Osho – The games of the ego are very subtle. And if one is trying to drop the ego they become more and more subtle. And if one has really decided to drop it anyhow, the ultimate strategy that the ego can use to protect itself is to become egolessness; is to pretend humility, humbleness; is to show that ’Now there is no need to fight with me, I am not at all. ’
The ego is one of the most fundamental problems man has to face. The ways of the ego have to be understood rightly otherwise you will never be able to get rid of it. And until you get rid of the ego there is no possibility of meeting God. It is the ego that functions as a barrier between you and reality.
The ego functions as a barrier because it is one of the most unreal things possible. The ego is a fiction, it is not a fact. It is maintained by conditioning, hypnosis; it is maintained by a thousand and one props It is a fiction – because existence is one. It can have only one centre, it cannot have millions of centres.
What is the ego? The ego is the idea that ’I am the centre of the universe.’ That is what ego is – reduced to the basic – the idea that ’I am the centre of the universe.’ ’I’ cannot be the centre of the universe but everybody has the idea that ’I am the centre of the universe.’ And the second part of the ego is: it is separative, it is a fiction that separates you from the totality.
It gives you the idea that you are independent, that you are an island. And you are not. Existence is a vast infinite continent. There are no islands. You are not separate and you are not independent. And remember, when I say you are not independent I don’t mean that you are dependent – because the very idea of dependence will again presuppose the ego. There is nobody to be independent and there is nobody to be dependent.
We live in interdependence, in mutual existence, in mutuality. We are parts of each other, members of one another. The trees are penetrating you and the rocks are penetrating you and the rivers are penetrating you – and you are penetrating the rivers and the trees and the rocks. The farthest star is connected with you. And when you blink your eyes you change the quality of the total existence. All is infinitely interconnected, interwoven. Nobody is separate.
So nobody can be independent and nobody can be dependent. Independence and dependence are both aspects of the same coin called ego. A real person is neither. A real person simply does not exist as a person He has no boundaries. He exists as God, not as a person.