The Great Path - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 6. THE MAD PROJECTIONIST
You call only those people bores who don’t allow you to speak. So there is a kind of contract: you
bore us and we bore you. You bore me with your tales of suffering, I will bore you with mine and
then we will be even.
Why do people talk so much about suffering? The reason is that man seeks sympathy. If you
broadcast your woes someone will caress you and soothe you. Someone will say,”O! you are
suffering so much. You are asking for love from the other in this manner. That is why you have
a large investment in your suffering. You have invested a lot in your suffering.
Whenever you are unhappy only then you see a little hope around you. People seem to offer you
help and support. They are sympathetic. You have never received any love in your life and sympathy
is rubbish, but it is the next best thing to love. One who has never had real gold starts making do
with unreal gold.
Sympathy is false love. What you really wanted was love, but love has to be earned, because only a
person capable of giving love can get it. Love is a reflection of what you give away. You are incapable
of giving; you are only begging. You are a beggar, not a king! It is much easier to beg when you are
suffering.
Look at the beggar along the road. He has made artificial wounds on his body. Those wounds are
not real. But he seems in so much pain that you find it very difficult to say ’no’; you feel guilty, it hurts
your ego that how can you say ’no’ to a person who is in so much pain. If he looks healthy then you
will also say,”You are healthy; do something, earn something; you can earn something! But seeing
a suffering man you can not say anything. You have to show sympathy even if it is false.
You hold on to suffering because you did not receive love. One who has received love in life will
be filled with joy and bliss; he will hold on to joy and bliss and not suffering. Suffering is not worth
holding on to. But then you have the advantage in complaining; because whenever you say that
others are making you suffer, the burden of responsibility is no more on you. And when I say to
you, all the scriptures say to you and all the wise men have said only one thing that you alone are
responsible and nobody else, it becomes quite a burden for you. The most burdensome thought is
that you can no longer shift the blame onto someone else. Even more burdensome is the fact that
if you alone are responsible then who will you ask for sympathy. And deep inside another difficulty
arises that if you are responsible then change is possible. And change is a revolution, it is to undergo
a transformation.
You have to break all your old habits. You have an old framework, that is all wrong. The house that
you have built till now is a complete hell. But you have created it; no matter how big it is, it has to
come down. Your whole life’s work seems to be going down the drain. That is why you try to avoid
the truth, but the more you evade, the more lost you will be.
Understand this first and foremost that you are the center of your existence; nobody else is
responsible. No matter how burdensome it feels, but you alone are responsible. If you accept
this truth all sorrow will soon disappear. Because once it is clear that I am making this game, how
long will it take you to destroy it? Then there is no one else involved. And still if you want to enjoy
suffering then it is your decision, but then there is no reason to complain. If you want to wander
aimlessly in the world, it is your own sweet will. If you want to descend into hell, it is entirely your
own choice. But then don’t complain! Then be happy in your suffering!
The Great Path 105 Osho