Let the mind work and you rest

This tekst will deviate a little from Osho’s original English words, as I had first translated it in Dutch, and could not find the original text any more, so I translated it back in English.

Let the mind work, and you rest

“There are millions of little nerves constantly at work, clicking, giving messages, receiving messages, transforming messages, collecting data for use in the future. It is a large office, buzzing with a lot of activity. That's what you hear and you think something is wrong. It's like when your car is driving and you hear the buzzing sound and you say it's a boredom-inducing sound. But how should the car continue to drive? It is not boring. It's just the sound produced by the mechanism.

The mind is a very complex mechanism. You do not know the enormous miracles that the mind does. It carries in his substance all the knowledge that all mankind has ever acquired. It carries the entire human mind into the collective unconscious. In the deepest layer everything that has happened to the human mind is also stored in your mind. It is not only that which has happened to you, but also to your father, your mother, your father's father and mother's mother and ages and ages back – from Adam to you. Everything. what has happened is stored and continuous activity is necessary for that, otherwise the mind becomes stale and dead.

Then there is a second layer, your subconscious. All your life instincts are constantly at work there. So much work is going on. If you are hungry and the mind is not functioning, how will you know? Immediately a lot starts to work. Once the mind becomes aware that something is needed – drinking, food… that you are thirsty – immediately a lot of communication goes into action. It immediately gives you the signal: now you are hungry or thirsty, now your throat is dry. (…)

Even when you are asleep, the mind continues. When the alarm goes off, the mind has to wake you up. When a mosquito comes and starts to bother you, the mind will protect you. It will not disturb your sleep. It wants to command the hand to remove the mosquito, or to kill it. You will do that in your sleep. Something starts to itch on your feet and the feet immediately throw it off. The mind is continuously guarding, working and collecting everything for future use.

Tomorrow you will need it. Today you think it is not necessary, but the mind must collect it for tomorrow. At this moment, now that you are listening to me, the mind is gathering, because it is useful. Tomorrow you will need it. Sometimes you will wonder what I have said and the mind will simply shrug its shoulders and say, “I don't know because I was completely silent. I have not heard or collected anything”.

When you are working, the mind continues to rehearse many things. It's nothing to worry about. You simply have to accept it. Resisting it is the problem. Just accept it…it's okay. You're not saying the breathing just goes on monotonously, arousing boredom – in, out, in, out, in, out – how many thousands of times in a day? You are not bored. The blood goes on circulating and the heart pumping – how many times in a day? You don't get bored with anything—just the mind, because you identify too much with it. You think, "I am the mind and since the mind is working, how can I rest?"

You are not the mind. Let the mind work and you rest. Just create a distance. It's okay. The mind works, let it work. It doesn't need your help at all, so don't worry. In fact, you are a constant disturber.

Osho, Beloved of my Heart, # I give you a capacity to know