When the Shoe Fits - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 4. FIGHTING COCK
Religion has always been aware that to hide something you project the opposite. If you are a
fool, you will try to project some wisdom around you to hide the fact. If you are ugly then you will
beautify your body, your face, your hair, to somehow hide the fact that you are ugly. With clothes and
ornaments you will try to hide it. If you are inferior inside, you will project superiority, just to show
others that I am not an inferior. If you feel a ’nobodiness’ – and everybody feels it because with the
ego, everybody is a nobody – then you will try to project, and enforce and emphasize that you are
somebody.
Cowardice and bravery are two aspects of the same coin: fear is in both, they are two faces of fear.
One is simple and direct, another is cunning and hidden – a brave man is a cunning coward.
I have heard, once it happened that a soldier fighting on the front got very scared, so he started
to run towards the rear. An officer stopped him and asked: What are you doing? Where are you
going? The fight is on! Are you a coward? But the man was so scared, he didn’t bother to answer,
he continued running. The officer followed him, got hold of him and said: Where are you running?
Why are you not answering? Do you know who I am? I am your general! The soldier said: My God,
am I that far back?
Your generals, your leaders, they are always at the back. They never get killed, they are never in
trouble, they are perfect cowards posing that they are the most brave. Others die for them and
they remain at the back. Your Napoleons, your Hitlers, your Alexanders are all cowards projecting,
creating a phenomenon that is just the opposite of their inner feeling. This has to be remembered,
only then can you remember a third possibility, that is, fearlessness. A man who is fearless is
neither a coward nor brave, he is neither – he cannot be because he is simply fearless. A Mahavir, a
Buddha, a Chuang Tzu, a Jesus, they are not brave men, not at all, because they are not cowards.
You can be brave only if you are a coward! You can step out of the circle thrice only if you are
standing in the circle, otherwise how can you step out of it? If you never agreed to stand in the circle
how can you step out thrice and show your bravery?
A fearless man is one who has come to know the deathless within himself, one who has come to
understand the inner, the immortal, the innermost eternal. Then there is no fear, and then there is no
bravery either, because bravery is just a cover-up. This man is neither a fool nor is he wise, because
wisdom is simply nothing but a cover-up. And this man is not divided into opposites, this man is a
unity, he is one, he is a unique phenomenon, that is why you cannot define him. It is impossible to
define a Buddha. How will you define him? Will you call him a coward? You cannot! Will you call
him brave? You cannot! Will you call him a fool? You cannot! Will you call him wise? No! Because
wisdom is the opposite of foolishness and bravery is the opposite of cowardice.
What will you call a Buddha? Whatsoever you call a Buddha will be wrong. You have to be simply
silent before a Buddha. Will you call him a sinner or a saint? No, he is neither. How can you be
a saint without sin inside? Sainthood is nothing but a decoration, a cover-up. This is the problem.
Whenever a Buddha appears, this is the problem: we cannot define him, we cannot put him into any
category. You cannot label him, there is no way you can put him anywhere. Either he belongs to
everywhere or he belongs to nowhere. He transcends all categories. Pigeon holes are not for him.
The whole language drops before a Buddha, the mind becomes silent. You cannot say anything
which can be relevant. He is fearless, he is mindless, you cannot call him a fool or a wise man
because the mind is needed for both.
When the Shoe Fits 52 Osho