. If he is swimming in the river he is relating with the river, and if he is looking at the stars he is relating with the stars.

“It is not a question of a relationship with somebody in particular. The basic fact is, if you are, your whole life becomes a relating. It is a constant song, a constant dance, it is a continuum, a riverlike flow.”

To continue reading this OSHO Talk, visit: The Soul Is a Quest

So, in your vision of a more loving world, will relating naturally replace relationships?

“In a better world, with more meditative people, with a little more enlightenment spread over the earth, people will love, love immensely, but their love will remain a relating, not a relationship. And I am not saying that their love will be only momentary. There is every possibility their love may go deeper than your love, may have a higher quality of intimacy, may have something more of poetry and more of godliness in it. And there is every possibility their love may last longer than your so-called relationship ever lasts. But it will not be guaranteed by the law, by the court, by the policeman.

“The guarantee will be inner. It will be a commitment from the heart, it will be a silent communion. If you enjoy being with somebody, you will like to enjoy it more and more. If you enjoy the intimacy, you will like to explore the intimacy more and more.”

To continue reading this OSHO Talk, visit: Buddha in the Supermarket