Jonas Anger

A man by the name of Jonas angered the shape-shifting wizard Oster one night when Oster appeared as an old man at Jonas’ door, and Jonas refused to take him in. So Oster put this curse on him: that if the next stranger who came to Jonas’ house did not give his name, then Jonas would die.

And the first stranger who came after Oster left was a skilled harpist by the name of Deth. That harpist gave Jonas everything he asked for: songs, tales, the loan of his harp, the history of his travels. But when Jonas asked him for his name, that name, as Jonas heard it, was Death. And every time Jonas despairingly asked him for his name again, the harpist could give him only one word – Death. So in fear of Oster, and in despair of the curse, Jonas felt his heart stop as Deth was playing a sad melody on his harp, and he died.

Drop All Shoulds

Jonas angered the shape-shifting wizard Oster. Anger is the outcome of our tension and resistance. Always remember – A tense person is a curse, A non-tense person is a blessing.

Bliss is possible only when one is in a natural state. Man is living in a very unnatural state. Man is the only animal who has gone unnatural; otherwise the whole existence is natural. Man has fallen out of harmony, and the misfortune happened because man started improving upon himself, he started having dreams about himself, about how he should be. That was the beginning of the poisoning. That was the most unfortunate moment in human history when “should” entered human consciousness.

When you are simply in the “is” you are natural. When the “should” enters, you start becoming unnatural because you start trying to improve upon your being. You start pulling yourself this way and that, pushing yourself this way and that; you start manipulating yourself, and the innocence is lost. And because you have to become somebody, you start pretending that you are already that somebody. Falsity enters; a kind of pseudo personality starts growing around you. You start deceiving others and you start deceiving yourself too.

This goes on and on, and for centuries this is the way we have lived; now it is almost impossible to find what our original face is. So many commandments, so many shoulds – they are like mountains on our heart – and nobody can become anything other than what they are; that is a fundamental law.

A rose can only become a rose, and the moment a rose starts dreaming of becoming a lotus, the rose will have to go to the psychiatrist. It will become neurotic, it will be split, it will become schizophrenic. It will not be one any more. That image of the lotus will be a constant pressure, a tension, an anxiety, of “I have not made it yet and I have to make it. Time is fleeing fast, and who knows? By the evening I may be gone… without becoming a lotus?” And despair arises. And because the whole energy of the rose becomes entangled in the idea of being the lotus, it cannot bloom as a rose. The energy is diverted. It cannot become a lotus because that is not in its nature, and it cannot even become the rose, which is in its nature. This is how man is living.

My approach is that we should drop all shoulds, that we should start accepting our nature, our reality, whatsoever we are… not in despair, not in hopelessness, but in tremendous joy and gratitude. This is the way God has made you, this is the way he wanted you. To deny this and to try to become somebody else is to deny God. To accept God means to accept oneself. And the acceptance has to be of great rejoicing – that he has made you this way and only this way; he has given you a unique quality and a unique individuality. Relish it, celebrate it, and then bliss comes of its own accord.

Learning from the story Jonas Anger: Drop All Shoulds

Experience Learning

Accept yourself as you are; drop all shoulds

What we miss in life we put in poetry. What we go on missing in life, we put in the film, in the novel.

Love is absolutely absent, because the first step has not been taken yet.

The first step is: accept yourself as you are; drop all should. Don’t carry any ought on your heart! You are not to be somebody else; you are not expected to do something which doesn’t belong to you – you are just to be yourself. Relax! and just be yourself. Be respectful to your individuality. and have the courage to sign your own signature. Don’t go on copying others’ signatures.

You are not expected to become a Jesus or a Buddha or a Ramakrishna – you are simply expected to become yourself. It was good that Ramakrishna never tried to become somebody else, so he became Ramakrishna. It was good that Jesus never tried to become like Abraham or Moses, so he became Jesus. It is good that Buddha never tried to become a Patanjali or Krishna – that’s why he became a Buddha.

When you are not trying to become anybody else, then you simply relax – then a grace arises. Then you are full of grandeur, splendor, harmony – because then there is no conflict! nowhere to go, nothing to fight for; nothing to force, enforce upon yourself violently. You become innocent.

In that innocence you will feel compassion and love for yourself. You will feel so happy with yourself that even if God comes and knocks at your door and says, “Would you like to become somebody else?” you will say, “Have you gone mad? I am perfect! Thank-you, but never try anything like that – I am perfect as I am.”

The moment you can say to God, “I am perfect as I am, I am happy as I am,” this is what in the East we call shraddha – trust; then you have accepted yourself and in accepting yourself you have accepted your creator. Denying yourself you deny your creator.

Without meditation you will not be able to find trust in yourself. And the day of finding the trust in yourself is the greatest day in your eternal life. It changes all the vision, all perception, all judgment about existence and about other people. The trust goes on growing and spreading all around you. Only then will you have unconditional trust in existence.

So, the way ahead for each one of us is inescapable. A journey, which can be the most delightful voyage there is: “Relax into your being, you are cherished by the whole.” That’s why the whole goes on breathing in you, pulsating in you. Once you start feeling this tremendous respect and love and trust of the whole in you, you will start growing roots into your being. You will trust yourself. And only then can you trust God. Only then can you trust your friends, your children, your husband, your wife. Only then can you trust the trees and the animals and the stars and the moon. Then one simply lives as trust. It is no longer a question of trusting this or that; one simply trusts.