MEANING CAN BE understood in two ways. There
is meaning that is somewhere far away, you have to reach to it. It is
extrinsic.
Life is not meaningful in this first sense. And it is good that life is not
meaningful in that sense, because then life becomes only a means to reach to
the faraway goal, the faraway star. Then life loses its autonomous beauty. It
is just a way; the real thing is tomorrow.
Meaning has another category too: intrinsic. Life is tremendously meaningful
in the second sense. Then meaning is not separate, somewhere else; then meaning
is in the very living itself.
You don't ask, has love any meaning? You know love is itself meaningful, it
is not a means to some end. You do not ask if the beauty of a rose is
meaningful. The beauty itself is enough; it does not lead anywhere, it contains
its meaning within itself.
In existence everything that is really valuable is always intrinsically
meaningful. And life is equivalent to existence. Life has meaning. If you just
change the word "life" into "living," you will be able to
understand more easily. Living has meaning -- each moment -- because living is
not something dead like "life." The word "life" is dead --
all nouns are dead. But the language is created by dead people.
Some day the new man is going to create a language which consists only of
verbs, because that will be authentic to existence. In existence there is no
noun. Have you seen "life"? Have you met "life" anywhere?
All that you meet, experience, is living.
Sipping a cup of tea, going for a morning walk, doing your work -- all these
small activities make up your living. And each part, each moment of living, is
meaningful. You just have to be there; otherwise, who is going to experience
the meaning?
People go on drinking tea, but they never are there; their minds are
wandering all over the world. People are making love, but they are not there.
It is a very strange world that we have created. In one bedroom there are at
least four people. Already the bedrooms are so small, too difficult for two
people; and in the bed there are four people, or even more. These two people
who are making love are not there: the man is thinking of some Hollywood
actress, the woman is thinking of Muhammad Ali. So there are four people. Who
is making love to whom? These two people are simply going through the gestures
of love -- they are not present -- mechanical gestures of love. And then they
ask, "Is there any meaning in life?"
You go on losing every moment by your absence.
WHEN I WAS A STUDENT, my principal in the high school was continuously
troubled by my absence from the school. My family was troubled. I would start
going to school, but never reach there. Life was so much, and so many things
were happening on the way... and the school was almost one mile away from the
house.
The principal called me one day and said, "You are almost always
absent."
I said, "That's where you are wrong."
He said, "What do you mean?"
I said, "I am always present wherever I am. To be absent is not my style
of life. And what can I do? -- this one mile between the school and my
house.... A magician was doing his tricks on the street, and I became present
there. It was far more interesting than your teachers, and I learned more than
I could have learned here -- because whatever your teacher is saying I can read
in the book, but I will never meet that magician again. And he did such
beautiful tricks that when he was finished I followed him to his tent outside
the city.
"He asked me, 'Son, why are you following me?' I said, 'You are getting
old. Don't you want your tricks to live on even when you are gone?' He said,
'That seems to be meaningful! -- you can come in. Many people have asked me to
teach them the tricks, but not in this way.' So I have been with the magician.
"Life is a bigger school than your school. And I am, each moment, present
wherever I am. To be absent is not my style of life, so you please take your
words back."
He said, "In that case I will have to see your father."
I said, "You can see anybody you like, but remember that my father knows
me perfectly well. Just let me be informed when you are coming so I can also be
present there. You both will be absent -- because my father is continuously
busy with his business, and you are busy with who is absent, who is present. At
least let somebody into that meeting who is present!" I told him, "Be
honest and sincere and tell me: Are you present right now?"
He said, "My God, perhaps you are right. I was thinking of my buffalo --
she has not returned for two days."
I said, "You need not be worried, I know where she is. That's the beauty
of being present everywhere! I have seen her just by the side of the tent of
the magician. Now what do you say: Was it more worthwhile my coming to the
class, or finding your lost buffalo? You can go and catch hold of her."
People are not there where they seem to be. This is why they go on missing
the meaning of life. Just remain present to any small act you are doing. It
does not matter -- you don't have to do great acts, become a world conqueror,
go to the moon, or stand on top of Everest; it does not matter what you do.
Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing -- or not doing -- be present,
and the meaning of life will start unfolding. It is tremendously blissful.
But don't seek it somewhere else -- in a church, in a temple, in a holy
book. You will not find it. Even if you come across God -- who, by the way,
does not exist -- but even if you come across God, you will not be present. You
may be thinking of your buffalo. It is good that God is not there; otherwise,
he would be so embarrassed by all these saints of all the religions, because
none of them is present to the moment. They are living a life somewhere else in
the tomorrows -- and today goes on slipping by, and the tomorrow never comes.
Finally comes death, not tomorrow.
Life is today! Tomorrow is death. So when you come across death, it is a
great shock that life has gone by and you have not been able to find any
meaning in it. And now there is no tomorrow left, and you are accustomed to
search for meaning in the tomorrows. But you have been told about, taught
about, prepared for, tomorrows.
If you understand me... I want you always to be present wherever you are. It
does not matter where you are; just be totally present, and every small act, by
your presence, will become lighted up, and you will know that your whole life
becomes just a caravan of lights. That's the meaning. Death comes and goes, but
the caravan continues.
Osho, From Bondage to Freedom,Chapter 40