People have called this “The Age of Anger,” and when I look at the way people seem to express themselves these days, it often feels like it. Love seems far away. Is there a connection between this incitement to fear and the eruption of so much anger?

“Life should be surrounded by love, not by fear. It is fear that creates anger. It is fear that ultimately creates violence. Have you seen that fear is only a feminine form of anger and anger is a masculine form of fear. Fear is a passive form of anger and anger is an active form of fear. So you can change fear into anger very easily, and anger into fear – very easily.

“Sometimes people come to me and they say, ‘We are feeling very afraid.’

“I tell them, ‘Go and beat the pillow and be angry with the pillow.’

“They say, ‘What will that do?’

“I say, ‘You just try!’ And it becomes a revelation even to them. If they can beat the pillow in real, hot anger, immediately fear disappears, because the same energy turns and becomes active. It was inactive, then it was fear. Fear is the root cause of hate, anger, violence.

“Help people not to be afraid. But how can you help people not to be afraid unless you know what fearlessness is?”

To continue reading and see all available formats of this talk:
Osho, The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol. 4, Talk #7 – See Yourself in Others