So it all comes down to integrity. To be able to stay centered, holding the space, accepting what is happening without judging but by transcending to the level where the joke resides. That is, where one doesn’t take the mind’s chatter seriously and is able to see the bigger picture, beyond desires and beliefs, able to see the absurdity of desires, beliefs, plans that keep people from just living by being too serious about themselves and everything.
Having the lessons from that experiencing and while the days were coming for Osho Afroz’s 2015 festival titled “Being A Joke Unto Yourself”, I asked myself how can I explore this idea, experiencing it from my center. The universe must have heard my question. You see, I was planning (haha) to just attend the festival, do the meditations, take part in the workshops, flirt, have a chill time. And it all went well, for the first half hour of it. At that moment, while I was dancing with everybody to the intro-fest tunes of the band at the Buddha hall, this Cretan-Sufi brother of mine, appeared suddenly out of thin air and said “why don’t you take some photos of the festival?” Now, I know what I should have done is kick the guy’s butt. But you see, the way he said it, before disappearing into thin air again, sounded like a joke in the moment, and I was already prepared to dive in. So while a little angel’s voice inside me tried to convince me to decline, the inner little devil’s hand was pulling the string, to find myself parachuting with my camera in this gig.
I’ve experienced Osho Afroz’s festival before,
both photographing and attending. An amazing experience in which I can reflect
myself, encountering and working on issues-like resistance or holding back, of
freedom to express and responsibility in covering what is needed for the event-while
at the same time having a wonderful time. But this time it’s not about producing
something, it’s flowing with the space having my focus on not just taking
photos as I know but on being in creativity and allowing the photos to develop
themselves. It’s about letting myself flow while covering the event, about
going beyond the history of liking or disliking someone or something. You see,
most of us know each other in this space. With some we go along well, with
others not. My thing is to push the shutter button whenever I see an image, transcending
from biases, likes and dislikes. Being a joke means allowing things to flow
easily.
Another thing is, entering
deeper into elegance, since I have to be invisible and silent, not to disturb
the process and the meditation. So beyond photography I’m discovering myself as
a dancer who holds a photographic camera. I’m grateful about having the opportunity
to discover so many things and experience, from this unique angle, the being a
watcher on the hill (I guess in my case on the oak tree!). Being grateful about
the mystery of life and letting go of stiff beliefs is being a joke unto
oneself.
I’ve been
into a lot of festivals in my life so far. One thing in common in festivals –at
least the ones that I attend- is that there is a point, or more, were people
are getting wasted. I watched in awe this “Be a joke unto yourself” festival
how this Buddha field of Osho Afroz contains all the energies, allows them to
build up and grounds them. People are letting go but they’re not getting
wasted. Because the energy stays in awareness. The energy is building up to
take off levels and then it settles back again into love and compassion, awareness
and silence. These attributes and resources are a big part of being a joke unto
oneself. What can be more compassionate than taking things lightheartedly,
smiling to life’s caprices instead of torturing oneself and others with the
mind’s expectations?
Now, if
you’re Irish, you already have it in your soul, the joke, so you don’t really
need to read the rest, although I’d be honored if you do. And I’m not trying to
prove I know what this idea means. When I come to the idea of Integrity is mostly
intuition, climbing up the scale of ideas to come to one that includes all. I
can also call it Freedom or Individuality. If you’re in meditation you may call
it centering or Grounding or as something connected to the Watcher. When a
being is rested in its center connected with everything while detached from
needs (like been accepted or fulfilling a desire) then whatever happens appears
and passes, not being taken personal. Not taking things personal results into
opening one’s perspective, like throwing away filters, which results in the
ability to see the bigger scheme of things. It can relax the filters and biases
with which our brains operate, like the one where if we do something bad, we
find excuses for ourselves, whereas if someone else do something bad we tend to
say they did it on purpose, because they’re bad!
If you ask any Don Zuan,
he’ll tell you that the best way for bringing down defenses is humor. But if you’re
still here I’m reminded of this story of the Irish who along with other
westerners were kept prisoners, tied to radiators for years. One westerner was
losing it, going into depression and the Irish gave all he got to make him
laugh. He did it and the man went through until they were freed. The Irish said
that he did it because he wanted to show that one can resist the position he is
in, he can resist pain, torture but can never resist humor. I know, I should be
talking about the festival instead of guys tied up to radiators. But I gues
those who desire enlightenment must find themselves tied up often. And besides
this story conveys the glory that the human power of the joke can have in the
face of every difficulty, as well as the pure passion for life it brings.
So now I’m standing at this
point where I see I have said a lot but not exactly as I had planned. I had in
mind to analyze the idea, write lists of attributes and stuff. Thank God I
didn’t. That’s a good way of one pretending to know. While I’m in darkness, at
least now I can say that I just don’t know, that I’m just looking for it, I’m
only in this stage in my life where I’m feeling in my body and senses how
exhausting is having the mind fighting behind barricades or building walls and
wars. Or whatever else it does to prove something that when our fleeting moment
is gone it will mean nothing at all.
Here are
some words from an Osho discourse on the matter:
…The name
of the trap is seriousness. You are taking things too seriously. The moment you
become serious about anything, it creates tension….Life is hilarious. The
moment you become serious you become closed to life. And one should always
remember to be grateful, and one should not ask for more…Existence loves
laughter…And the greatest laugh is at your own ridiculous things…And learn to
laugh at yourself. Learning to laugh at others is very easy; It is easy because
it is ego fulfilling. But laughing at yourself is a great achievement. It means
you are becoming humble; You don’t take your ego seriously.
If you
haven’t been yet to the Osho Afroz festival, which is taking place in beautiful
Eresos-Lesvos every summer since 2010, it’s the time to join us. This year’s adventure
is about Flowering.
“If you have many flowers within your being flowering, a million times
more flowers will shower on you. Whatsoever you are will knock at your
door. Whatsoever you are will be given to you more and more." Osho
http://www.oshoafroz.com/site/event/65/and-the-flowers-showered-osho-afroz-summer-festival-2016
https://www.facebook.com/events/1967327036826024/
https://www.facebook.com/events/1967327036826024/
To see a fuller version of 68 photos of Osho Afroz Festival 2015:
http://eliastaris.blogspot.gr/2015/08/being-joke-unto-oneself-osho-afroz.html#.V3Eyt6KaXSI
Love and respect to my Irish (and
have-become-Irish) friends and actually everybody.
Cause the
only thing there is, love.
I hope you
found this article interesting and useful. If so, feel free to share it and to
subscribe to my blog in order to receive notifications. The most important of
all, use what you learn to bring light and love to yourself and the world! E.S.
