40. Who is Zorba the Buddha, and where can you find him?

A Whole Man is the Only Holy Man

"If we want a whole man – and to me a whole man is the only holy man – then Zorba has to be absorbed into Buddha. They have to be accepted totally as one. And I don't see where the trouble is. In fact, Zorba plus Buddha will be a tremendous enrichment.

"Buddha cannot laugh, cannot dance, cannot sing, cannot love. Now what kind of life will it be? Hollow!

"Zorba can sing, dance, enjoy food, drink, love. He will have a life, but he will not know who he is. He will not know the meaning of existence. He will never come to experience the deathlessness of life, the eternity of his existence – that he has been here always, and will be always; only forms change. He will never enter into his own center. He will always remain in the cyclone, very busy, concerned with everything except himself. And the center of the cyclone is the most ecstatic experience, the ultimate experience of human consciousness. Beyond that there is nothing; you have arrived home.

"But I don't see that there is any problem, there is no contradiction. You can arrive home, you can be at your center – what prevents you from laughing? In fact, you should be the only one who can really laugh, can become laughter; who can really love, can become love itself – where the lover disappears and only love remains; one who can dance and dance to such abandon that the dancer is completely gone, there is only dance.

"This is my effort: To bring Zorba the Buddha into the world.

"That will create a unity in you; your body and soul will have a unity. You will not have to fight against your nature, you can use it as a stepping stone. There is no need to fight, there is no need to repress. All psychological diseases are out of repression. All psychopathological people are just incurable unless they accept their nature totally, without any grudge. You have to use your natural energies to grow. It will bring man into a totality.

"All religions have made you schizophrenic, split. They have created guilt in you by creating a split; it is their whole business. Only a guilty man will go to church, will go to the synagogue, will go to the temple; otherwise there is no need. If you are one, you would like to dance in the open air under the sun. That will be your real prayer. Nothing is said, nothing is asked, but you are showing your gratitude to existence.

"Zorba the Buddha will not only destroy the split in man, it will destroy the split in society."

- Osho, From Bondage to Freedom, Talk #13

Putting the Osho quote in context

I didn't feel strongly about Osho until I watched Wild Wild Country. Most people who watch that documentary might go away from it saying, "What a crazy cult leader!" and thank their lucky stars that they haven't had to be a part of anything like that. It had a different effect on me.

I was rapt. I gained a lot of respect for Rajneesh (Osho). It's been a few years since I saw it, but I recall feeling that it exposed a lie that lives at the heart of what the US stands for. Americans love to champion their freedoms. But this sense of freedom accepts a level of indoctrination by Puritanism, among other things.

In Rajneesh's case, the neighboring Oregonians seemed very afraid that these peace-loving hippies would somehow undermine their lifestyles by spreading their gospel of enlightened hedonism and free love.

Of course, I can’t endorse any person’s unacceptable actions. But if you watch that series, you have to consider the culture he was up against. I regard Rajneesh as maddeningly enlightened. It was only after watching that film that I became a fan, and I believe it’s unfortunate for all of us that "crazy wisdom" doesn't take root very well in American soil. People are very afraid of things that challenge their norms.

I was born in the US, and there's a lot I am grateful for. But maybe if I had been born elsewhere, I ought to be grateful for those circumstances as well. To say that the US is the land of the free is also to forget that over 1.2 million of its citizens live behind bars in prisons.

Whew! We’re only a few paragraphs in, and I’ve already mentioned cults and prisons. Fortunately, things will take on a different tone from here on out. I led this piece with the Osho quote because I love the concept of Zorba the Buddha. It’s wisdom for living a successful and creative life.

Zorba enjoys what he does

Typically, when people get the notion to write in a professional capacity, what they talk about wanting is a bestseller, or to earn a living as a writer.

Less obvious or less celebrated socially are the quiet joys of a job well done or of how stinkin' good it feels to have readers. How good it feels to have someone read and appreciate your work, to hear them describe something from your book.

I'm experiencing some of this from beta readers for my science fiction novel. I'm getting reflection, and I'm also getting much-needed feedback. The process has confirmed I need to make some important shifts to the book's last section.

The moral of the story: your beta readers are always right.

Am I saying you should take into account any and all criticism? In this case, yes.

Why? Because you're about to unleash your baby into the general public. A domain in which all manner of people will approach your book and will have the right to pen their own review of it.

Do they need a degree or to work for a lauded publication? Actually, no. Their only barrier to entry is a free Amazon account.

During the early phases of the creation process, people aren’t necessarily going to be able to tell you what decisions you should make. This is the domain of the still-living work, which only you have authorship of. But once it nears completion, it becomes increasingly important to consider how readers receive it and feel about it. The wise Buddha guides the path to success.

But during the early phases of creation, Zorba must reign. The joy of creation guides the success of the process of writing something creative and earning a living doing what you want.

I've yet to encounter a piece of art or a book that the author or artist hated and everyone else loved. Does that mean you’re writing for yourself? Yes, initially. Zorba lives for himself. You aren't only writing it for yourself, but if you don't love the hell out of it, it won't stand a chance out in the wild.

You're also far more likely to finish something so enjoyable that you will make an excuse to work on it.

Essentially, this process describes the mysterious Rick Rubin effect: "I do what I like for myself, and it turns out to be the best thing for everyone."

Side note: After adding this video to the post, I'm strangely aware that this is becoming an article rich with bearded men. (beardCount++)

Rick Rubin’s wisdom has to be taken with a grain of salt. On the one hand, what he’s saying is totally true. But it’s also sort of common knowledge, isn’t it? He’s saying that people should do what they like, and they will succeed. Don’t listen to the critics, listen to what’s inside you. The words are true, but whether any given person can arrive at a level of success where they can say them for themselves is another matter.

Rick’s wisdom is basically the same as what a truly empowering middle school art teacher might say, advice that our well-meaning society tends to castigate as being naive. And that’s what makes it so remarkable. During the process of growing up, we are informed (conditioned) to understand that things aren’t so simple. And yet, Rick Rubin has been very successful. Surely he must have some other secret besides what he’s selling, yes? What gave Rick the magic touch, whereas all the other people who try to follow such advice don’t achieve high levels of outward success?

The difference is not that everyone else is doing something wrong. Rick has internalized what the market wants—he's cultivated his taste. He has an instinct for trends, which most people haven’t. When he says he’s doing it for himself, I believe that he’s telling the truth. The difference between Rick and most people is that within him, he also has a deep understanding of what will make a hit. Sort of like the Jeremy Irons character in the movie Margin Call:

There should be no question that trends and such play a huge part in what will succeed at any given time. But chasing them would be to forget how good it feels to be Zorba, and how much his shakti and ananda can fuel the process.

It's increasingly important for people to earn a living doing what they love

The same outer wisdom that conditions us to ignore Rick Rubin’s “I’m successful because I do what I like” wisdom would have us believe that there’s some truth behind what the market will pay top dollar for.

There are loads of things that are worth doing that don't themselves contribute directly to the economy. Sometimes, “I do what I like” doesn’t seem to have a product-market fit. And in the age of automation, there’s a renewed pressure being applied. Ever since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, people have been displaced by some form of automation.

I used to believe that jobs that a machine could take over weren't worth doing. "Sleepy jobs," I thought. After all, who'd want to work a job doing repetitive labor? Simply replacing that with a machine is more effective. Remove "human error" and free that person up to live a more enlightened life.

Now that AI is creeping into the domain of desk jobs I'll admit it feels differently. Is that because it's striking closer to home?

Partially, for sure. It has me on the defensive. I like writing. Doesn’t it matter to people whether something was written by a real person?

The market is not always wise. As a society, we will overcorrect and do dumb things. This is especially true of large corporations. Just because it's priceless doesn't mean people will pay $4.99 for it.

If the AI-generated junk is good enough, then that's what will be used. Even if that puts us into a black hole situation where the majority of new content is generated by AI, and that's what we use to train the new AI models.

We miss the boat when we forget to value the process.

During creation, it’s not a “product”

I love making pottery. I do it because I love it. As a result, I really put myself into my work. And I believe it shows.

If what I sit down to make is just a product, then I'm competing with Ikea or a 3d printer.

If it matters that I make it, then it's irreplaceable. My lived experience is irreplaceable. Like all the best things, what it does for me is priceless. Zorba is no mercenary. Zorba can’t be bought.

How present are you in what you do?

Some activities beckon our attention more naturally than others. It’s easier to enjoy what we love. But enjoyment is also a muscle you can flex. And you should.

The wisdom of Zorba is to dedicate yourself to what you love. Even if that includes something as crazy and apparently AI-replaceable as writing.

An improved relationship with writing flows into all sorts of things. You can write to journal, use language to describe states of consciousness, write poetry, tell stories, and also just for the exercise of it.

Trusting the process means being open to how good it feels and greeting the bigger parts of yourself when they show up. I believe that a person’s calling is not based on their preferences, their likes and dislikes. It’s not arbitrary that you enjoy what you do. There’s some wisdom to it.