June 2006

How many faces do we show?

Personality as such is false. The word “personality” has to be understood. It comes from persona; persona means mask. In ancient drama the actors used to wear masks. Those masks were called personae—personae because the sound was coming from behind the mask. Sona means sound. The masks were apparent to the audience and from behind the mask the sound was coming. From that word persona has come the word “personality.”

All personality is false. Good personality, bad personality, the personality of a sinner and the personality of a saint—all are false. You can wear a beautiful mask or an ugly mask, it doesn’t make any difference.

The real thing is your essence.

Personality is also a necessary part of growth. It is like if you catch hold of a fish in the sea and you throw it on the shore; the fish jumps back into the sea. Now for the first time it will know that it has always lived in the sea; for the first time it will know that, “The sea is my life.” Up to now, before it was caught and thrown on the shore, it may not ever have thought of the sea at all; it may have been utterly oblivious of the sea. To know something, first you have to lose it.

To be aware of paradise, first you have to lose it. Unless it is lost and regained you will not understand the beauty of it.

— Osho


The Zen people say that unless you come to know your original face that you had before your father was ever born, you will not become enlightened. What is this original face? Even before your father was born you had it, and you will have it again when you have died and your body has been burnt and nothing is left except ashes—then you will have it again.

What is this original face? The essence—call it the soul, the spirit, the self. These are words signifying the same thing. You are born as an essence, but if you are left as an essence without the society creating a personality for you, you will remain animal-like. It has happened to some people.

If human personality is a barrier, it is a barrier only if you cling to it. It has to be passed through: it is a ladder, it is a bridge. One should not make one’s house on the bridge, true, but one has to pass over the bridge.

Excerpted from Be Still and Know/Courtesy Osho International Foundation

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