Being close to yourself is the closeness to others

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Question: ‘I fear coming close as I feel I will recoil. I have seen this happening in the past. Moving closer seems to be the only way.’ This is coming from a book by Osho. What do these lines mean?

AP: You cannot come close to something unless you value it, that is the way of thought. Understand this.

You are saying, ‘I fear coming close, as I feel I will recoil’.

The ego lives in attraction, you cannot come close to somebody unless you value what that somebody stands for.

That cannot just happen. So do not try to come close to an external person, do not try to come close.

Just observe, so that your thoughts start coming from another point.

Who is taking the decision of coming closer or not? The mind, the ego. The decision is thought. Now I don’t value what that person stands for. I may value something very fantastic, that person does not appear fantastic.

We all are people who love using the mind. Right? And the mind cannot love anything if at all we can use that word ‘love’. The mind cannot love anybody unless the mind values that person, and you cannot value that person. Your entire value…