Book Review:Courage by Osho

And the third book I picked up was Courage-The Joy of living dangerously. Osho says to step your feet from security to insecurity. Where you don’t know what’s going to happen. You have never tasted something like that before. He says:-

Don’t call it uncertainty — call it wonder.

Don’t call it insecurity — call it freedom.

About the book

The book was released by St. Martin’s Griffin publication. It contains 191 pages. In this book, Osho conveys the importance of freedom. Freedom from old beliefs and prejudices. Freedom creates fear. Because each moment is uncertain. You can’t say, what’s going to happen. And that’s what being courageous means! You have to step into the unknown with full awareness and great courage. He says:-

You cannot be truthful if you are not courageous

You cannot be loving if you are not courageous

You cannot be trusting if you are not courageous

You cannot inquire into reality if you are not courageous

Hence courage comes first

and everything else follows

Plot

Osho defines courage as the way of heart. It comes from the Latin root cor which means “heart”. So to be courageous is to go with the way of heart. The heart is always ready to take the risk, the heart is a gambler. The head is a businessman. It’s cunning. Courage simply means going into the unknown in spite of all the fears. For courageous people, the life philosophy is not of an insurance company. Their life philosophy is that of a mountain climber, a glider, a surfer. And not only in the outside seas they surf, they surf in their innermost seas.

Osho speaks to take yourself out of the crowd. You need to listen to the heart and do what it say. Slowly, slowly you would be feeling a new aliveness, a new beauty, a new intelligence — which is not borrowed from anybody, which is growing within you.

Excerpts worth sharing

A man of little trust can only doubt a little. A man of no trust can only pretend he doubts. He cannot inquire deeply. The depth comes through trust and it’s a risk.

Why are you afraid? What can the world do to you? People can laugh at you, it will do good to them — laughter is always a medicine, healthful.

Death is a quantum jump from one body, from one form into another form. But it is not an end to you. You were never born and you never die. You are always here.

If you are a coward, what is wrong in it? You are a coward — it is perfectly good. Cowards are also needed, otherwise from where will you get heroes?

The most fearless grounding is needed to be an individual. “It does not matter that the whole world is against me. What matters is that my experience is valid.”

Enough for today!