Question 4 :

Beloved Osho,

Could you please say something about the Fear of Freedom? There is such a longing to be free, yet especially in the last two weeks i see so much fear coming up at the same time. Is it nothing else but avoiding aloneness and responsibility?

 

 

It is natural, because from the very beginning of your childhood you have been told to depend on others, their advice, their guidelines. You have grown older, but you have not grown up. All animals grow older. It is only man who has two possibilities: either he can grow old like every other animal, or he can grow up. Growing up means getting rid of all dependence. Naturally, in the beginning it will create fear.

 

You were surrounded by your own projections, and thinking that you were protected. For example, you have been told from the very beginning that God is protecting you. Even small children are told in the night, "Don't be afraid. Go to sleep. God is protecting you."

 

That child is still within you -- and I say, "There is no God. You can sleep in darkness in safety. Nobody is protecting you." But that means you cannot sleep; you are afraid, somebody is needed to protect you. That God was hocus-pocus, but it helped. It was like homeopathic medicine -- just sugar pills.

 

But if your disease is just an idea -- and there are so many people around who get ideas; just a slight thing and they will exaggerate it, almost unconsciously. No real medicine is needed for their imaginary diseases, all that they need is an imaginary medicine.

 

In the first place, darkness is beautiful. It has tremendous depth, silence, infinity. Light comes and goes; darkness always remains, it is more eternal than light. For light you need some fuel, for darkness no fuel is needed -- it is simply there. And for relaxing, light is not the right thing. Light creates tensions, keeps you awake. Darkness allows you to relax, to let go.

 

There is no fear in darkness, so the whole idea of fear in darkness is a projection. Then you need a God -- another projection -- who will protect you in darkness. One lie needs another lie, and then there is no end; you have to go on lying.

 

Certainly freedom will make you afraid of many things. Be alert. Look deeply into anything that makes you afraid. And you will be surprised that if you look deeply into anything that makes you afraid, it will disappear. There is nothing to fear in the world. Then you can rejoice in freedom and the responsibility it brings.

 

Responsibility makes you grow up. You become more and more responsible for every action, for every thought, for every feeling. It makes you crystallized. It takes away all the chains that have been binding you and your psychology.

 

I was staying with a friend; we were going to a meeting which I was to address, and the man was driving me. He was honking the horn for his wife to come down, because we were getting late. And I don't like to be late, because so many people are waiting, and you come late? It is disrespectful, ungraceful.

 

Finally his wife looked out of the window and said, "A thousand times I have told you I am coming in a minute!"

I said, "My God! How can she say it a thousand times -- and still she is coming in a minute?" But she is not conscious of what she is saying.

 

You have exaggerated your fears. Just look at them, and just by your looking at them they will start becoming smaller. You have never looked at them, you have been escaping from them. You have been creating protections against them, rather than looking directly into the eyes of your fear.

 

There is nothing to fear at all; all that is needed is a little more awareness. So whatever your fear is, catch hold of it, look at it minutely, the way a scientist looks at a thing. And you will be surprised, it starts melting like an ice flake. By the time you have looked into its totality, it is gone. And when freedom is there without any fear, it brings such benediction that there are no words to express it.

 

-Osho, "From Bondage to Freedom, #23, Q4"