Foolish Followers

Foolish Followers

“Those who are foolish enough to take the jump will ever be able to find out what the way is.  Have you not seen that down through the centuries, this has been happening?  When Christ was on the earth, only a few foolish people believed in him, a few foolish people.  You may call them apostles now, but they were foolish people –somebody was just a fisherman, another was a woodcutter, somebody was a shoemaker, just those types of people.  Not a single rabbi followed him, not a single professor, not a single pundit, not a single respectable man.  All were unknown, ordinary, people: a fisherman, a woodcutter, a farmer, a prostitute, a drunkard – that type of person followed him, and that too was a very limited number.”

“And all the rabbis were against him.  They were clever people: they knew they already knew.  All the scholars were against him.  In fact, all the scholars, all the rabbis, all the learned people, conspired.  They arranged it that he should be killed, because he was a danger, and they were afraid.  His very presence was creating fear because he was such a living scripture.  Who would listen to these dead rabbis who talk about dead scriptures?  He was the way.  And these rabbis were teaching so many ways to reach God, and there was the man who declared, “I am the way, and I am the truth.  Come, follow me.  All those who are heavily burdened, come to me and rest in me.”  Now this was too much!” – Osho “The Path of Love” pg. 178-179

When a sage is living, the masses will not appreciate his presence.  A selected few will be drawn to this sage and appreciate his presence.  Only after his death will the sage gain fame, recognition, and appreciation.  When he is living, the people refuse to accept that this person is awakened.  Only after his death will they accept that he was an awakened being.  They will kill the sage to protect their egos.  His very presence exposes their corruption and weaknesses.  When they kill the enlightened man, they are able to stay in darkness and continue on with their corrupted ways.  They enjoy being in darkness, the light hurts their eyes, they will do everything in their power to extinguish the light.  There will be few that will actually appreciate the light that eliminates the darkness.  A living sage will always be followed by only a few individuals, it is inevitable.