OSHO: Love Is Authentic Only When It Gives Freedom

silence shared in words presents Love Is Authentic Only When it Gives Freedom Love is authentic only when it gives freedom. Let this be the criterion. Love is true only when it does not interfere in the privacy of the other person. It respects his individuality, his privacy. But the lovers that you see around the world, their whole effort is that nothing should be private; all secrets should be told to them. They are afraid of individuality; they destroy each other's individuality, and they hope that by destroying each other, their lives will become a contentment, a fulfillment. They simply become more and more miserable. Be loving, and remember: anything real is always changing. You have been given wrong notions that a true love remains forever. A true rose flower does not remain forever. A living being himself has to die one day. Existence is a constant change. But the notion, the idea that love should be permanent if it is true... and if love disappears one day, then the natural corollary is that it was not true. I want you to know; love came suddenly; it was not because of any effort on your part. It came as a gift of nature. At that time you would not have accepted it if you had been worried about its going suddenly one day. The way it comes, it goes. But there is no need to be worried, because if one flower has faded, other flowers will be coming. Flowers are going to come forever, but don't cling to one flower. Otherwise soon you will be clinging to a dead flower, and that's what the reality is: people are clinging to a dead love that once was alive. Now it is only a memory and a pain and you are stuck because of respectability, because of law. Copyright© OSHO International Foundation www.OSHO.com/copyright OSHO is a registered Trademark of OSHO International Foundation