Jump before you think.

YOU SAY, FIRST JUMP AND THEN THINK. BUT THIS IS WHAT MANKIND IS DOING. FIRST GOING TO THE MOON, AND THEN REALIZING THAT ROCKETS HAVE MADE HOLES IN THE OZONE LAYER, FOR INSTANCE. SOMETIMES IT CAN BE TOO LATE TO THINK. ON THE OTHER HAND, IF ONE THINKS TOO MUCH, ONE WILL NEVER JUMP — JUMPING IMPLIES RISK AND UNKNOWN CONSEQUENCES. I AM CONFUSED: CAN JUMPING AND AWARENESS GO TOGETHER, AND HOW?

My statement, “Jump before you think,” was not concerned with outer reality, it was concerned with your inner space. This is how your mind can change the context and then create unnecessary problems.

As far as the outside is concerned, think first, think twice — only then jump. Even if the risk is that too much thinking may not allow you to jump at all, this is perfectly acceptable to you because in the outside world, what is there to lose? Doing anything without thinking in the outside world is simply stupidity.

But the laws of the outer and the inner are opposite. In the inner world, if you go on thinking you will never jump, because the inner is absolutely unknown. On the outside you are not alone; there are thousands of others. The outer world is objective, visible, and if you are not going to jump, somebody else will jump.

Albert Einstein was asked, “If you had not discovered the theory of relativity, what do you think — would it have ever been discovered?”

Albert Einstein said, “At the most three months later… most probably three weeks later” — because all the facts were there, and thousands of scientists around the world were working on those facts. It was only a question of who solved the puzzle first. And later on it was discovered that a German scientist had discovered the theory of relativity BEFORE Albert Einstein, but he had not published his paper. He was just going to publish it, but because it was so outrageously against all the old scientific findings, he went on thinking about whether to publish it or not…”I may become a laughingstock, I am going to say something absolutely contradicting the whole of scientific progress.”

Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity goes against the logic of Aristotle; it goes against the geometry of Euclid, which was well established for two thousand years. And it goes against so many things which have been accepted by scientists as facts — who ever doubted that two plus two is equal to four? Even a man like Bertrand Russell, who wrote one of the greatest treatises on mathematics, took near about two hundred and thirty-five pages to prove that two plus two is really four. But against all these comes the theory of relativity. It says two plus two can be anything — but never four.

Albert Einstein took the risk, and jumped ahead. But he was aware that if he did not take the jump, somebody else, within three weeks or at the most three months… how long can you prevent it?

In the outside world, there are millions of people, and everything is objective. In the inside world, you are alone — you cannot take anybody as your guide, as your friend; no map exists, no guidebook exists. If you go on thinking, perhaps you will never enter into it.

My statement was about the inner world. Against the old proverb, “Think before you jump,” I had said, “Jump before you think.” What is the worry? You will be inside; you can go on thinking later on — first jump. And you are not jumping from a hilltop, you are jumping inside yourself. I don’t think that there is any possibility of having fractures, or falling into an abysmal ditch, or falling so deep that you cannot come out — it has not happened up to now. Thousands of people have jumped in, and they all have come out in far better shape than they have ever been.

There is no risk. The inner journey is really the safest journey — absolutely insured — because not a single case exists in the whole of history when somebody jumped inside and came out having multiple fractures.

Those who have jumped in, have come out with such tremendous joy, with such deep sensibility, with such great understanding… they have found the greatest treasure which exists in existence.

Osho: The Hidden Splendor Chapter #17 Chapter title: Watchfulness… your gift to yourself  Q 3.

कोई मंज़िल के क़रीब आ के भटक जाता है
कोई मंज़िल पे पहुँचता है भटक जाने से ………………….क़सरी कानपुरी

koī manzil ke qarīb aa ke bhaTak jaatā hai
koī manzil pe pahuñchtā hai bhaTak jaane se ………………QASRI KANPURI

“Some people lose their way just as they near their destination.
Some reach their destination by losing their way.”

‘Jumping inside’ reminded me of this lovely composition sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, written by Amjad Islam Amjad and composed by Shahi for the film “Paap” (2003).

(2124) Lagi tum se mann ki lagan Rahat Fateh Ali Khan – YouTube