“Desiderata says:

“Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexations of the spirit.

“A very simple statement, but of tremendous importance. It is very pregnant. Avoid loud and aggressive persons…

“Who is a loud person? And why is a certain person loud in the first place?

The person who feels deep down inferior is always loud.

“He is afraid that if he is not loud you will see his weakness, if he is not loud you may be able to see his inferiority; if he is not loud he may be exposed. By being loud he creates smoke around himself: he hides behind his loudness.

“Adler’s insight is right when he says that all politicians basically suffer from inferiority complexes. Unless somebody suffers from an inferiority complex he will not go into politics. Politics is loud, very loud, very noisy and very aggressive. The inferior person tries to prove that he is not inferior. He wants to hide his inferiority by becoming a prime minister, by becoming a president, by having much money, by conquering the world.

The inferior person tries to prove that he is not inferior.
He wants to hide his inferiority by becoming a prime minister, by becoming a president, by having much money, by conquering the world.

“Alexander the Great must have suffered from a greater inferiority complex than anybody else; otherwise who bothers to conquer the world? When he was coming to India – that was the last part of the world which was still not conquered by him – he met a tremendously beautiful man, Diogenes. And Diogenes asked him, ‘Why are you bothering to conquer the world? Why not conquer yourself?’

“Alexander laughed – a shallow laugh. He said, ‘What you are saying is true, but right now I cannot stop. I have to finish what I have decided to do. First I have to conquer the world and then I will do what you are saying to me.’

“Diogenes said, ‘There will be no time left then – the world is vast. By the time you have conquered it, your life will have slipped out of your hands.’

“But he did not listen.

“And actually that’s what happened: he could not reach back to his home. He died on the way back from India; no time to reach back to his home, what to say about reaching back to one’s own center, the real home? His whole life was lost in proving: ‘I am a great conqueror.’ But why should one try to prove it? People always try to prove something which they feel they are missing.

“Hence: Avoid loud and aggressive persons… they are empty, they have nothing. You cannot learn anything from them. On the contrary …they are vexations to the spirit.

They will distract your mind. They will give their stupid ideas to you. They have reached nowhere, they know nothing, but they will pretend that they are wise, they will pretend that they have arrived. They will pretend all kinds of things.

“Avoid loud and aggressive persons…

Seek the company of the humble, of the simple, of the silent ones, of the non-political, of the non-aggressive, and you may learn much. But it is always learned in the company of the innocent.

“Yes, you can learn much more by playing with children than by being with a politician. You can learn much more even by being with animals or trees than by being with the so-called rich.

“And they can easily distract you because you are not yet centered. Ambitions are infectious. Avoid ambitious people, otherwise something of their fever is bound to infect you, is bound to affect you.

“You may start moving in a direction which is not yours, you may start doing things which you had never thought to do in the first place, just because you fell into company with somebody.

Just look at your life – it is almost all accidental. It is not essential, it is accidental.

“Your father wanted you to be a doctor so you are a doctor. Now,it was his ambition that his son should be a famous doctor; he fulfilled his ambition. He used you as a means to fulfill his ambition. This is not love – this is exploitation.

“My father wanted me to be an engineer or a scientist or a doctor. I told him, “If you insist, if it makes you happy, I will do any stupid thing you tell me. But remember, this is not love. If you love me, then let me be what I want to be. I don’t want to be a doctor and I don’t want to be an engineer. I have no desire at all to be a scientist – that is not my way. I don’t feel any joy in the scientific way of thinking. My love is totally different: I am in deep love with poetry, aesthetics, beauty, truth.”

“He said, ‘Then you will remain a beggar!’

I said, ‘That’s perfectly okay, that I can accept. I will be a beggar, that is okay, but let me be what I want to be. Even in my  poverty I will be rich, and following you and becoming a doctor I may become very rich but I will remain poor, and I will always hanker for that which was my real longing.’

“He was a man of tremendous understanding. He meditated over it and he said, ‘Then it is okay. Do whatsoever you feel like doing, and you have my blessings.’

“He could have forced me easily because he had the money. He could have forced me to go in any direction because I was helpless. He showed love, he showed understanding.

He allowed me to be whatsoever I wanted to be.

“If you are with loud people they are bound to distract you. He was not a loud person at all, very humble, he was not aggressive at all. I have never seen him fight with anybody. He has not even shouted at me for any wrong that I had done that he did not like. I have never seen him in an angry mood. It was beautiful to be with such a man; but rare is the opportunity.

At least do one thing: avoid loud people, aggressive people.

“If you cannot find loving, silent persons – if you try you will find them – if you cannot find them, be with trees. At least they are not loud, at least they are not aggressive. Learn to be with animals, be with children. Or you can be alone; no need to bother with being with others. Make the minimum contact and remain alone, or remain with those who are silent.

“One of the greatest sayings of Lao Tzu is: The most beautiful company is when you can be with someone as if you are alone. See the insight of LaoTzu: when you can be with someone as if you are alone, when he allows you so much silence and so much freedom that you are absolutely alone, as if almost alone.

His presence is not a hindrance; his presence in fact, enhances your aloneness, enriches your aloneness.”

END

Excerpted from: Osho, Guida Spirituale, Talk #5 – The Essential

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