The Empty Boat - Osho.pdf - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 2. THE MAN OF TAO
NO SELF IS TRUE SELF. AND THE GREATEST MAN IS NOBODY.
Listen.... The man of Tao remains unknown. Not that nobody will know him, but it is up to you to
discover him. He is not making any effort to be known. Effort to be known comes from the ego,
because ego cannot exist when you are unknown, it exists only when you are known. It exists,
feeds, when people look at you, when they pay attention to you, when you are somebody important,
significant.
But how can you be significant if nobody knows you? When the whole world knows you, then you
are significant. That is why people are after fame so much, and if fame cannot be achieved then
they will settle for being notorious – but not for being unknown! If people cannot praise you then you
will settle for being condemned, but you cannot bear that they should be indifferent to you.
I have heard about a politician who once had a great following. Many people appreciated him – until
he became powerful....
When you are not in power you look very innocent, because when there is no power what can you
do, how can you hide? So your real nature comes to be known only when you get power.
Look at the Gandhians in India before Independence – so saintly. And now everything has gone to
the opposite extreme. Now they are the most corrupt. What happened? A simple law: when they
were not in power they were like doves, innocent; when power came they became like serpents,
cunning, corrupted, exploiting.
Your real nature is known only when you have power. When you CAN harm, then it is known whether
you will harm or not.
Lord Acton said: Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. No, that is not right. Power
never corrupts, it only brings corruption out. How can power corrupt? You were already corrupt but
there was no outlet for it. You were already ugly but you were standing in darkness. Now you are
standing in light, so will you say that light makes you ugly? No, light only reveals.
...This politician was very much appreciated and loved, he had a charismatic personality. Then he
came to power and everybody was against him. He was thrown out, his name became notorious,
he was condemned everywhere, so he had to leave his town because the people would not allow
him to live there, he had done such harm.
So with his wife he was looking for a new residence in a new town. He traveled to many towns just
to look and feel where to stay. And then in one town people started throwing stones at him. He said,
”This will be the right place, we should choose this town.”
The wife said, ”Are you mad? Have you gone crazy? The people are throwing stones.”
The politician said, ”At least they are not indifferent.”
Indifference hurts you most because the ego cannot exist in indifference. With either for me or
against me the ego can exist, but don’t be indifferent to me because then how can I exist, how can
The Empty Boat 43 Osho