Pilgrim or Pagan?
Who is a pagan? It is not what Christians go on calling a pagan. The pagan is a natural man — sincere, not a hypocrite, living life naturally without domination by the mind.
The pagan is part of existence. He is not trying to go in some other direction but is always in a let-go and moving with existence wherever it leads. There is no goal in the life of a pagan.
There is no question of any meaning in the life of a pagan. Life in itself is so beautiful that to ask the question of the meaning of life is simply nonsense. It has to be remembered — we ask about meaning only when something goes wrong. The people who ask what is the meaning of life are the people who have missed life, who are alive because they are still breathing, their heart is still beating, their pulse is still going on; otherwise they are dead. Except for these three things there is nothing in their life.
Naturally the question arises: What is the meaning? Heart beating, breathing continuing, pulse perfectly right — but can these three things give you any fulfillment, any joy? Can these three things be the meaning of existence, the meaning of being? This is vegetating, not living. These are the people who ask, "What is the meaning of life?" — because they are missing it.
The people who are really living are in love with life, in love with the small things of life, not hankering for any great things, non-ambitious. Sipping a cup of tea is enough of a joy for them. Just to see the sunrise is such a glory that who bothers what is the meaning of life? They enjoy their food, they enjoy their clothes, they enjoy their houses, they enjoy their gardens, they enjoy their lovers, their beloveds. They enjoy music, they enjoy poetry. They enjoy everything that is enjoyable, with no guilt.
Joy is not a sin, and to be happy is not a crime. On the contrary, not to enjoy is a sin, not to be happy is to be a criminal, because the person who is not happy is going to do something wrong sooner or later. He is potentially on the way to crime. If he cannot be happy, he cannot allow anybody else to be happy; that is intolerable to him. He will be destructive of other people's happiness, of other people's joys. If he cannot enjoy, he is not going to allow anybody else to enjoy either. It hurts him that others are enjoying: "What is wrong with me?"
The pagan is never a savior, for the simple reason that if somebody wants to be miserable, it is his birthright — let him enjoy his misery! If he is enjoying his misery who are we to interrupt? If he wants to go to hell, then who are you to prevent him? He is not preventing you from going to heaven; you just go and take your flock with you, but leave him alone.
The pagan lives without any principles. To live according to principles is not to live. To live according to principles means you have to cut much of your living according to the principle — the principle is more important than your life itself. You have to sacrifice your life to the principle; you cannot sacrifice the principle to your life. The pagan has nothing higher than his life. The authentic pagan has no need of religion because, whatever religion can provide, he already has it. Religion gives you only hopes; the pagan has all those hopes realized herenow.
The pagan is one who has no shoulds; his life is should-free. He simply lives without any guidelines, without any principles, without any savior, prophet, messiah. He himself is his savior, his messiah, his prophet, his holy book. The pagan is really a unique individual. I have called him Zorba. The pagan goes on living peacefully in harmony with nature; and without any effort on his part, religiousness flowers in him. If a man can be authentically a Zorba he is not far away from being a Buddha. He has traveled almost half the path. And the first half is the most difficult because all the religions are against it. All the religions drag you somewhere else, away from the first half; and once you are dragged in some other direction you can never be a Buddha — because only this way goes to Buddha. Zorba is the way to Buddha.
If you are taken somewhere else — you become a Christian, a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Jaina, a Mohammedan — then there is no hope of your ever becoming a Buddha. You have been distracted from your nature; You have been taken away from the harmony between you and existence; You have been turned unnatural. A pagan is natural…as natural as trees and birds and rivers and mountains. A Zorba is a bud, a Buddha is a flower; but you can distract the bud, you can destroy the bud…and millions of buds are being destroyed all over the world. They never become flowers, they never come to know what it means to blossom. To blossom is ecstasy. When the flower opens its petals it is just like a bird opening its wings into the sky. When the flower starts sharing its innermost treasure of fragrance with all and sundry, there is tremendous contentment. One has arrived.
The Zorba is a bud. Yes, a bud should not remain a bud, but the bud needs no religion. It needs to go on growing the way it has been going on. The way, the same way as it has become a bud — it has to go on the same path — and the flowering will come of its own accord. And remember, when flowering comes of its own accord, it has a beauty, a grace. When it is forced, then it is just painted — make-up — but not beauty.
I would like you to be just yourself without any adjective. You don't need any religion; nobody does. A pagan is healthy and whole. He needs no religion, but religion comes to him. So please don't misunderstand me. I am saying he needs no religion, but religion happens to him. Without the pagan needing religion, it blossoms in him. Religion is given by those people who have no need of religion. Only a pagan can become a buddha. And only a pagan becoming a buddha releases the fragrance called religion. But it is not his need. His need is to share it. His need is to shower it on all — known, unknown, familiar, stranger, it doesn't matter. His need is that of a raincloud; just to shower.
Osho From Darkness to Light Ch 30
