A Handbook for Would-be Grownups | Maturity: The Responsibility of Being Oneself (Osho, Insights for a New...

Mixed bag | Maturity: The Responsibility of Being Oneself (Osho, Insights for a New Way of Living.) | Osho

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	• Maturity: The Responsibility of Being Oneself (Osho, Insights for a New Way of Living.) Osho St. Martin's Griffin, 1999 - 192 pages average customer review:based on 5 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Reading this is a blessing.

This book is one of my all time favorites. OSHO is phenomenal at speaking in a way that develops and guides your understanding. A note to be taken about the material in this book: this is not information, this is not philosophy, this is not poetry. The words in this book are hints to become aware of your inner being. One could easily read this and try to grasp what is said on an intellectual level, however it is not of the intellect, it is of being - awareness. This book is for anyone who is on the path of self inquiry. I love it. It has been difficult to find a more impactful read. The words of Sri Ramana Maharshi are the only reading I have found that strike me deeper, just the sheer potency(though for many would remain not understood). Osho is a genious at cultivating ones understanding. Of the several books I have by this author this one is special to me.

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A Handbook for Would-be Grownups

So much of what passes for popular culture in America encourages us to remain in perpetual adolescence. And those who urge us to be "mature" so often seem dull, serious and sad. These pages, on the other hand, are full of the grace, humor and wisdom that come from embracing the years as they come. There's a fascinating chapter on the seven-year cycles of life that goes far beyond Gail Sheehy's "Passages" -- and the pages of the book are sprinkled with specially-formatted quotes that will stick with you for days, gathering new meaning and significance over time.

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Mixed bag

This is only my 2nd Osho (i. e. Rajneesh) book & it's much different than the Tantra-Mahamudra book on Tilopa's Song. It's not as good, not as profound--it's far more earthy, even folksy. Much of it is simple, straightforward, mystical knowledge-eye-opening to newbies, & a refresher for old-timers-for instance, p. 130: "being is doing"-as in Jung's much-repeated Chinese quote about the right person with the right thought having an effect many miles away. However, some of the points made (at least for me) were valuable associations or extrapolations which I had neither encountered before nor reached for myself. For example, p. 78: "The moon reflected in the lake is the beginning of the search for the real moon. If you have never seen the moon reflected in the lake you may never search for the real moon" - commenting on the much-repeated Tibetan Buddhist illustration. But some statements went a bit too far IMHO: p. 132: "Only do that which you enjoy." While similar to Joseph Campbell's famous "follow your bliss," this assertion is too extreme to me-impractical in execution & bordering on hedonism. Other sayings were iconoclastic & controversial. For instance, p. 67: "My own understanding is that man came to know about meditation through sexual orgasm, because in life there is no other moment that comes so close to meditativeness." Further, his discussion on anger & love (p. 158) is, IMHO, over the top. You can form your own opinion of p. 60: "Freedom is a higher value than love" though I think he has a point here. Certain observations, while quite unusual, do seem to strike a chord: p. 27: "Friendship that happens between the 7th & the 14th year is the deepest...never again in life will such friendship happen," which is embedded in his rather convincing exposition of a child's growth--reminiscent of H. Spencer Lewis' "Self-Mastery & Fate with The Cycles of Life", 0912057459." Overall, it's a very easy book to read, though I'm not sure I like the "windows" highlighting certain phrases--similar to magazine articles. There's much knowledge, even wisdom included in this work, but some is too extreme for my taste. A case in point is p. 153: "Personality has to be dropped, only then can individuality arise" which seems to be an extreme view of the relationship between Jung's Persona & his Individuation process. It is difficult to envision someone existing, even fully individuated or enlightened, without a Persona (the set of characteristics one assumes in playing the roles necessitated by society) of some sort unless one were to become a wandering Mahasiddha (see Keith Dowman's "Masters of Enchantment" 089281053X). So, I think this is a valuable book, but the reader needs to keep life in perspective, & discriminating wisdom active, while reading it.

p.s. I evaluate a book on its own merits. There are some who are upset with Rajneesh (Osho means "teacher") for his imperfections, but then Tibetan teacher Chogyam Trungpa as well as many Zen masters in America have also demonstrated such (or worse) faults-as Western society weighs things. While excuses, explanations, & reasons abound, IMHO it is unrealistic to expect one's teachers to be perfect (despite "deity yoga"). The Buddha told his disciples to think for themselves, not to just take his word for things. Biblically: "Judge not lest ye be judged" & financially: "Let the buyer beware."

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Redefining Maturity

This book became the catalyst for reading other Osho books and opening my awareness. I think it's a good place to start because it gives an overview of his thinking and views on life and the world. He's raw, to the point, yet figurative and tells stories and jokes to help get his meaning across. He redefines maturity and throws out the conventional view of having to be an adult with responsibilities who doesn't take chances and play, but is serious. He was a wonderfully insightful man. The obvious is right before us, but it often takes another to point it out.

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In a culture infatuated with youth and determined to avoid old age at all costs, this book dares to raise a question that has been all but forgotten in the age of Viagra and cosmetic surgery. What benefits might lie in accepting the aging process as natural, rather than trying to hold on to youth and its pleasures all the way to the grave?

Osho takes us back to the roots of what it means to grow up rather than just to grow old. Both in our relationships with others, and in the fulfillment of our own individual destinies, he reminds us of the pleasures that only true maturity can bring. He outlines the ten major growth cycles in human life, from the self-centered universe of the preschooler to the flowering of wisdom and compassion in old age.

Osho's sly sense of humor runs like a red thread through the book, along with a profound compassion and understanding of how easy it is to be distracted from the deeper meaning and purpose of our lives-which is, ultimately, to flower into our own individual uniqueness and maturity with an attitude of celebration and joy.

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