Dignity & burden of anxiety

There are many privileges of being human and anxiety is one of them. You would certainly not like to think of anxiety as a privilege. But it is our intelligence and evolved consciousness that makes us anxious about future, past, people, everything. Anxiety is such a common state of mind of the modern man that it has almost become a normal condition. So why not accept it as a blessing in disguise? Just see how the feeling of anxiety protects and prepares us from untoward incidents. Anxiety is a reaction in our body to danger, known as the “fight or flight response”. Psychologists say that it is beneficial. It is a series of changes your body goes through when it thinks you are in danger, such as rapid heartbeat to make sure blood is moving in your body, eye dilation to let in better light, faster breathing to take in more oxygen for exertion, processing of body sugars to provide extra energy, sweating to ensure that your body will be kept from overheating, blood movement to the areas of your body that would need it most if you were fighting/running. Can you imagine living without all these protective gears? How vulnerable you would be!

Osho reinforces that anxiety is a phenomenon bestowed by nature only on the humans. Below human beings there is no anxiety because there is no choice. All the species follow the natural law of evolution. With the possibility of choice, anxiety follows like a shadow. For human beings everything is a conscious effort. You alone are responsible. If you fail, it is your responsibility. If you succeed, it is again your responsibility. Your choice becomes your destiny. It will remain with you and be a part of you; you cannot deny it. Your choice is always a gamble. Every choice is made in darkness because nothing is certain. It is a tremendous responsibility, and few people are ready to take this burden. That is why man suffers from anxiety. But all this happens because you are alert, aware and conscious. No animal or plant is worried about their future but man is. Isn’t it a great privilege?

Hark Osho, “The dignity, the beauty and the glory of man is this consciousness. But it is a burden also. The glory and the burden come simultaneously the minute you become conscious. Every step is a movement between the two. With man, choice and conscious individuality come into existence. You can evolve, but your evolution will be an individual endeavour. You may evolve to become a Buddha or you may not. The choice is yours. When evolution is still unconscious, it is an automatic process; there is no uncertainty about it. Things happen through the law of cause and effect. Existence is mechanical and certain. But with man, with consciousness, uncertainty comes into existence.” The writer is editor Osho Times International. She facilitates meditation workshops based on Osho insights around the country and abroad.