THINK THAT ALL PHENOMENA ARE LIKE DREAMS: Osho

THINK THAT ALL PHENOMENA ARE LIKE DREAMS.

"Phenomena" means all that you see, all that you experience. All that can ever

 be experienced is all phenomena. Remember, not only are the objects of the 

world phenomena and dreams, but also objects of consciousness. They may 

be objects of the world, they may be just objects of the mind. They may be 

great spiritual experiences. You may see kundalini rising in you: that too is a

phenomenon -- a beautiful dream, a very sweet dream, but it is a dream all 

the same. You may see great light flooding your being, but that light is also a 

phenomenon. You may see lotuses blooming inside you and a great fragrance

 arising within your being: those too are phenomena, because you are always 

the seer and never the seen, always the experiencer and never the experienced, 

always the witness and never the witnessed.

All that can be witnessed, seen, observed, is phenomena. Material phenomena, 

psychological phenomena, spiritual phenomena -- they are all the same. There is 

no need to make any distinction. The basic thing to remember is: that which 

can be seen is a dream.

THINK THAT ALL PHENOMENA ARE DREAMS.This is a tremendously powerful 

technique. Start contemplating in this way: if you are walking on the street, 

contemplate that people passing by are all dreams. The shops and the

 shopkeepers and the customers and the people coming and going, all are 

dreams. The houses, the buses, the train, the airplane, all are dreams.

You will be immediately surprised by something of tremendous import happening 

within you. The moment you think "All are dreams" suddenly, like a flash, one thing 

comes into your vision: "I am a dream too." Because if the seen is a dream, then 

who is this 'I'? If the object is a dream, then the subject is also a dream.

 If the object is false, how can the subject be the truth? Impossible.

If you watch everything as a dream, suddenly you will find something slipping out 

of your being: the idea of the ego. This is the only way to drop the ego, and the

 simplest. Just try it -- meditate this way. Meditating this way again and again, 

one day the miracle happens: you look in, and the ego is not found there.

The ego is a by-product, a by-product of the illusion that whatsoever you are 

seeing is true. If you think that objects are true, then the ego can exist; it is a 

by-product. If you think that objects are dreams, the ego disappears. And if 

you think continuously that all is a dream, then one day, in a dream in the night

, you will be surprised: suddenly in the dream you will remember that this is a 

dream too! And immediately, as the remembrance happens, the dream will 

disappear. And for the first time you will experience yourself deep asleep, 

yet awake -- a very paradoxical experience, but of great benefit.

Once you have seen your dream disappearing because you have become 

aware of the dream, your quality of consciousness will have a new flavor to it. 

The next morning you will wake up with a totally different quality you had never

 known before. You will wake up for the first time. Now you will know that 

all those other mornings were false; you were not really awake. The dreams 

continued -- the only difference was that in the night you were dreaming with

 eyes closed, in the day you were dreaming with eyes open.

But if the dream has disappeared because awareness happened, suddenly you 

became aware in the dream.... And remember, awareness and dreaming cannot 

exist together. Here, awareness arises, and there, the dream disappears. When 

you become awake in your sleep, the next morning is going to be something 

so important that it is incomparable. Nothing like it has ever happened. Your eyes

 will be so clear, so transparent, and everything will look so psychedelic, so colorful

, so alive. Even rocks will be felt to be breathing, pulsating; even rocks will have a

 heartbeat. When you are awake, the whole existence changes its quality.

We are living in a dream. We are asleep, even when we think we are 

awake.THINK THAT ALL PHENOMENA ARE LIKE DREAMS.

First, objects will lose their objectivity. And second, the subject will lose its

 subjectivity. And that brings you to a transcendence. The object is no longer

 important, the subject is no longer important, then what is left? A transcendental 

consciousness: bodhichitta -- just a witnessing, with no idea of 'I' and 'thou'; just 

a pure mirror which reflects that which is.

And God is nothing but that which is. EXAMINE THE NATURE OF UNBORN

 AWARENESS.

Now you know what awareness is. You have known this transcendental 

awareness where objects and subjects are no more existential. You have

 known for the first time this purity, this crystal-clear mirror. Now examine 

the nature of this awareness. Look into it, look deep into it. Shake yourself 

into as full alertness as possible Wake up and see! And you will start laughing 

-- because now you will see there has never been a birth, and there is never 

going to be a death.

This is unborn and undying consciousness. It has always been here. It is 

eternal, it is timeless. And how afraid you were of death, and how afraid you

 were of old age, and how afraid you were of a thousand and one things! And 

nothing has ever happened: all was a dream.

Seeing this, one smiles, one laughs. Your whole life up to now has been

 ridiculous, absurd. You were unnecessarily afraid, unnecessarily greedy,

 unnecessarily suffering. You were living in a nightmare and it was your own

 creation. EXAMINE THE NATURE OF UNBORN AWARENESS.

And you are freed from all misery, all suffering, all hell. Osho

The Book of Wisdom

Chapter #1

Chapter title: Atisha the Thrice Great

11 February 1979 am in Buddha Hall