DANGEROUS PATHS

A REBEL REFUSES TO BE ENSLAVED IN ANY WAY -- NOT EVEN BY GOD... by man is out of the question.

Friedrich Nietzsche's statement that, "GOD IS DEAD AND NOW MAN IS ABSOLUTELY FREE," is a statement of a REBELLIOUS soul. His argument is clear. In another place he says that, "Man and God cannot coexist, because God will exist only with God as the creator and man as the created. And we cannot tolerate this indignity, this insult. Hence we declare that God is dead and man is supreme. Now nobody is above him."

Certainly these are DANGEROUS PATHS. But THOSE WHO HAVE FOLLOWED ON THESE PATHS have enjoyed life in its absolute glory, HAVE LIVED LIFE IN UTTER ECSTASY. And those who have remained middle-class sheep, crowds, waiting for the shepherd to come and to save them -- their life is so lukewarm that it is neither hot nor cold. It is just a kind of tea which you would not like to drink -- neither hot nor cold, just lukewarm. Don't live a lukewarm life!

Harry's strong-minded wife, Martha, took him shopping to buy a pair of trousers. "Do you want buttons or zipper?" asked the shop assistant.
"Zipper," replied Harry quickly.
"Very good, sir," said the assistant. "And do you want a five inch zip or a ten inch?"
"Ten inch," Harry said before Martha could interrupt.
When they got outside, Martha was furious. "You," she said, "you and your ten inch zip! Why, you remind me of the man who lives next door to my father. Every morning he goes down to his garden, unlocks his garage, opens the eight-foot double doors and then wheels his bike out."

Don't live a life on a bike.

What I am saying certainly creates a feeling of insecurity. But what is security? IS THERE ANYTHING SECURE IN LIFE? Does security exist at all, or is it just an idea, a consoling idea that man has created for himself? What security is there?

The people in HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI had gone to bed with absolute security; I don't think even a single person amongst those two big cities -- two hundred thousand people -- had gone to bed with any idea of insecurity. And by the morning there were only fires and dead bodies. Not a living thing was left -- not even trees, not even birds, not animals, not man. All life simply disappeared. WHAT SECURITY IS THERE?

Do you think those SIX MILLION JEWS had ever thought that the gas chambers would be their end, that within a minute they would simply be going out of the chimneys as smoke in the sky? WHAT SECURITY IS THERE?

AND SECURITY HAS NEVER BEEN THERE. Death can come any moment, and it always comes without any notice, without any warning. Still, we go on living with the idea of security. And whenever the idea of being a rebel, a rebellious spirit, arises, immediately we think of security. But YOU DON'T HAVE ANY SECURITY!

THE REBEL UNDERSTANDS IT: there is NO SECURITY -- hence, don't ask for it. LIVE IN INSECURITY, because that is an actual fact of life. YOU CANNOT AVOID IT, YOU CANNOT PREVENT IT, so there is no need to bother about it. Don't waste time unnecessarily.

In the days when Disraeli and Gladstone were political enemies, the British houses of Parliament rang with their heated debates. Once Gladstone shouted at the prime minister, "Sir, you will come to your end either upon the gallows or of a venereal disease."
Disraeli adjusted his monocle and replied with unruffled calm, "I should say, Mr. Gladstone, that depends on whether I embrace your principles or your mistress."

TAKE LIFE AT EASE. Be unruffled, and MOVE WITH STRENGTH and POWER and DIGNITY INTO THE UNKNOWN, into the dark -- joyously, dancingly. You have nothing to lose but everything to gain.

OSHO
The Rebel
Ch #16: Live is on the razor's edge
pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium
[part 6 of 6]