Love In the Woods

"If love does not give freedom, it is not love," says Osho.

I am reminded of the Osho view when I see so much hullabaloo in the media over the private love-affairs of Tiger Woods, the American professional golfer. There may be an intense curiosity about private lives of public figures , but there is an important and deep principle at stake which is the right to privacy. In the developed country like America their top ranking golfer's personal life is dissected to minute details. Isn't it strange? People living in glass houses suddenly pick up stones in their hands and become moral police, conveniently forgetting that their houses are equally vulnerable.

Instead of looking at such incidents from a stiff moral point of view, it is more human to view it psychologically. Understand the human mind, its natural flow. Let compassion rise in the heart.

That's the Osho approach.
"Whether one is man or woman, everybody needs a change, at least once in a while -- for the weekend. Five days you can both be monogamous; for two days, on the weekend, you can both be polygamous.
"And if you become interested in other women, you should understand that your woman is also human, has the same heart, the same consciousness -- she also likes sometimes to meet a new man. She also gets tired and bored.
" In the new world, to which I have dedicated my whole life, there should be no marriage -- only lovers. And as long as they are pleased to be together, they can be together; and the moment they feel that they have been together too long, a little change will be good. There is no question of sadness, no question of anger -- just a deep acceptance of nature. And if you have loved a man or a woman, you will love to give the other person as much freedom as possible.
If love cannot give freedom, then it is not love."

Excerpted from The Golden Future



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