Love, Freedom, and Aloneness : A New Vision of Relating Author: Visit Amazon's Osho Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0312262272 | Format: EPUB
Love, Freedom, and Aloneness : A New Vision of Relating Description
From Publishers Weekly
The first few chapters of self-styled guru Osho's spiritual insights on love, sex and meditation are infused with an idiosyncratic but reasonably mainstream flavor. As the book progresses, however, Osho's teachings veer sharply away from conventional spirituality. In a chapter entitled "It Takes a Village," Osho envisions a future in which communes replace the family, calling this "the most revolutionary step in human history." While Osho and the Osho Commune International are briefly profiled in endnotes, nowhere is it revealed that Osho was the Bhagwan Rajneesh the charismatic cult leader who fled the United States in 1987 and died in India three years later. Read in light of this knowledge, the book takes on a foreboding aspect. In view of the sexual practices at the Rajneeshi commune in Oregon, passages such as "Love always melts the self.... You love a woman, and at least in those few moments when there is real love for the woman, there is no self in you, no ego" seem rife with dangerous latencies. Also disconcerting is the knowledge that this collection has not been updated with Osho's later views, including the more conservative statements on sexuality that marked his much-scrutinized last years. Given the author's identity, readers might be tempted to dismiss these teachings as cult brainwashing and avoid them altogether, but there is much here to be taken seriously.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
These thoughts on love, sex, marriage, relationships, freedom, and enlightenment come from transcripts of the late teacher's lectures and question-and-answer sessions, and their casual, conversational tone makes them easy to read. Osho stresses the need for self-love, the effect of meditation on one's ability to love, the origins of jealousy, the social conditioning that shapes one's relationships, the reasons relationships often fail, and the difference between love and lust. He makes his points emphatically, often using humor to illustrate his thoughts. "I teach self-love," he says. "But remember, self-love does not mean egotistical pride, not at all. In fact it means just the opposite. The person who loves himself finds that there is no self in him. Love always melts the self--that is one of the alchemical secrets to be learned, understood, experienced." Regardless of one's feelings about Osho, who was controversial as a "sex guru," there is plenty of food for thought in his musings.
Bonnie JohnstonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved See all Editorial Reviews
- Hardcover: 256 pages
- Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (August 24, 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0312262272
- ISBN-13: 978-0312262273
- Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 0.9 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
If you are new to Osho then you are in for the most beautiful period of your reading and seeking. Although this seems a bold statement, I feel it is understated. In this one book one will learn a lifestyle that is natural and flowing. There are no rules, no golden gems of a 10 point plan. What you get is how to balance a lifestyle of meditation and love. The polarities. Aloneness and relationships. To seemlessly dance between the two. The style is very flowing like a conversation. This is no accident. The book is put together from talks that Osho has given. Some 5000 hours of recordings have been taken. If you loved Eckhart Tolle's the power of now and wish for more reading of that quality, you will find Osho books equally as good. I've read the full 6 books of the insight series. All are brilliant. I recommend Sex matters highly as well. Osho Zen and Osho Tao are also brilliant. However, if I was asked to recommend one essential book for someone new to Osho it would be Love, Freedom and Aloneness. It's hard to really review Osho because you are not quite sure what's really going on. Just by reading you feel something is happening. That something is a resounding "A-ha" to it. I've read carlos Castaneda all of them, I've read most of Stuart Wilde's books which I thought could not be surpassed yet Osho has done this with ease. With Osho there is no fighting within. You start with were you are and remove things very gently. He loves to bring a gentleness to the way you treat life and especially yourself. I've never thought of brushing teeth violently. However, when you compare that to brushing teeth gently, you begin to understand how you treat yourself. A small violence, but still it is there.
I haven't finished reading this book (3/4 of the way), but i decided to give back to the community that has assisted me so much with my choice of books..... that and Amazon have a new 'bullying' system of getting reviews out of customers. Anyway, this book is really an eye opener. All the ideas of love that i got from books, films and even my parents now seem so silly and strange- like, where did they get them from? Osho explores what the general public see as love (romantic love), and another love that gives the impression of being a religious love at the get-go (i say that because i've always seen 'unconditional love' as something for the saints and celibates only), but is actually the most important love that we actually need in our lives. A selfish love that is actually unselfish. I wonder how relationships would be if we all possessed this type of love for ourselves..... would we even waste our time on relationships? Probably, not if they're the type that bring attachment. Osho discusses why most relationships and marriages are doomed from the beginning. "Let there be spaces in your togetherness"- very deep quote. He does not bring an authoritarian tone to any aspect of love; all he wants us to have is understanding..... understand the laws of existence and then do what you want.
His views on sex are amazing, just like his views on religion. I suspect both views were responisble for most of the controversy surrounding him- Increase sexual freedom while reducing religion (especially Christianity)? I think Bush and a few teleevangelists would probably not think twice about killing him on live tv if they got the chance. But he's dead so they can't. And his words live on.........
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