Emotional Wellness: Transforming Fear, Anger, and Jealousy into Creative Energy

Unless a reader understands that Osho is primarily a philosopher whose teachings are grounded in Indian tantric philosophy, they will misinterpret the message and lose the value of this phenomenal book. Although Osho did eventually lean toward Zen Buddhism, "Emotional Wellness" cannot be considered a primer for Buddhism. Osho's greatest work (in our opinion) is a series of his lectures contained in the volume "The Book of Secrets." These lectures are based on the 5,000 year old "Viyan Bhairav Tantra" (literal translation: techniques for going beyond consciousness). While most Westerners connect the word tantra with sex, it actually means technique, and contains 112 techniques for returning to the spiritual "center" that reunites us with the Divine. Only a very small percentage of the techniques discussed involve sex. Although this book is a daunting 1,139 pages, it is an eye-opener that will greatly assist the reader in obtaining value from Osho's many other books. "Emotional Wellness" does not teach coping mechanisms; it is concerned with transcendence of the little "self" that appears to control the body. Osho's goal is for the student to move from "doing" to "being" as they reconnect with the Higher Self of pure consciousness. The student reaches this Higher Self by approaching all emotion with awareness rather than blindly reacting or suppressing the emotion. When we react thoughtlessly, we resemble the constant motion of a pendulum that swings from one extreme to another. We blow up and then swing to a period of relative calm, but the pendulum will inevitably bring us back to another situation where we feel the need to blow up again. When we try to ignore our emotions, they will inevitably resurface and also begin the pendulum swing. Osho explains that if we are to stop this unproductive emotional cycle, we have two choices. We can "become" the emotion we are feeling and act it out as fully as possible in complete awareness. This is done in a safe manner such as pounding a pillow rather than the object of our anger. The behavior, when carried to an extreme, will lead us to seeing the futility and ridiculous quality of unbridled emotion. As Osho teaches, we will eventually become sick of the valueless behavior and become ready to transcend it. Or, we can move on to transcendence directly by learning to stop identifying with the body/personality and its experiences. When we are fully aware, we understand that we are all projecting our own experiences. We can then learn to control both the experience and our reaction to it, freeing us to go on to blissful being. When Emotional Wellness is read within the context of Osho's tantric teachings, it is an invaluable aid to transcending emotion and experiencing a peaceful and happy life. Lee & Steven Hager are the authors of Quantum Prodigal Son: Revisiting Jesus' Parable of the Prodigal Son from the Perspective of Quantum Mechanics

This book is amazing. I couldn't put it down and it truly changed my life. I have bought it for all of my friends.

I love Osho's emphasis here on the fallacy of supression and moralizing. At times I feel he just rambles, but there are some real pearls of wisdom coming out of him. There is some bathwater, I feel, but certainly a beautiful baby too.

I really never expected to purchase a book like this. I am very glad I did. I got the essence of the year out of the first few pages: the heart does the loving, not the mind... the mind doubts, the heart does cannot. Beautiful.