"Your somebodiness is so small. The more you are somebody, the smaller you are; the more you are nobody, the bigger. Be absolutely nobody, and you are one with the existence itself." Osho
This is an ancient story retold.
In Eastern legend there was a king so powerful that he was able to take over the world just by reputation alone. No country wanted to fight. They knew it would be futile and many lives would be lost for nothing. So eventually every country in the world just agreed to be a vassal state to this king. So he became known as a 'king of kings'.
Their folklore told that when such a man died, he would get to carve his name on the Sacred Golden Mountain in heaven. All his life he had accumulated power for this one reason. He was the only one to reach this status in all recorded history.
Eventually he did die and he went to heaven. There he met the gate keeper who stood guard over the gate to the Sacred Mountain. He had expected to be greeted with great fanfare, but the gate keeper just looked at him with nonchalant eyes. "All right?" he said. "Are you sure you want to go in there? It may not be what you expect. But it is your choice."
"Of course I do." said the king. "This is what I worked my whole life for. My name is going to live forever."
"Forever you say? Any idea how long that is? OK. Have it your way. Don't say I didn't warn you." said the gate keeper.
The king entered, full of excitement, and made his way to the mountain. When he got near the mountain he saw how vast it was. Countless times bigger than any mountain on Earth and made of solid gold. When he got closer still he could see that it was totally covered in names. There was no free space at all. He would have to scratch out another king's name to add his own. Even then his name would just be a tiny scratch amongst billions of others.
Then he realised his utter stupidity, how his whole life struggle had been a waste. He did not scratch his name. He returned to the gate keeper.
"Whose are all the names?" he asked. "No other king but me has ever reached king of kings status. I do not understand."
"You think your world is the only world? In all of infinite eternity you think your history is the only history?" The gate keeper laughed. "Don't feel bad my friend. Everyone realises sooner or later. Now you are free. Now you can really start living."
"We all want to be famous people, and the moment we want to be something we are no longer free." J Krishnamurti
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