Shakespere famously wrote in his play King Lear, “Ripeness is all”. After King Lear lost the battle, Edgar, the son of a count in Lear’s court comes to his father and says, “Men must endure their going hence, even as their coming hither: Ripeness is all.”
Edgar was preparing his father to get ready for his inevitable death, meaning that a mature person welcomes death as he welcomes life. The echo of truth in this profound observation ensured that the line lived on. Later on, this statement was used by various writers and thinkers in different contexts. This dictum kept on renewing itself over a period of time and found its place in the gallery of immortal phrases.
How does a statement become a phrase? A string of words that encapsulates a particular truth or sentiment is elevated as a phrase. It resonates the experience of the collective unconscious. Later, Maurice Sendak, author of children’s books, improvised, “Savouring your life and making the most of every moment until the end.” The famous romantic poet John Keats also mused on ripeness.
Not only thinkers, but the enlightened master Osho has also used this phrase a lot, almost like a refrain. Ripeness means maturity. Maturity comes from a Latin root, maturas, which means, “to be ripe”. A fruit is mature when it is ripe, when it has become sweet and is ready to be digested, can become part of anybody’s life. Osho presents various colours of maturity:
A mature person is one who has come to know what love is, and love has made him sweet. Maturity demands that you should go on a quest, that you should not ask only for knowledge, you should ask for ways and means and methods so that you can know — not knowledge that has come from generation to generation.
— Amrit Sadhana is in the management team of Osho International Meditation Resort, Pune. She facilitates meditation workshops around the country and abroad.
