Book Review of "Living Dangerously" by Osho

This is a third blog post which leads thematically from I met a Monk: Running as Meditation and Running and the Dantien which deals with topics of a spiritual nature. This post, in contrast to the experiential nature of the last two, is a book review, however it does relate to my prior experiences with running and meditation. How I got this book is a story in itself, but I will keep it brief: I had arrived home after a spiritually healing visit to the islands of Reunion and Mauritius when, on my return to London, a good friend (and empath) gave me a present - I ripped off the wrapping paper to find this book "Living Dangerously". I began reading it and it literally blew my mind.

The Book Review: Living Dangerously: Ordinary Enlightenment for Extraordinary Times (2015);
When you realize that Osho was once described as "the most dangerous man since Jesus Christ" then you know that what lies in your hands aint gonna be a Wayne Dyer or Marianne Williamson lovey-dovey sort of book...it's going to be spiritual dynamite. The title is provocative and the preface spell binding...and I tend to miss the preface and introduction in most books! But this book is just captivating.

In the introduction of his book he relays a profound truth which gets things rolling along:

"Thoughts create clouds around you... When thoughts disappear, when there are no more clouds around you...clarity happens."

Such a statement primes us for a whirlwind of a spiritual / philosophical treatise which touches on many topics. I say "treatise" as if Osho himself wrote the book, but he did not - this is a collection of talks that were recorded and transcribed of the man himself, prior to his death in 1990. However these transcriptions have been packaged under a charming cover in a paperback format, and the "book" is surprisingly a page-turner; each chapter leads on from the next in a pleasing if eclectic manner.

He begins speaking about meditation, a sense of clarity of no-mind or not-thinking. The mind-he tells us - can do a lot of things but it cannot meditate, when you meditate you have switched off the mind. Or at least rebooted it to a different level of functionality. Hence I suppose the almost addictive sense of peace that people can find in meditation.

We can sum this up in Osho's own words as "'Drop Thinking"'

Or to use an analogy:
Thoughts muddy the stream.

"...sit on the bank. You wait. There is nothing to be done. Because whatsoever you do will make the steam more muddy...watch indifferently. And as the stream goes on flowing, the dead leaves will be taken away, and the mud will start settling because it cannot hang there forever. After a while, suddenly you will become aware - the stream is crystal clear again."

"So just sit. Don't try to do anything. In Japan this 'just sitting' is called zazen...one day meditation happens...it comes to you."

"Suddenly clarity is attained. Then you can see clouds a thousand miles away, and you can hear ancient music in the pines. Then everything is available to you."


And that was just the introduction! It made me gasp with a feeling of wanting that peace of the crystal clear stream. The rest of the book is diverse, thought provoking...even life changing. With chapter titles such as "The Golden Rule Is That There Are No Golden Rules" and  "Doing Good, Serving Humanity, and Other Roads To Hell" you know that you are lighting the fuse of your own TNT explosion of insight, awareness inevitable change.

Verdict
The book must rank as one of the most illuminating books I have ever read. If you have the sort of mind-set which questions everything and anything, and you are searching for spiritual meaning in your life -and you don't mind the controversial nature of Osho - then this is the book for you. If you have a religion. and are fervent believer and have total faith then this is really not the book for you. This is a book for those who Doubt and want to Develop themselves and Evolve.

Thank you for taking the time to read my book review.