Love, Freedom, Aloneness: The Koan of Relationships

I have very recently been introduced to Osho. A Zen Buddhist Guru that was popular in the 1970s, Acharaya Rajneesh, popularly known as Osho, was an international Indian mystic, and spiritual teacher with an insight that could only be described as "enlightened". Although Osho penned hundreds of books before he died in 1990, "Love, Freedom, Aloneness: A Koan of Relationships" was my first experience getting to know him and his teachings. Within just a few pages my heart started racing and my own thoughts ran towards "WOW". Halfway through I was totally enamored, enthralled and excited, and soon jumped on the internet to purchase as many of his books I could afford in one fell swoop. Osho is simply amazing in his ability to make all people who have ever felt alienated from the people around them, finally feel at ease with themselves. The people they know who are being dragged down into the quagmire of "following the crowd" and that are "drowning in the ordinary", now become the examples of how not to live your life if you are one of the people like myself who have always colored outside the lines and felt proud to do so. This inspirational book is about "Love, God, Relationships, Freedom, the philosophy of Religion, Sex and about how imperative it is, and about how important it is to follow our own hearts and march to our own set of drums when walking each of these thought-provoking paths. Osho tells us, forget "them", and pay attention to yourself. Not in a selfish egotistical way, but in a way that can bring joy into our lives the way WE choose to live it. And to live not by the rules of the church, our parents, our kids, or our peers. Letting God let us live our own lives in our own way is an underlying theme here. Never in all the thousands of books I have read in my life has anyone spoke to me about God in a way I could accept or grasp. I loved his teachings of God, his philosophy of who or what God is or can be in each of our lives. He speaks of the church, of priests, of Gurus, Buddhas and other various deities from around the world in ways you can let seep in without fear of all of it threatening you to lean one way or the other, or to heaven forbid choose one at all. His open honest banter and non-preaching way of opening a reader up to God in ways one can understand or want to open up to, was a welcoming breath of fresh air for this reader! And, Osho has a wonderful sense of humor to keep a light air swirling around his wise words of wisdom! Osho's views on the importance of lust, sex, retaining our primitive selves as sensual beings, and how our normal hunger for sex can turn into a love relationship that is deeply rewarding and lasting, can be eye-opening as well as validating if you share his opinions on the topic. He tells us that without it we wither and die, we often let outside social views and religious dogma either stifle us, guilt trip us, or zoom us to the opposite direction bringing stress and chaos over this one simple human joy that should just be lived and cherished for what it is. Never denied or repressed by anyone in our lives. I truly loved his views and opinions on what works in love relationships and what does not. All of it was simple common sense, so easy to intake, so loving and joyful. Honesty, being open to feeling fear and getting beyond it, can give us the ability to shed the pre-ordained dos and dont's we learned as children growing up as to what is proper and not allowed, what was considered dirty and shameful. All of it fades into dust as you read this fabulous book and let it all fall away into what you yourself want out of life and how to accomplish it. There are not enough stars in the rating system on this book in my eyes. This one will sit on the nightstand to read over and over and over....Stay tuned for more Osho book reviews! I think I found a new hero!

I knew this book would be good, but I didn't know how good. I navigated through at wealth of emotions while reading Love, Freedom and Aloneness. Osho himself may have been lots of things, but that doesn't take away from the gems within this book. Just like with anything else, I'd suggest you take what fits and leave the rest. If you're super religious, this book is NOT for you. But if you're someone with an open mind for understanding and information, by all means...explore this book! I love how this book made me questions everything that I thought I knew about love. I really didn't know anything at all. Now I'm open to loving freely without constraints which is the best kind of love. One of my favorite takeaways is that Osho encourages us to be selfish. We're told that being selfish is a bad thing, but it is necessary in order to give of yourself to everyone else. Osho's beliefs tend to make us take a deep look inside of ourselves. It encourages the kind of reflection that you don't get from most books on this topic. This is just a great book. PERIOD! Buy the book!!!

First off the book came in perfect condition (the front page is bent because I folded it when reading the book) The book is very beautiful with the font being perfectly readable (no glasses needed) Osho speaks on topic of self-love, he talks about how for centuries we have been poisoned by thoughts of self-condemnation. He talks about the difference of ordinary love and real love. Just get this book and start reading it and you will understand.

This book has helped me gain a new perspective of love & relationships after the end of a long term partnership. Definitely a good read.

I was raised in a catholic household and this really helped me unlearn a lot of subconscious teachings I didn’t realize were ingrained in me about sex, relationships, and love. Completely changed my life after reading.. especially the relationship with myself.

This is perhaps one of the most important books ever written. If every person on the planet read and truly understood this book, the world would be a very different, peaceful and more beautiful, happy place. Alas, let's start with one reader at a time... Please, read it.

This book is worth reading. With an open mind, the reader can and will transcend to a better human being.

I couldn't put the book down. Every page had some gold nuggets. Many things make sense but most of society doesn't understand love to explain how love ought to be. Or how being alone helps you love and vice versa. Some things brought up new perspectives of things that have been holding me back. Even the question of what is love had been troubling me. I haven't been able to say i love you. Not out of fear etc. But i know i have love deep down for this person and my soul would not choose another. Osho clarified a lot to this question i had within me. Even though i haven't said this phrase much to the person, my state of being, is love with this person. Love is not always passion and intense desires burning in your heart. It ebbs and flows. A natural rhythm. There is freedom. It really is all about perspective. Thank you.