Everybody is born as one single individual, but by the time he is mature enough to participate in life he has become a crowd. This is almost the case with everybody. Become aware of it.



If you just sit silently and listen to your mind, you will find so many voices. You will be surprised; you can recognise those voices very well. Some voice is from your grandfather, another is from your grandmother, your father, mother, the priest, teacher, neighbours, friends and enemies. All these voices are jumbled up in a crowd within you, and if you want to find your own voice, it is almost impossible; the crowd is too thick.



In fact, you may have forgotten your own voice long before. You were never given freedom enough to voice your opinions. You were always taught obedience, to say ‘yes’ to everything that your elders were saying to you. You were taught that you have to follow whatever your teachers or priests are doing. Nobody ever told you to search for your own voice -- "Have you got a voice of your own or not?"



So your voice has remained very subdued and other voices are very loud, commanding, because they were orders and you had followed them -- despite yourself.



Naturally only one voice is missing in you, only one person is missing in you, and that is YOU; otherwise there is a whole crowd. And that crowd is constantly driving you mad, because one voice says, "Do this," another voice says, "Never do that! Don't listen to that voice!" And you are torn apart.



This whole crowd has to be withdrawn. It has to be told, "Now please leave me alone!" Those who went away to the mountains or secluded forests were really not going away from society; they were trying to find a place where they can disperse their crowd inside. And those people who have made a place within you are obviously reluctant to leave.



But if you want to become an individual in your own right, get rid of this continuous conflict and mess within you, then you have to say goodbye to them -- even when they belong to your respected father, mother, grandfather. It does not matter. One thing is certain: they are not your voices. They are the voices of people who have lived in their time, and they had no idea what the future was going to be. They have loaded their children with their own experience; their experience is not going to match with the unknown future.



Their child is going to face new storms, new situations, and he needs a totally new consciousness to respond. Only then is his response going to be fruitful; only then can he have a life that is not just a long drawn-out despair, but a dance from moment to moment, which goes on becoming more and more deep to the last breath.



So don't create any fight with the crowd. Let them fight amongst themselves. You, meanwhile, try to find yourself. The man who is himself, unburdened of the past, original, strong as a lion and innocent as a child... he can reach to the stars, or even beyond; his future is golden. Abridged from The Golden Furture,Osho Times International, courtesy Osho International Foundation, www.osho.com

