Osho states, “All your work is concerned with shifting your focus from the object to the subject.”
An ancient Eastern story is that ten blind men crossed a stream.
The current was very strong, so they took hold of each other’s hands because they were afraid somebody may be taken away by the current. They reached the other shore, and somebody amongst them suggested, “It is better we should count because the current and the stream were really dangerous. Somebody may have slipped, and we may not even be aware.”
So they started counting. It was a great shock, and they were all crying and weeping; everybody tried, but the count was always nine – because nobody was counting himself. Naturally, he would start counting, “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine…. My God, one has gone!” So they all were crying.
A woodcutter was watching all this drama and he said… he had never seen ten blind men together, in the first place. Second, what a stupid idea these people had. What was the need to cross the stream when it was so strong and flooded? And, above all, now they were counting, and crying and weeping for someone – they did not know who, but certainly someone had been taken away by the current. Watching them counting, he was simply amazed how was it possible that they were ten persons, but the count always came to nine?
Some help was needed, so he came down from his tree and he said, “What is the matter?”
They all said, “We have lost one of our friends. We were ten, and now we are only nine.”
The man said, “I can find your tenth man. You are right, you used to be ten, but there is a condition.”
They said, “We will accept any condition, but our friend….”
He said, “It is not a very big condition, it is a simple condition. I will hit on the first man’s head; he has to say “one.” Then I will hit on the second person’s head two times; he has to say “two.” Then I will hit on the third person’s three times; he has to say “three.” As many times as I hit, the person has to speak the number.”
They said, “If this is the way to find the lost friend, we are ready.”
So he enjoyed hitting very much, and he hit them in turn. When he had hit the tenth man ten times he said “ten.” All the nine said, “You idiot, where have you been? Unnecessarily we have all been beaten! Where you have been hiding up to now?”
He said, “I was standing here, I was myself counting, and it always came to nine. This man seems to be a miracle man; he managed to find the tenth man.”
The story is significant for the simple reason that it has become our habit not to count ourselves. So when you are watching your thoughts, inside, you are not aware that there is a watcher too. When you are watching silence, you are not aware that you cannot watch silence if you are not there. […]
So all your work is concerned with shifting your focus from the object to the subject. Don’t be bothered about anger, or silence, or love. Be concerned about whom all this is happening to, and remain centered there.
Osho, The Golden Future, Ch 3, Q 2 (excerpt)
Series compiled by Shanti
All excerpts of this series can be found in: 1001 Tales
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