Why, in the East aging is praised while in the West it is feared?
There are many laws about middle age, because all over the world people become old. And many thinkers have been thinking, What is this old age?
“The first law is De Never’s Lost Law; obviously about old age, the law can be the last: Never speculate on that which can be known for certain. You know perfectly well you are getting old, now don’t speculate on that, that will make you more miserable.
“The law is beautiful, never speculate on that which can be known for certain. In fact, in life, except death nothing is certain; everything can be speculated upon, but not death. And old age is just the door to death.
Middle age is when you begin to exchange your emotions for symptoms. Lendel’s Law: You know you are getting old when a girl calls “No,” and all you feel is relief.
“Old age is when you start to turn out the lights for economical rather than romantic reasons! Old age is that period of life when your idea of getting ahead is staying even. Old age is when you can do just as much as ever, but would rather not.
“Old age is a mysterious experience, but all these laws have been found by the Western mind. I have not been able to discover anybody in the whole literature of the East talking about old age. On the contrary, old age has been praised immensely, because in the East it has been thought that you are not old. If your life has simply moved on the horizontal line, you are only aged. But if your life, your consciousness, has moved vertically, upwards, then you have attained the beauty, the glory of old age. Old age in the East has been synonymous with wisdom.
“These are the two paths: one is horizontal – from childhood to youth, to old age and to death; the other is vertical – from childhood to youth, to old age, and to immortality. The difference in quality of both the dimensions is immense, incalculable.
A man who simply becomes a youth, and old, and dead, has remained identified with his body. He has not known anything about his being, because being is never born and never dies; it is always, it has been always, it will be always, it is the whole of eternity.
“On the vertical line the child becomes young, but the youth on the vertical line will be different from the youth on the horizontal line. Childhood is innocent, but that is the point where these two different dimensions open up. The youth on the horizontal line is nothing but sensuality, sexuality and all kinds of other stupidities. The youth on the vertical line is a search for truth, for life – it is a longing to know oneself.
“A man on the vertical line cannot be called young if he is not meditative, and the same is true about old age. On the horizontal line, old age is simply trembling, afraid of death; It cannot think of anything except a graveyard, and darkness which goes on becoming darker and darker. It cannot conceive of oneself except as a skeleton.
“On the vertical line, old age is a celebration; it is as beautiful as man has ever been. Youth is a little foolish – is bound to be; it is inexperienced. But old age has passed through all the experiences – good and bad, right and wrong – and has come to a state where it is no longer affected by anything concerned with body or mind.
“It is a welcome! Old age on the vertical line is keeping its door open for the ultimate guest to come in. It is not an end; it is a beginning of a real life, of an authentic being.
“Hence, I continuously make the distinction between growing old and growing up. Very few people have been fortunate enough to grow up; the remainder of humanity has only been growing old. And naturally they are all moving towards death. Only on the vertical line does death not exist; that is the way to immortality, to divinity. And naturally, when one becomes old on that dimension, he has a grace and a beauty and a compassion and love.
“It has been noted again and again…There is a statement in Buddhist scriptures that as Buddha became older, he became more beautiful. This I call a true miracle. Not walking on water – any drunkard can try that. Not turning water into wine – any criminal can do that. This is a true miracle: Buddha became more beautiful than he was in his youth; he became more innocent than he was in his childhood – this is growth.
Unless you are moving on the vertical line, you are missing the whole opportunity of life. But here our whole effort is to block the horizontal line and open the blocked vertical line. Then every day you are coming closer to life, not farther away. Then your birth is not the beginning of death, your birth is the beginning of eternal life. Just two different lines and so much difference.
“The West has never thought about it; the vertical line has never been mentioned because they haven’t been brought up in a spiritual atmosphere where the real riches are inside you. Even if they think of god, they think of him outside. Gautam Buddha could deny god – I deny god. There is absolutely no god for the simple reason that we want you to turn inwards. If god – or anything similar – is, it has to be found inside you. It has to be found in your own eternity, in your own ecstasy.”
To continue reading and see all available formats of this talk:
Osho, The Invitation, Talk #27 – Growing Up Or Just Growing Old?
