In ancient Greece friendship was held to be the highest form of relationship that any two humans could participate in. Higher than the alligence to race, religion, and even blood. In Aristotle’s words, friendship is a single soul living in two bodies. It was however the story of “Damon and Pythias” that gave expression and example for “true friendship”, and in modern psychology we find such a topic called the “Damon/Pythias Complex”.

“Around the 4th century BC, Pythias and his friend Damon, both followers of the philosopher Pythagoras, traveled to Syracuse. Pythias was accused of plotting against the tyrant of Syracuse, Dionysius I. As punishment for this crime, Pythias was sentenced to death. Accepting his sentence, Pythias asked to be allowed to return home one last time, to settle his affairs and see his dying mother. Not wanting to be taken for a fool, the king refused, believing that once released, Pythias would flee and never return. Damon asked the king to take his spot while he went. The king agreed, on the condition that, should Pythias not return when promised, Damon would be put to death in his place. Damon agreed, and Pythias was released. Dionysius was convinced that Pythias would never return, and as the day Pythias promised to return came and went, Dionysius prepared to execute Damon. But just as the executioner was about to kill Damon, Pythias returned. Apologizing to his friend for his delay, Pythias told of how pirates had captured his ship on the passage back to Syracuse and thrown him overboard. Dionysius listened to Pythias as he described how he swam to shore and made his way back to Syracuse as quickly as possible, arriving just in time to save his friend. Dionysius was so pleased and astonished with their friendship that he pardoned them both.”

Friendship is the most sacred of relationships because when it begins it is unconditional. Two people happen to meet through a shared concern and decide that they like each other enough, to walk together for a while. As time passes a friendship develops and grows. It takes time. If you were handcuffed to somebody and forced to climb a mountain together, it would take about an hour,  but in general-life circumstances it may take months or years.

The only way sannyas can move forward will have to be through friendships. The “I am better than you” model doesn’t work anymore. The only reason you felt you were better than me was because you were closer to Him but now He is no longer in the body you look like the dog that caught the car it was chasing… now what?

People who cannot form relationships come under the Autism Spectrum. The Aut part of Autism is short for Auto (automatic) which means The Self. For the autistic individual nothing much exists outside The Self. But for us less fortunate ones, we like to feel that the sunrise (or even a good movie) is always better when viewed with someone else.

Friendship in Sannyas is an unusual phenomenon. I’d say that 50% of those who came to sannyas came because they met sannyasins and liked what they saw, and the other 50% just fell in love with Osho and more often than not, found other sannyasins somehow “in the way”. For the first group life was easier but for the second less so. And there were and are many gray areas in-between.

Osho first started out as our Teacher, and then he became our Master, but he finished the journey as our Friend. And that is a great honor. In his words: “Love tends to be possessive; friendship is non-possessive love. Friendship is all that is good in love minus that which is not good. Friendship is the very essential core of love. To rise to friendship is really a great spiritual growth.

It feels strange that I am writing this but it has been in my mind and probably also in the collective unconscious so here it is. I can say that I am fairly socio politically aware and being Greek I have over the last few years been witnessing the societal breakdown and the rise of the extreme right in my country of origin, with horror. I am also aware that much of the west is on a similar economic path, each country at its own pace … so some months back I was sitting with a friend and talking about the situation in Greece and the nazis were calling themselves The Golden Dawn … when for some unknown reason I said, “If the shit hits the fan I’d rather be (after some thought) … with sannyasins.” Here I must stress (and this is very important) that NONE of my current or future actions, are or will be, direct towards this aim. I do what I do today because I enjoy what I am doing today and I don’t believe in sacrificing the now for the future. I also find militaristic survivalist type practices and philosophy abhorrent.

Back in October 2012 I happened to mention P-Orridge in a conversation about sex changes in the spiritual world in the thead on:

Enlightenment, Meditation and Alzheimers.

http://sannyasnews.org/now/archives/2269

… so I thought to look around and see what else he has been into since the last time I looked when bumped into this …

Genesis Breyer P-Orridge Talks About the Status and Impetus of the New TOPI

http://www.disinfo.com/2012/06/genesis-breyer-p-orridge-talks-about-the-status-and-impetus-of-the-new-topi/

You really just have to read it, if only the extract in disinfo.com (my favourite site for news). What is interesting is that it was published back in June 2012 probably around the time I was having the conversation with my friend. I like coincidences. Where would you rather be if the shit hits the fan? Looking forward to comments.

Vartan

Osho’s Waterworld

The book “Light on the Path” (11/12/85) is described by Viha: In the first talks given after his departure from America, Osho addresses his disciples’ uncertainty after the breakup of their Oregon commune.

In Chapter 3 (Now our commune exists all over the world) as an answer to the question, IF NATIONAL BOUNDARIES AND VISA RESTRICTIONS CONTINUE TO SEPARATE US FROM YOU AND FROM EACH OTHER, WHAT IS BEST FOR US TO DO ABOUT IT? Osho describes an interesting proposition. Below I am quoting the complete island references (I know they are long for which I apologise, but the content is fascinating). Was Osho an islomaniac?

Though I have no evidence and merely going by the rumours of the time I am pretty sure the island Osho is talking about is Brandos’ Tetiaroa. You can see the submerged sections, airstrip, hotel, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetiaroa

http://googlesightseeing.com/maps?p=21828&c=&t=k&hl=en&ll=-17.018215,-149.556541&z=13

Brando’s good (island) doctor always seemed like an Osho spoof to me and perhaps also a warning about too much transhumanism.

Vartan

[quote]
There are still islands which are absolutely without any control by any government. A few are very undeveloped, so it will be a difficult job to develop them. But there are three islands which are fully developed; one has even an airport – it belongs to an individual who is willing to sell it.

The situation is such – there are five miles of land which is lush green with big trees… immens beauty. It is almost an oval-shaped island. One part is above sea level. It has the greenery and on it the owner has made small houses.

From the outside they look like the houses ancient, primitive people used to live in, so they do not stand apart from the trees and from the greenery; they are part of it. But from inside they are airconditioned and with all modern equipment. The island has twelve bungalows, one hotel for eighty persons, one airport where, morning and evening, the plane comes; we can have our own planes.

And the other part of the island is five, six feet under the sea. The owner has not done anything on that part, and to me that part seems to be the most important, because we can make a five-mile row of houseboats – like Kashmir – on that. And it will look far better than Kashmir because on Kashmir you can see the land; the boat is attached to the land, the land is underneath the boat.

You can see water all around and there can be boats for five miles. We can accommodate thousands of sannyasins in those houses. They are beautiful houses, and we can improve upon them. And between the two – the forest in front, the houseboats at the back – between the two is a big lake. So small boats can move in the lake to provide small things for people on the boats. It is something absolutely ideal.

And the person is in a hurry to sell it. Perhaps he is financially broke, perhaps he is too old and now he has no energy for it. So most probably we will get it.

* * *

There will be no need for any visas for anybody to come for as long as he wants to stay; there will be no need for any passport. At least we can create one place in the world where no nationality is recognized, no religion is recognized, no political boundaries are recognized. And perhaps that may give the idea to other people, that it is possible – and these are the same human beings, they have come from us. Just an absolutely clear-cut model is needed.

So there is no need to be worried. It is only a question of a few weeks…. And soon we will have our own place, and I will call all my people to start working. And we can absorb as many people as we want, because we are not thinking of making houses, we are thinking of making houseboats (laughter in the audience – my note). Then the ocean is unlimited; then there is no problem about it. Why bother about land? Just a small piece of land will be enough for the functional things – the hotel, the airport. Otherwise we can go on spreading on the ocean.

And about the ocean the laws are such that around any island or land, two hundred miles of ocean is yours. So around the island for two hundred miles we can spread as much as…. And it will be a more mobile society. All those boats can move, all those houses can move. It will be more alive; it will not be a dead society, fixed, where everything remains where it is.

Man has not tried to live… otherwise water can be a far more beautiful place to live. Freedom to move – otherwise you become attached to the house, to the land. And I know of methods in Japan: they float gardens on the water. They mix straw with earth and float it, and then you can put any seeds on it; you can have roses and you can have all kinds of flowers. Japan has tried floating gardens for thousands of years; it is a perfect science.

And we have our sannyasins who can come and make floating gardens all around, so you don’t miss anything. One sannyasin has reported that one of his friends, a scientist, has made a house under water, fully air-conditioned with everything palatial, and on top he has made a beautiful garden. So you see only the garden; the house is underwater. And from the garden is the door to enter into the house. And he has found a special glue to mix with cement so that water cannot disturb it.

And he has succeeded in it. He has made it – it is now a successful experiment. We can call that man and we can give him all the opportunity to make houses underwater. An underwater house has a totally different beauty. You can make it in glass all around. Just as you can see the sky, you can see the ocean and the fish. And they are so colorful and they have such a beauty. Many of them have their own torches. In the night it is a procession of torches – those fishes flash light.

* * *

Just, people remain orthodox about everything, so whatsoever has been done, they go on doing it. My hope is that in our commune we will try everything new; and drop the whole idea of how people have lived. And we will start not only on the economic, the psychological, the spiritual, but on the physical – on everything… fresh and new, and make it a model for the whole universe. You will have so many tourists that it will be enough to feed your whole commune.

And these Japanese who float pieces of earth on the ocean, on the river, on the lake – they grow flowers; they can grow food also. It is only a question of accepting the unknown and exploring it.

So no sannyasin has to be worried about it. Within a month we will have our place, and within a year people will start coming. And my idea is: perhaps on earth we cannot make a commune of one hundred thousand sannyasins, but on the ocean we can (laughter in the audience – my note). And we are going to do it! [quote end]

I have studied the relationship dynamics of those very close to Hitler, both with each other but also with their fuhrer. I am in no way suggesting that there are any similarities between Hitler and Osho (although others have  suggested so, and they are wrong). The reason I am bringing Hitler into the conversation is because he, just like Osho, never said exactly what he wanted thus forcing those around him to keep bringing him ‘stuff’ for him to pick from. Those around Hitler had to constantly be listening and watch his every move in order to get ahead of the game in pleasing him. This is a tremendous psychological stress mechanism and the implications of the process worth a study.

Criminal acts aside, I can see the problem that was faced both by Sheela and Jayesh (and I suppose by extension all of us) because Osho’s first message is always “think for yourself” and even if you are to take-on his suggestion, you are only to act if it has become your reality too. Those 100s of hours that Jayesh spent with Osho discussing the future plans were probably just Osho rambling-on to him to make him feel special. Each sannyasin was and is projecting on Osho, and those closer to Him (probably) had the biggest projections and expectations. History is attempting to portray Osho as a control freak and a manipulator when in fact it was always us, ‘interpreting’. Something we are still doing.

Vartan