When the Shoe Fits - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 3. FLIGHT FROM THE SHADOW
not outside – the problem is inside. For example, if there is anger and you fight, what will happen?
Half of your being will be with the anger, and half with this idea of fight. It is as if both your hands
are fighting each other. Who is going to win? You will be simply dissipating energy. No one is going
to be victorious. You can fool yourself that you have now got your anger suppressed, now you are
sitting on your anger, but then you will have to sit on it continuously, not even a single moment’s
holiday is allowed. If you forget about it for a single moment, you will lose your whole victory. So
people who have suppressed something are always sitting on those suppressed things and they are
always afraid. They cannot relax. Why has relaxation become so difficult? Why can’t you sleep?
Why can’t you relax? Why can’t you be in a let go? Because you have suppressed so many things.
You are afraid that if you relax, they will come up. Your so called religious people cannot relax. They
are tense, and the tension is because of this: they have suppressed something, and you say relax
They know that if they relax the enemy will come up. They cannot relax. They are afraid to go to
sleep.
Go to your Mahatmas, they are more afraid of sleep than anything. And they think in their minds that
someday they will be capable of not sleeping at all. They go on cutting their sleep from eight hours
to six, from six to five, from five to three, to two. And if an old monk, a SANNYASIN can sleep for
only two hours a day, this is thought to be something of an achievement. This is foolish. This is not
an achievement. And this is not what Krishna means when he says in the Gita, that when the world
sleeps, the yogi is awake. This is not the meaning. The meaning is that the body is relaxed, the
body goes into sleep, but the inner consciousness remains alert even in sleep. That is something
absolutely different, it has nothing to do with ordinary sleep.
Really a yogi sleeps better than you. He will do, because he can relax, he is not afraid. But these
so called religious people will be afraid, because in their dreams all that they have suppressed will
come up. Mahatma Gandhi has written in his autobiography: I have become a victor of sex as far as
my waking hours are concerned, but in sleep, sex dreams still persist. They will persist, because a
suppressed thing will come up in the dreams. Why in the dream? Because now you are asleep, the
censor is relaxed, and the fighter is no longer there – he is sleeping. The enemy will bubble up.
The mind thinks, either fight – if you fight then you suppress – or escape. But to where will you
escape? Even if you go to the Himalayas the anger will follow you, it is your shadow; the sex will
follow you, it is your shadow. Wherever you go, your shadow will be with you.
THE METHOD HE HIT UPON WAS TO RUN AWAY FROM THEM. SO HE GOT UP AND RAN.
BUT EVERY TIME HE PUT HIS FOOT DOWN THERE WAS ANOTHER STEP, WHILE HIS
SHADOW KEPT UP WITH HIM WITHOUT THE SLIGHTEST DIFFICULTY.
He was surprised, he was running so fast, but there was no difficulty for the shadow. The shadow
was following easily, not even perspiring, not breathing hard. There was no difficulty on the part
of the shadow because a shadow is not substantial, a shadow is nobody. The man may have
been perspiring, he may have had difficulty breathing, but the shadow was always in step with him.
The shadow cannot leave you in this way. Neither fighting nor flight will help. Where will you go?
Wherever you go, you will carry yourself with you and your shadow will be there.
HE ATTRIBUTED HIS FAILURE TO THE FACT THAT HE WAS NOT RUNNING FAST ENOUGH. SO
HE RAN FASTER AND FASTER, WITHOUT STOPPING, UNTIL HE FINALLY DROPPED DEAD.
When the Shoe Fits 39 Osho