“If you can do nothing, that is the best.
One needs much courage to do nothing. To do does not need much courage, because the mind is a doer. The ego always hankers to do something — worldly or otherworldly, the ego always wants to do something. If you are doing something, the ego feels perfectly right, healthy, moving, enjoying itself.
Nothing is the most difficult thing in the world, and if you can do that, that’s the best. The very idea that we have to do something is basically wrong. We have to be, not to do. All that I suggest to people that they do is just to come to know the futility of doing, so that one day out of sheer tiredness they flop on the ground and they say, “Now it is enough! We don’t want to do anything.” And then the real work starts.
The real work is just to be, because all that you need is already given, and all that you can be you are. You don’t know yet, that’s true. So all that is needed is to be in such a silent space that you can fall into yourself and see what you are.”
— Osho
I thought this was a great quote because indeed in this modern day and age we don’t have true silence and stillness, hardly ever.
I experienced this when I went to Silver Falls State Park and stayed in a cabin overnight — I immediately noticed how STILL it was, and how quiet, from the lack of people and technology buzzing all around.
It immediately made me more relaxed without having to try.
Everything about our environment and our goals make our mind noisy all of the time. I always feel satisfied when I meet as many of my daily goals as possible and I am always going…going…going.
But I am hardly EVER deeply relaxed.
This quote is a nice reminder for us to prioritize our relaxation and take the opportunity to consistently sit in silence and quieten the mind. Maybe go out into nature more often, change the environment, and try to let go of all of our goals and stresses just for a little while.
We need to spend more time reflecting and just “being”. In the end we will be able to go deeper within ourselves and reach a new level of understanding of who we are.