The Empty Boat - Osho.pdf - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 6. THE NEED TO WIN
But why is time needed? Can’t you be here and now without time? Is it not enough, this moment,
just sitting near me, no past, no future – this moment in-between, which is atomic, which is really as
if nonexistential? It is so small that you cannot catch hold of it. If you catch it, it is already past. If
you think, it is in the future. You can be IN it, but you cannot catch hold of it. When you catch hold of
it, it is gone; when you think about it, it is not there.
When it is there, only one thing can be done – you can live it, that is all. It is so small that you can
only live in it, but it is so vital that it gives life to you.
Remember, it is just like the atom, so small it cannot be seen. Nobody, not even the scientists, have
seen it yet. You can only see the consequences. They have been able to explode it: Hiroshima and
Nagasaki were the consequences. We have seen Hiroshima burning, over one hundred thousand
people dead – this is the consequence. But no one has seen what happened in the atomic explosion.
Nobody has seen the atom with their own eyes. There are no instruments yet which can see it.
Time is atomic, this moment is also atomic. Nobody can see it, because the moment you see it, it
has already gone. In the time that is taken in seeing, it has gone – the river has flowed on, the arrow
has moved, and nobody has ever seen time. You go on using the word time, but if someone insists
on a definition you will be at a loss.
Somebody asked Saint Augustine, ”Define God. What do you mean when you use the word god?”
And Augustine said, ”It is just like time. I can talk about it, but if you insist on the definition, I am at a
loss.”
You keep asking people, ”What is the time?” And they will look at their watches and reply. But if you
really ask, ”What is time?” If you ask for the definition, then watches won’t help.
Can you define time? Nobody has ever seen it, there is no way of seeing it. If you look, it is gone;
if you think, it is not there. When you don’t think, when you don’t look, when you simply are, it is
there. You live it. And Saint Augustine is right: God can be lived, but cannot be seen. Time also
can be lived, but cannot be seen. Time is not a philosophical problem, it is existential. God is also
not philosophical, he is existential. People have lived him, but if you insist on a definition they will
remain silent, they cannot answer. And if you can be in this moment, the doors of all the mysteries
are open.
So throw off all desires, remove all the dust from your eyes, be at ease within, not longing for
something, not even for God. Every longing is the same, whether for a big car, or God, or a big
house, makes no difference. Longing is the same. Don’t long – just be. Don’t even look – just be!
Don’t think! Let this moment be there, and you in it, and suddenly you have everything – because
life is there. Suddenly everything starts showering on you, and then this moment becomes eternal
and then there is no time. It is always the now. It never ends, never begins. But then you are in it,
not an outsider. You have entered the whole, you have recognized who you are.
Now try to understand Chuang Tzu’s sutra about the need to win. From where does this need arise
– the need to win? Everybody is seeking victory, seeking to win, but why does this need to win
arise?
The Empty Boat 105 Osho