Avoid Ambitious People

The Inferior Person Tries to Prove That He Is Not Inferior

“Who is a loud person? And why is a certain person loud in the first place? The person who feels deep down inferior is always loud.

“He is afraid that if he is not loud you will see his weakness, if he is not loud you may be able to see his inferiority; if he is not loud he may be exposed. By being loud he creates smoke around himself: he hides behind his loudness.

“Alfred Adler’s insight is right when he says that all politicians basically suffer from inferiority complexes. Unless somebody suffers from an inferiority complex he will not go into politics. Politics is loud, very loud, very noisy and very aggressive.

“They are empty, they have nothing. You cannot learn anything from them. On the contrary they will distract your mind. They will give their stupid ideas to you. They will advise you and guide you. They will advise you and guide you. They have reached nowhere, they know nothing, but they will pretend that they are wise, they will pretend that they have arrived. They will pretend all kinds of things.

“The inferior person tries to prove that he is not inferior.
He wants to hide his inferiority by becoming a prime minister, by becoming a president, by having much money, by conquering the world.”

Osho provides an example:

“Alexander the Great must have suffered from a greater inferiority complex than anybody else; otherwise who bothers to conquer the world? When he was coming to India — that was the last part of the world which was still not conquered by him — he met a tremendously beautiful man, Diogenes. And Diogenes asked him, ‘Why are you bothering to conquer the world? Why not conquer yourself?’

“Alexander laughed — a shallow laugh. He said, ‘What you are saying is true, but right now I cannot stop. I have to finish what I have decided to do. First I have to conquer the world and then I will do what you are saying to me.’

“Diogenes said, ‘There will be no time left then — the world is vast. By the time you have conquered it, your life will have slipped out of your hands.’