A man was afraid of his shadow…

1001 Tales told by the Master

“Let everything pass. Don’t judge, don’t condemn, don’t evaluate. You are only a mirror.”

Man walking

A Sufi story says:

“A man was afraid of his shadow, because he had read in a book that death was almost like a shadow – that when it comes, it comes like a shadow. And it became such an obsession in his mind, that he became afraid even of ordinary shadows.

He would run, and he would do everything… he would try to fight – and he was a warrior! But even your sword cannot do any harm to a shadow – the shadow does not exist. He was so tired that he asked a mystic, “What to do with the shadow? I have done everything that can be done, but nothing happens. I have broken my sword. I have been running so much to avoid it that my feet are oozing blood.”

The mystic laughed, he said, “You do one thing. Under that tree, just sit down, and then tell me, where is your shadow?”

Under the tree there was much shadow. To have a shadow you need the sun, the light. But when he went under the tree, and sat there and looked all around, there was no shadow. He said, “What a miracle you have done! You have not even moved from your place, and my shadow is gone.”

The mystic said, “Your very approach was unnecessary. To fight with the false is to give credibility to the false. In your fight you have accepted that the false also has some reality.”

The East has never fought with the mind; it has found a totally different method. Its method is just to be a watcher on the hills.

Let everything pass.

Don’t judge, don’t condemn, don’t evaluate.

You are only a mirror; these are not your functions. You simply reflect – and they will all pass. If you don’t take any note of them, if you can ignore them, they will stop coming to you; they don’t want to be uninvited guests. Perhaps because of the old habit, for a few days they may continue; but you will be able to see that the traffic is becoming less and less; otherwise it is twenty-four-hour rush hour.

Once the mind is silent, empty, spacious, you have found the golden key, the master key, which opens all the mysteries of love, of truth, of eternal life.

Osho, The Rebellious Spirit, Ch 30, Q 1 (excerpt)

Series compiled by Shanti
All excerpts of this series can be found in: 1001 Tales

Photo by Reinhart Julian on Unsplash

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