Osho responds to the perennial question: Why do we suffer? Why is there pain?

Why does pain exist?

Physical pain is not a problem – when it is there, it is there; when it is not there, it is not there. A problem arises when something is not there and you want it to be there, or when something is there and you don’t want it to be there. A problem is always psychological: ‘Why is it there?’ Who is to say why it is there? There is nobody to answer. Only explanations can be given but those are not really answers. Explanations are simple.

It is very simple: pain is there because pleasure is there. Pleasure cannot exist without pain. If you want a life absolutely painless then you will have to live a life absolutely pleasure-less. They come together in one package. They are not two things really, they are one thing – not different, not separate – and they cannot be separated.

That’s what man has been trying to do down through the centuries: separating them, to somehow have all the pleasures of the world and not have any pain. But this is not possible. The more pleasures you have the more pain also. The bigger the peak the deeper will be the valley by the side. You want no valleys and you want big peaks. Then the peaks cannot exist; they can exist only with valleys.

The valley is nothing but a situation in which a peak becomes possible.

The peak and the valley are joined together.

In language pain is separate from pleasure. If you want to look in the dictionary for ‘pain’ you have to look for ‘pain; ‘pleasure’ will be separate. You want to look for ‘pleasure’ then you have to look for “pleasure.” But in reality pain and pleasure are together, just as your right and left hands are together, just as two wings of a bird are together. The dictionary creates a great illusion; language is a very great source of illusions. It says, ‘love,’ and when it says ‘love’ you never think about hate. You completely forget about hate but love cannot exist without hate. That’s why you love the same person and you hate the same person. Pleasure and pain go together.

(Osho: And Now And Here)

Access Your
Free Guide