OSHO,
IS AWARENESS A HIGHER VALUE THAN LOVE?
Virendra,
THE HIGHEST PEAK IS THE CULMINATION of all the values: truth, love,
awareness, authenticity, totality. At the highest peak they are indivisible. They are
separate only in the dark valleys of our unconsciousness They are separate only when
they are polluted, mixed with other things. The moment they become pure they become
one; the more pure, the closer they come to each other.
For example, each value exists on many planes; each value is a ladder of many rungs.
Love is lust -- the lowest rung, which touches hell; and love is also prayer -- the highest
rung, which touches paradise. And between these two there are many planes easily
discernible.
In lust, love is only one percent; ninety-nine percent are other things: jealousies, ego
trips, possessiveness, anger, sexuality. It is more physical, more chemical; it has nothing
deeper than that. It is very superficial, not even skin-deep.
As you go higher, things become deeper; they start having new dimensions. That which
was only physiological starts having a psychological dimension to it. That which was
nothing but biology starts becoming psychology. We share biology with all the animals;
we don't share psychology with all the animals.
When love goes still higher -- or deeper, which is the same -- then it starts having
something of the spiritual in it. It becomes metaphysical. Only Buddhas, Krishnas,
Christs, they know that quality of love.
Love is spread all the way and so are other values. When love is one hundred percent
pure you cannot make any distinction between love and awareness; then they are no more
two. You cannot make any distinction between love and God even; they are no more two.
Hence Jesus' statement that God is love. He makes them synonymous. There is great
insight in it.
On the periphery everything appears separate from everything else; on the periphery
existence is many. As you come closer to the center, the manyness starts melting,
dissolving, and oneness starts arising. At the center, everything is one.
Hence your question, Virendra, is right only if you don't understand the highest quality of
love and awareness. It is absolutely irrelevant if you have any glimpse of the Everest, of
the highest peak.
You ask: IS AWARENESS A HIGHER VALUE THAN LOVE?
There is nothing higher and nothing lower. In fact, there are not two values at all. These
are the two paths from the valley leading to the peak. One path is of awareness,
meditation: the path of Zen we have been talking about these days. And the other is the
path of love, the path of the devotees, the BHAKTAS, the Sufis. These two paths are
separate when you start the journey; you have to choose. Whichever you choose is going
to lead to the same peak. And as you come closer to the peak you will be surprised: the
travelers on the other path are coming closer to you. Slowly slowly, the paths start
merging into each other. By the time you have reached the ultimate, they are one.
The person who follows the path of awareness finds love as a consequence of his
awareness, as a by-product, as a shadow. And the person who follows the path of love
finds awareness as a consequence, as a by-product, as a shadow of love. They are two
sides of the same coin.
And remember: if your awareness lacks love then it is still impure; it has not yet known
one hundred percent purity. It is not yet REALLY awareness; it must be mixed with
unawareness. It is not pure light; there must be pockets of darkness inside you still
working, functioning, influencing you, dominating you. If your love is without
awareness, then it is not love yet. It must be something lower, something closer to lust
than to prayer.
So let it be a criterion if you follow the path of awareness, let love be the criterion. When
your awareness suddenly blooms into love, know perfectly well that awareness has
happened, SAMADHI has been achieved. If you follow the path of love, then let
awareness function as a criterion, as a touchstone. When suddenly, from nowhere, at the
very center of your love. a flame of awareness starts arising, know perfectly
well...rejoice! You have come home.
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