Let us start with a question.
Right now, as you're reading to this blog, where is your mind? Are you fully here with thes words, or are you already thinking about what you need to do after reading this blog? Maybe you're still replaying something that happened earlier today?
Here's the thing – Osho tells us that every day, we give our minds more and more to think about.
And our minds? Well, they're incredibly efficient machines. They just keep processing, keep churning, keep working through everything we've fed them.
But here's where it gets interesting, and maybe a little scary.
If we keep feeding our minds more and more material from the past, our thinking grows heavier and more complex. Osho warns us that we can even lose consciousness of ourselves completely. We become like robots, just thinking machines running on autopilot.
So what's the solution? It sounds almost too simple: Let the past be past. Don't carry it with you.
Now, we know what you're thinking – "That's easier said than done, right?" But Osho shares something fascinating here. He says that if you're truly in this moment – we mean really, genuinely present – you actually can't think. It's impossible.
Think about that for a second. Thinking only happens when we're dwelling on the past or projecting into the future. Never in the present moment itself.
Let us see an example that Osho uses.
He says, imagine someone is speaking to you. If you're truly listening, really absorbing what's being said, your thought processes actually stop.
But if thoughts are running in the background – maybe you're thinking about how to apply what you're hearing, or analysing it, or even just waiting for the next point – then you're not really listening at all. You're missing the present moment.
This is why so many of us feel like we go through our days in a fog. We're eating while thinking about work. We're walking while planning tomorrow. We're talking to loved ones while mentally reviewing our to-do lists.
Osho gives us a beautifully simple practice: When you're eating, just eat. When you're listening, just listen. When you're walking, just walk. Don't do anything else.
Stay with whatever activity you're doing completely. No past baggage, no future worries. Just be there, fully present with what's happening right now.
Now, we will be honest with you – this will be difficult at first. Maybe even very difficult. But gradually, something amazing happens. You start to get the feel of it, and a new space opens up inside you. In that space, there are no thoughts. There's just... being.
Here's something that might surprise you. Osho says that when you stop this constant mental chatter, you don't become incapable of thinking. Actually, the opposite happens – you become capable of real thinking for the first time.
What we usually call "thinking" isn't really thinking at all.
It's just a mad rush of thoughts, like a traffic jam in your head. These thoughts just keep coming whether you want them or not. You're not in control – you're just a victim of this mental chaos.
But when you learn to live in the present moment, something different emerges. Your consciousness becomes more focused, more concentrated. It's like the difference between a scattered flashlight and a laser beam. When a real problem comes up, this focused awareness can actually dissolve it and reveal the answer.
Now here's where Osho shares something really profound about time itself. He says the present moment isn't actually part of time at all. We think of time as past, present, and future, but that's not quite right.
The past only exists in your memory. The future only exists in your imagination. Both belong to the mind, not to reality. The present moment? It's eternal. It's always here, always now.
This is why every spiritual tradition talks about timelessness when you go deep within yourself. That timeless state isn't something you have to achieve – it's already here, right now. You're just missing it because of your habit of collecting and carrying the past around with you.
So how do we start living this way? How do we make this shift from mental chaos to present-moment awareness?
Osho tells us that meditation isn't really an activity – it's an attitude. It's the attitude of being present with whatever you're doing. Whether you're taking a shower, walking down the street, eating lunch, or even lying in bed, you can bring this meditative quality to it.
The key is to remain totally with the activity. No past, no future, just this moment, this action, this experience.
When you do this consistently, something beautiful happens. That mad rush of thoughts begins to settle. You're no longer groping around in the dark, trying to figure things out through anxiety disguised as thinking. Instead, solutions arise naturally from a place of clarity and awareness.
Let us give you something concrete to try. Pick one simple activity today – maybe drinking your morning coffee, or walking to your car, or brushing your teeth. For just that one activity, commit to being completely present.
Notice when your mind wants to wander to other things, and gently bring your attention back to what you're actually doing.
Feel the warmth of the coffee cup in your hands. Notice the texture of the toothbrush. Feel your feet touching the ground as you walk. Don't try to stop thoughts from coming – just don't feed them your attention.
What Osho is offering us isn't just a technique or a practice – it's a completely different way of being alive. Instead of being carried away by the endless stream of mental activity, we can learn to rest in the eternal now that's always available to us.
The truth that emerges from this present-moment awareness isn't like the kind of truth that changes from day to day. It's not the kind of truth you have to defend or update. It's the kind of truth that Buddha and Jesus pointed to – timeless, eternal, and found not through thinking, but through the process of no-thought.
As we wrap up this blog, we want to leave you with this: the present moment is not something you need to create or achieve. It's already here. You just need to stop missing it.
