When the Shoe Fits - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 4. FIGHTING COCK
And the ego is very fragile; every moment it is on the verge of dying. And anybody can kill it, just a
gesture can kill it, just a look. Somebody looks at you, and the ego is troubled. That man seems to
be an enemy. A gesture of enmity and you feel a trembling because the ego is fragile. It is a false,
artificial thing, it has to be maintained. That is why there is so much fear – and amidst this fear, this
oceanic fear, you manage to create a few islands of bravery. Otherwise it would be too difficult.
You think yourself brave, even a coward, the most cowardly man, thinks himself brave, because that
too is a very complex problem. The ego is afraid, fearful, inside, because death can happen at any
moment. In love, death can happen; in prayer, death can happen to the ego, in any deep relationship
the ego will have to die. Even if you look at a rose without thinking, the ego will have to die. Even a
rose can kill it; it is so fragile, just flimsy, a dream-like thing – nothing substantial about it. So afraid,
and deep down continuously thinking of death, still you go on thinking yourself to be brave. That is
how this bravery, this fearlessness, this ’I am not a coward’, helps your ego. If you come to know
that the ego is a coward, that ’I am a coward’, if you really realise and become aware that this ego is
fear and nothing else, you will not maintain it. You will drop it. Why carry a disease? But the disease
is hidden and you think it is not a disease, rather, it is the only health.
It happened that Mulla Nasrudin got married. He went to the hills for his honeymoon. The very first
night, at midnight, somebody knocked on the door Nasrudin got up and opened the door. There
was a man with a pistol in his hand, a robber. He came in. But he forgot about robbery when he
saw Mulla Nasrudin’s wife, a beautiful young girl. He forgot all about robbery. And he said to Mulla
Nasrudin: You stand in that corner. Then he drew a circle around him, and told him: Don’t step out
of it – one step and you are no more. Then he kissed Nasrudin’s wife and made love to her.
When he had gone, the wife said: What sort of man are you? Standing there in the circle and
watching another man make love to your wife Nasrudin said: I am not a coward! And triumphantly
he said: Whenever the man turned his back towards me I would step out of the circle, and not just
once, thrice!
This is how the ego goes on maintaining itself, just stepping out of the circle. When the back is
turned, when death is not looking at you, then you step. And not only once, thrice! And you feel
good. And I tell you that everybody is standing in a corner with a circle around him. You stand inside
the circle and sometimes you step out just to feel that you are not a coward. But the ego is a coward,
it cannot be otherwise. You cannot see a fearless man with an ego, it is impossible, it is not in the
way of nature.
Why is it impossible? How can the ego be fearless? It cannot be eternal, it cannot be immortal, death
is bound to happen. The ego is a created phenomenon, created by you; it is going to disappear.
And when death is there, a certainty, how can you be fearless? Sometimes you may step out of
the circle, that is all. But with ego there can be no fearlessness. So remember three words: one is
’coward’, another is ’brave’, and the third is ’fearlessness’. Cowardice is part of the ego, the deeper
part, the real thing, and bravery is stepping out of the circle thrice. It is also part of the cowardice but
hidden, decorated.It is a wound with flowers upon it, a wound hidden by flowers. Bravery is nothing
else but cowardice decorated and refined; inside every brave man you will find a coward. Even your
Napoleons, Hitlers and Alexanders are cowards. Their bravery is nothing but stepping out of the
circle thrice – inside you will find the same trembling coward. Just to hide that coward, you project
bravery – bravery is a trick. And now psychologists also know about it.
When the Shoe Fits 51 Osho