Osho,
For quite some time now I have been looking into why and how I protect myself, and who I’m protecting myself from. I find it expresses itself through arrogance, and the safety of only wanting to stay on the side of the giver. I feel like a rocket which is all prepared to be launched: all the systems have been cleared but one lock is still on – the lock of protection.
Osho, would you show me the key to unlock protection – or is there no lock?

Man is born with death in his heart. As he grows, death also grows. Life and death are almost like two wings. The day life has reached to its peak, death also reaches its peak; hence the unknown fear, and the desire to be protected.

But there is only one way to unlock – only one key. This desire to be protected can disappear only when you understand that the life that you have known is not the eternal life. The dewdrop has to die; there is no way of protecting it.

But in the death of the dewdrop is a new beginning. It is not an end; it is the beginning of the very ocean. The dewdrop becomes the ocean. Then all fears – of insecurity, of death, of disease, of old age – they all disappear together.

But man goes on doing just the opposite. Seeing that there is a desire to be protected, he tries to find all kinds of protection – in money, in power, in respectability. But the longing is simply the same: somehow I should be so powerful and so secure that the fear of the unknown, of death, can be forgotten.

But there is no way to forget it. You can get busy with thousands of things, but it is always there like an undercurrent – because it is a natural phenomenon. Death is not something that is going to come from outside.

I have always loved an old parable: A king was very much afraid of death. He had conquered many lands, he was a great warrior, he was adequately safe, secure – there was no need to be afraid. But the problem is: death does not come from outside – it grows within you. You bring it with your birth.

But nobody told him this; on the contrary, his advisers told him, “You should make a palace in which there should be no windows, no doors – just one door, and on that door there should be seven-fold security. One guard – but who can trust? – then another guard to guard the first guard, and so on. Seven lines of guards…you will be absolutely protected.”

He made the palace. The idea looked logical; but all that is logical is not realistic – logic is not equivalent to life. The palace was made. The king was very happy, the guarding system was so secure. There was only one door; no enemy could enter from anywhere.

One of his friends, another king, heard about the palace and came to see it. He was immensely impressed. It was a piece of art inside, was made all of marble, and everything for the king’s pleasure was there: beautiful fountains, waterfalls – but everything was inside the palace. The friend said, “I would like a palace just like this in my own kingdom. It feels so secure.”