Dance till the stars come down from the rafters...

I've been listening to some podcasted Osho recordings, and really enjoying his clarity, incisiveness, and humor.  Then, while doing some web surfing, I found this unedited portion of an unpublished darshan diary transcript which keeps ringing my bell.  Osho talked about a new way to look at renunciation -"sannyas" means "laying it all down" - and to me, the following quote speaks specifically to the experience of ecstatic dance.

"I don't believe in renunciation, I believe in rejoicing.  Life should be a song, a dance, not sadness.  The so-called saints have been too heavy, sad, sombre, and they have created an atmosphere of sadness all over the world.  Churches have become cemeteries, they are no more celebrations.  Even if celebrations are arranged, they are done in such a way that they lose the very quality of celebration.  They become to formal.  They are no more fun, they are serious.  Holiness has become too identified with seriousness.  

My work is to destroy that identification totally.  Holiness should be wholeness, and wholeness is always a dancing state, a state where the dancer disappears into the dance... Dance your way to God.  Dance till the stars come down from the rafters.  Dance creates the fire in which all that is useless is burned, only the essential remains.  Dance creates the fire in which gold becomes purer and purer and purer, and ultimately only purity is left."