Come Follow To You, Vol 1 - Oshorajneesh.com

think of a world with four thousand million Buddhas -- can you think ofanything m ore boring? They would start committing suicide: wherever youwent you would meet your replica, wherever you would look it would be as ifyou were always looking in the mirror -- only people exactly alike.No, it is good that everybody is unique. Why do you hanker after such things?Jesus is-beautiful in his parables; without parables he would not be beautiful,without parables something would be missing. He is one of the most beautifulstorytellers.And of course the beauty of a parable is that it baffles the reason. But you arechildish: you think that a story is perfect when the story gives you theconclusion, the motto. You are just like schoolchildren who can't be satisfiedunless the story comes to a conclusion, and unless there is an exact mathematicalconclusion to it. Then they are satisfied, but then the story is dead. A perfectlyconcluded story is dead.A parable tries to show something, not to say it. It indicates very indirectly; theconclusion has to be supplied by you. It leaves a gap, it gives you some space tofind out the conclusion. A parable is creative. When a story is totally complete(like two plus two equals four) then it gives no scope for your imagination, noscope for your meditation. Then it is simply mathematical. It is no longer poetic,it is dead.You would like for somebody to say absolutely, exactly, what he means, but thatwhich is the ultimate meaning cannot be shown to you. The ultimate meaning isalways going to be indirect, indicated -- said and yet not said. You feel a vaguesomething, but it is never concrete. If it becomes concrete, it is of this world. If itremains vague, and you follow it and you try to find out the clue, in the veryeffort to find the clue you rise above it -- you have already entered into anotherworld.A parable is not an ordinary story: it is symbolic, it is creative. If you listen to it, ifyou try to understand it, your understanding will become greater than it wasbefore you heard it. An ordinary story remains below your understanding; youcan understand it perfectly because it has nothing beyond it. Parables are of thebeyond: one step within your mind, one step without -- another step beyond. It isa persuasion.Jesus constantly talks in parables. He really wants to baffle you because he istalking about something which is ineffable, elusive -- mysterium. He is talkingabout the mysterious. Gaps have to be left for you to fill. Parables should be likepuzzles which challenge you, and through the challenge, you grow.And never compare: Why is Jesus like this? The trees are green because they aregreen. Jesus is just Jesus-like, and he is not like anybody else.That is what I have been continuously insisting for you to be also: just beyourself, never be anybody else. Never be a Christian, never be a Hindu, neverbe a Jain, because then you are following a pattern and you will miss your soul.The soul is yours -- individual, unique -- and the pattern is public, collective,Come Follow To You Vol 1Osho