Why Active Meditation?

Osho said that modern people are unlike anyone who has lived before. The body, the environment and the mind have all changed, so the traditional methods that served earlier generations can no longer simply be applied.

The center of modern people has moved up into the head. Orderly, systematic methods only strengthen the head, because systematizing is the head's own work. So Osho uses chaotic methods such as Dynamic Meditation, which bring the center of consciousness down from the head to the heart. There the catharsis the heart has been waiting for can happen.

When the heart is unburdened, consciousness can sink further, to the navel, the source of vitality. Osho said that real transformation is possible only from these roots, and that merely knowing what is right with the head changes nothing. The old methods are not wrong; they were alive for their own time. Our situation has changed, and we need new methods and new techniques.

This page is a short summary. The full talk is found in the book cited below.

Osho: The Psychology of the Esoteric, Talk #4