When the Shoe Fits - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 3. FLIGHT FROM THE SHADOW
One has to understand the logic of the mind. If you don’t understand you will be a victim of it. The
mind has a vicious logic, it is a vicious circle – it is circular. If you listen to it, then every step will
lead you more and more into the circle. This man is perfectly logical, you cannot find any fault, any
flaw, in his logic. There is no loophole, he is as perfect a logician as any Aristotle. He says that if the
shadow is following him it shows that he is not running fast enough. He must run faster and faster,
then the moment will come when the shadow will not be able to follow him. But the shadow is yours,
and the shadow is nobody. It is not somebody else following you; if it were, then the logic would
have been right.
Remember, when there is somebody else the mind is always right; when you are alone, the mind
is always wrong. In society, with others, the mind is almost always right; with yourself, in isolation,
the mind is always wrong. Why? Because mind is just an instrument to exist with others; it is just a
technique to help you to be with others; it has nothing to do with yourself. Mind is needed because
of society. If a child is born and he is not exposed to any society then the mind will not develop, there
will be no mind. It has happened many times. It happened near Calcutta, thirty or forty years ago,
that a girl was taken by wolves who took care of her, and she grew. She was fourteen when she
was caught again by society. But she was just a wolf child; no human mind at all. She would run on
all fours, and she was very dangerous, she needed to eat raw meat. And she was very strong, even
eight strong men were not enough to control her. She had a wolf mind. She had to grow up with
wolves, a society of wolves, so she had to grow a wolf-mind. It was impossible to train her to stand
on two feet. She would try two or three steps, and again, she would fall down and be on all fours.
But she could run so fast on all fours that nobody could follow her.
Again, just ten years ago, a boy was found in Uttar Pradesh, near Lucknow. The same incident
had happened – wolves seem to be very loving to children. They raised the child, a boy. When he
was caught he was about twelve. This time the doctors tried hard. They hospitalised the boy, they
massaged him, they gave him medicines and everything. Within six months the child was dead,
because they tried to make him a human being and his whole being refused. When they got hold of
him he was so healthy that no human being was ever so healthy. He was wild, he was a wolf, and
when they hospitalised him and started treating him he became ill; within six months they killed him.
They were trying to create a human mind, but it was impossible. They only succeeded in training
him to say one word, his name. They named him Ram. In six months, that was their only success.
If you asked him: What is your name? the wolf child could say: Ram. That was all.
A mind is a social function. A wolf needs a mind for a society of wolves; a man needs a mind for a
society of men. And because of this there exist many types of human minds because there are so
many societies on the earth.
A Hindu has a different mind from a Mohammedan; a Christian has a different mind from an
aboriginal; a Russian has a different mind from an American. They see differently, their perspective
is different, their interpretation is different. The same thing is seen absolutely differently. Why?
Because to exist in a particular society you need a particular mind. In Russia if you believe in God,
you are thought to be crazy. In India if you don’t believe in a God you are thought to be crazy.
Once it happened that I was conducting a meditation camp and two dogs were watching people
doing the dynamic meditation, with chaotic expressions. And then I heard the one dog say to the
other: When I do this, my master gives me worm pills! He thinks I am crazy!
When the Shoe Fits 40 Osho