Take the responsibility in your hands

Surendra, a sannyasin from Australia, asks in darshan: “I use the I Ching and I was wondering if there is anything wrong with this sort of thing?”

You can continue to use it, mm? There is nothing wrong in it because nothing is right in it [laughter]. It is just a game. If you enjoy it, you can play. Right and wrong are relevant when something is real, but when something is a game it is right if you enjoy it. If you feel it helps, it is right. In itself it has no meaning; it is absurd.

But it can suit you and you can find ways through it. That simply shows that you are not clear about your own ways and you need some help to find them out. The I Ching makes it easier. You can throw the responsibility on it. You can say that the I Ching has decided this, so now you have to do it. It may have been difficult for you to decide to do so or not and it would have created much conflict in you. Now the I Ching has decided and you trust it. Decision becomes easier. It makes your life a little smoother. It functions like a lubricating oil.

But ultimately one has to come out of all games. It is your life – why leave it for someone who has written a book five thousand years ago to decide for you? It is better to decide on your own. Even if you err and go astray, then too it is better to decide on your own. And even if you don’t go astray and you have a more successful life through the I Ching, then too it is not good because you are throwing the responsibility. And through responsibility, one grows.

Take the responsibility in your hands. These are ways of avoiding. Somebody throws it on God, somebody on karma, somebody on destiny, somebody on the I Ching, but people go on giving it to somebody else.

A person becomes spiritual when he takes the whole responsibility on his own shoulders.

The responsibility is tremendous and your shoulders are weak, that I know. But when you take on the responsibility, they will become stronger. There is no other way for them to grow and become stronger. If you play and feel good, nothing is wrong in it. But I must say that there is nothing right in it either. It is just a game… enjoy it.

S: A mind game?

A mind game. And one day you will have to come out of it.

S: It’s not a constant use. It’s only for certain decision.

Yes, whenever you are feeling difficulty in deciding, when you feel that it is too much to decide on your own, decide with the I Ching. You can decide by throwing a coin; that will do the same. But it is not so reliable, because the I Ching has authority – a five-thousand-year tradition – and so many interpreters who say that everything in it is beautiful, perfectly right. If you throw a coin, you know that it is you who is throwing it.

S: I think that is the allure – that it is five thousand years old.

Yes, the past gives much significance. But your moment that you are deciding for is right now, here, and you are deciding it by the past. That’s basically wrong. Don’t decide it by the past, don’t decide it by the future. Decide it exactly right now. Respond to this moment. That’s what responsibility is. In this moment, face it and decide.

A girl says that she would like to get married to you. Now you are puzzled as to whether to say yes or no, so you go to the I Ching. You are shirking a responsibility. Then if something goes wrong, it is the I Ching; if something goes right, it was the I Ching – but you are avoiding.

This is not the way of spiritual growth. If you want to say no, say no. If you want to say yes, say yes. If you cannot decide, say both yes and no. You can say that this is how you feel: fifty percent yes, fifty percent no [laughter] – that that is how you are, mm? But be true.

Keep this with you. [Osho hands Surendra a small wooden box, one of which he usually gives to people when they are going away, in remembrance of him.] This is an I Ching! [much laughter]

Osho, The Cypress in the Courtyard, Ch 1 (excerpt)