The Empty Boat - Osho.pdf - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 2. THE MAN OF TAO
One thing has to be remembered here: because of this, self-knowledge is impossible. You cannot
know the self, because whenever you know it, it is not the self, it is something else, something
separate from you. The self is always the knower, never the known, so how can you know it? You
cannot reduce it to an object.
I can see you. How can I see myself? Then who will be the seer and who will be the seen? No, the
self cannot be known in the same way that other things are known.
Self-knowledge is not possible in the ordinary sense, because the knower always transcends, always
goes beyond. Whatsoever it knows, it is not that. The Upanishads say: NETI NETI – not this, not
that. Whatsoever you know, you are not this; whatsoever you don’t know, you are not that either.
You are the one who knows, and this knower cannot be reduced to a known object.
Self-knowledge is not possible. If your innocence comes out of your inner source you cannot know
it. If you have imposed it from the outside you can know it; if it is just like a dress you have put on
you know it, but it is not the very breath of your life. That innocence is cultivated, and a cultivated
innocence is an ugly thing.
A man of Tao does not know himself to be kind and gentle. He IS gentle, but he doesn’t know; he is
kind, but he doesn’t know; he is love, but he doesn’t know – because the lover and the knower are
not two, the gentleness, the kindness, the compassion and the knower, are not two. No, they cannot
be divided into the known and the knower. This is the inner aristocracy: when you have become so
rich you are not aware of it. When you are that rich, there is no need to exhibit it.
I have heard:
It happened once that Henry Ford came to England. At the airport inquiry office he asked for the
cheapest hotel in town. The clerk in the office looked – the face was famous. Henry Ford was known
all over the world. Just the day before there were big pictures of him in the newspapers saying that
he was coming. And here he was, asking for the cheapest hotel, wearing a coat that looked as old
as he himself.
So the clerk said, ”If I am not mistaken, you are Mr. Henry Ford. I remember well, I have seen your
picture.”
The man said, ”Yes.”
This puzzled the clerk very much, and he said, ”You are asking for the cheapest hotel, wearing
a coat that looks as old as you yourself. I have also seen your son coming here, and he always
inquires about the best hotel, and he comes in the best of clothes.”
Henry Ford is reported to have said, ”Yes, my son’s behavior is exhibitionist, he is not yet attuned.
There is no need for me to stay in a costly hotel; wherever I stay I am Henry Ford. Even in the
cheapest hotel I am Henry Ford, it makes no difference. My son is still new, afraid of what people
will think if he stays in a cheap hotel. And this coat, yes, this belonged to my father – but it makes no
difference, I don’t need new clothes. I am Henry Ford, whatsoever the dress; even if I am standing
naked, I am Henry Ford. It makes no difference at all.”
The Empty Boat 39 Osho