Growing Up or Growing Old?

This morning, I received some passages in my Gmail inbox – few excerpts from one of Osho’s lectures on “Returning to the Source” that I found very interesting and inspiring. Growing old is a universal issue and a concern of most, if not all. Here are some facts and inspiring thoughts about ‘Aging’ by Osho.

                            Growing Up or Growing Old?

Does aging mean growing up or growing old? 
When we think of being young, we usually think of outer appearances: a beautiful face and a supple body. 
But what if being young has nothing to do with biological age? Qualities like being just oneself, in the moment, spontaneous, exhilarated and excited, can belong to any age, as long as we stay vital, creative and interested in life. So how can we cultivate these qualities in ourselves?

“If you look within - can you feel the age, how old you are? If you close your eyes and look within, the emptiness within seems to be ageless, without age. Are you a child? Are you young? Are you old? The inner space seems to be non-temporal – it is! That's why you become old through others' eyes. You become old because of the mirror. If mirrors disappear and nobody talks about your age, and there is no calendar and no time measurement, you will remain young longer….
“If you are too concerned with the body, you become the body. If you go on looking in the mirror, you become the body. That's why women age faster than men – the mirror. And the miracle is, basically they live longer than men, but they age faster. On average, all over the world, they live four years longer than men. They lose their beauty and their youth quickly. The mirror kills them – continuously meditating on the body.

“Meditate on the inner being, not on the body. Find a mirror which reflects you, not the body. That mirror which reflects you is meditation. The more you meditate, the more ageless you become.”

With Thanks 
Excerpts from: 
Osho, 
Returning to the Source, Talk #2