Osho, Kanye and Steve Jobs walk into a bar.
Kanye orders a round of shots.
Kanye: “Before we drink, a question.”
“It is really a question about authenticity.”
Osho smiles. “That’s deep Kanye.”
“Everyone should ask themselves this to strip bare their beliefs and thoughts on life. Are they authentically yours or are you just following the crowd?”
“The greatest fear in the world is the opinion of others, and the moment you are unafraid of the crowd, you are no longer a sheep, you become a lion. A great roar arises in your heart, the roar of freedom.”
[Note: actual quotes attributed to the person are in bold]
A hush falls over the table.
Kanye finally breaks the silence. “I felt that.”
Steve takes off his glasses.
“There’s comfort and safety in the crowd. I gave the world ‘think different’. But as great as it sounds, being unique and thinking different is a very uncomfortable place to be. So very few actually dare to do it.”
“But every person needs to understand…”
“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice.”
“And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
“Salud!”
Steve gets the next round.
“Before we drink, what does courage mean to you?”
Osho smiles again. Steve and Kanye lean in.
Steve: “Chills”
Kanye: “Aye. The unknown is a dark and scary place. We cling so tightly to certainty, or the illusion of certainty. But our greatest growth is in embracing the unknown.”
“Salud!”
Osho’s round.
“Before we drink, how does one produce great work?”
“It’s simple but that’s how I did it.”
Kanye: “That’s dope Steve.”
“I always feel like I can do anything. That’s the main thing people are controlled by: thoughts and perceptions of yourself…If you’re taught you can’t do anything, you won’t do anything.”
“Nah f**k that. As cliche as it sounds, get out of your box and believe.”
“People always tell you, 'Be humble. Be humble.' When was the last time someone told you to be amazing? Be great! Be great! Be awesome! Be awesome!”
“Salud!”
Osho: “I think I’m a little drunk now.”
To summarize:
Live free and unafraid of the crowd to really let your heart roar!
Have a lover affair with the unknown
Love what you do and be great! Be awesome!
(note the repeated emphasis on heart and love. I just noticed this on the final proof read)
Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did writing it.
Salud,
-Amit
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Three Shots
Amazing read Amit👏They way you intertwined fiction with real quotes made it interesting and inspiring. I want to share an incident on this platform with you. In early 90s, on one of my trip back to India from Middle East, my relative gave me an audiocassette of Osho. I was sceptical about Gurus. But I listened to the cassette out of curiosity, after I returned home. Theme of pravachan was:kar ke pachta ( try it first then repent) Teaching was if you don’t try, you have already lost and then you will regret later for not trying. But if you try to achieve what you want and are unsuccessful then you would have satisfaction of trying and lessons learned from effort will help you in future. Whenever I was indecisive about critical decisions in life, I followed this advice and it helped me immensely in shaping my life.
Like your narrative style and theme.
This was a great read Amit! Loved how you merged real quotes in this fictional narrative, and with three very opposing and interesting personalities. Entertaining and thought provoking at the same time :)