The Spiritual Life, Topic Nine, Form vs. Content

The Spiritual Life - Topic Nine

Form vs. content

From : Maturity: The Responsibility For Being Oneself by Osho

We have not bothered about the outside; we have insisted that only the inner should be paid attention to. The outer is unimportant. Somebody is young, somebody is old, somebody is black, somebody is white, somebody is man, somebody is woman—it does not matter; what matters is that inside there is an ocean of silence. In that oceanic state, the body takes a certain posture. p.xvi

On the path of the ego we focus more on the form of things, how things look, than we do on the content, the essence.

Forms change constantly and are impermanent. Content, essence, does not change, but is eternal. What a person looks like is not important, it is what is in their heart and yet we try to discern what is in their heart by perceiving their form. The old saying goes, “You can’t tell a book by its cover.”

The immature perceive and judge reality based on form. That’s why as children grow they get such a kick out of playing “peek-a-boo”. Is mommy or daddy here or gone?

Immature people play peek a boo with God. If things are going their way, they believe God is here, but if things stop going their way they get angry and blame their God for abandoning them and in their anger and resentment give up their belief.

Jesus often said to His disciples, “Oh, you of little faith………..”

Form is made up of the tricks of the ego, but content, essence, the ground of being, is eternal and is forever. The physical body dies but the spirit, the ground of being, the energy which our incarnation has made manifest lives on forever.