Awareness: The Key To Living in Balance

Osho begins the book by drawing from the philosophy of George Gurdjieff. That
philosophy is that man is a machine. He lives in a mechanical, robotic manner. Unaware of the
present moment, man is used by the periphery (Unconscious). He explains that man is in a fallen
state, we see this in the fall of Adam. Adam and Eve were removed from the Garden Of Eden
because they ate from the fruit of knowledge. This implies that they became minds. To become a
mind is to become mechanical. They lost their consciousness (awareness). Their vision was jaded
by conventions. Osho explains that there is a way out of this problem that almost 99.9% of humans
face. That missing .1% are the Buddhas. They practice awareness. It is the way to enlightenment.
The Buddhas teach that Life is the goal and Awareness is the methodology.
Man is in a state of misery and turmoil because he is unconscious. He is unconscious of his
being. He is unconscious of the present moment. Ordinary human beings believe that they are alive
simpy because their heart beats, and they breathe. The Buddhists take a different approach. They
believe that you are alive only when you are aware of your existence. Not because you breath. The
original meaning of the term sin comes from the Greeks, and it means to miss the mark. Anytime
we are not aware of the present moment we are missing the point of existence, and that point is
simply to live and be present. We have become somnambulists. Walking, talking corpses. Simply
because we are not aware of each moment. So wrapped up in our minds, we live in private worlds.
Those who are awake live in one common world and those who are asleep live in private worlds.
Osho talks about the methodology of the East and West. The methodlogy of the West is to
analayze. This keeps one going in a circle. The wheel of Samsara as the buddhists would call it.
The methodology of the East is to witness. To analayze is to go in a circle and to witness is to hop
out of the circle. So Osho gives us the great gift of awareness in this book. He expresses that a man
can live in two ways. The first way is from his center. The center is your true being, it is
consciousness. The second way is through the periphery. The periphery is the ego, it is
unconsciousness. His solution is to drop character and live through your center as the witnessing
presence. Thoughts are like waves in the ocean, but when you are centered and move to the depths
of the water, no wind has the ability to move you. The steps to awareness are explained by Osho
as, Start From the Center, Be Spontaneous, Be Decisive, Complete Each Moment, and Stop Trying
To Be Good. You start from the body, move to the mind, move to emotions, and then suddenly you
become aware of being aware. This is true enlightenment.