Fear Becomes the Universe

Fear Becomes the Universe: Understanding How Fear Shapes Our Lives

 

I had a friend—
a professor at the university, a renowned scholar of economics.
He had taught at Oxford,
and later at many universities in India.

My first meeting with him was strange—very strange.

It was evening.
The sun had almost set, darkness was slowly descending.
I was out for a walk.
The road was empty.
Only the two of us were there, strangers to each other.

As I came close to him,
he suddenly pulled out a whistle from his pocket
and blew it loudly.
Then, from another pocket,
he took out a knife.

I knew his name,
but we had never been introduced.

I folded my hands and said,
“What are you doing?”

He said, “Keep your distance!”

I asked, “What is the matter?”

Later, as friendship grew,
I came to know that for two years he had been living in fear.
Every man, to him, looked like a murderer.

So whenever he saw someone alone,
he carried two arrangements with him:
a whistle in one pocket—to alert people nearby,
and a knife in the other.

This man was living in a world of murderers—
a world created by his own mind.

No one had any reason.
No one had any interest.

Who would kill a professor?
And for what?
Even murder needs a motive.
And the victim needs some importance.

Who would bother killing a harmless professor—and why?
Nothing is gained or lost through him.
It is almost as if he does not exist.

The day people start murdering schoolteachers,
life will become truly dangerous.
There are no beings more harmless than teachers.

I tried many times to explain to him:
“No one has any reason to kill you.
Who would invite trouble by murdering you?”

But his idea remained—
that the whole world was plotting his death.

And then he began to find reasons.

He would watch people closely—
their walk,
their eyes,
their posture.
Are they suspicious?

And the way he looked at others,
the way he stood,
the way he stared—
made the other person uneasy.

No one could remain relaxed around him.
The other would also become tense, alert.

That tension would confirm his fear.
And within moments,
a vicious circle would begin.

Very soon,
he would turn a stranger into an enemy.

This is how we all live.

Each one of us has created
a private world around ourselves—
and then we suffer inside it.

~ Translated from Nirvan Upanishad by Osho (Hindi Discourse), Discourse 4

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