Courage: The Joy of Living Dangerously (Osho Insights for a New Way of Living)

by Osho

Vincent Van Gogh was immensely happy just painting. Not a single painting was sold, nobody ever appreciated him, and he was hungry, he was dying. His brother was giving him only a small amount of money so that he could at least manage to survive—four days a week he would fast, and three days a week he would eat. He had to fast for those four days because otherwise, from where was he going to get his canvases and paints and brushes? But he was immensely happy—his juices were flowing. He died when he was only thirty-three; he committed suicide. But his suicide is far better than your so-called life, because he committed suicide only when he had painted the thing that he wanted to paint. The day he finished a painting of the sunset, which had been his longest desire, he wrote a letter saying, “My work is done, I am fulfilled. I am leaving this world immensely contented.” He committed suicide, but I will not call it suicide. He lived totally, he burned life’s candle from both ends together in tremendous intensity.