If you want to cry, cry. Why be afraid of tears? But we have been taught not to cry, particularly men. With small children the mother will say, ‘Don’t be a sissy. Don’t start crying. That is only for girls.’ And the boy becomes hard. Look, men cannot cry.
They have missed one of the most beautiful things in life. Nature has not made any difference between man and woman; man has as many tear-glands as woman, so the thing is proved — there is no difference.
Tears are needed. They are cleansing. But how to cry? What will people say? They will say, ‘You, and crying? Your wife has died and you are crying? Be a man. Be brave. Bear it. Don’t cry.’
But you understand? If you don’t cry, by and by your smile will be corrupted, because everything is joined together. If you cannot cry, you cannot laugh; if you don’t allow your tears to flow naturally, you will not be able to allow your smiles to flow naturally.
Everything will become unnatural, everything will become strained, everything will become a forced thing, you will move almost in a diseased way and you will never be at ease with yourself. That is what has happened, and now you are miserable.
Life consists of flowing. If you are a coward, be a coward. Be honestly a coward. And I tell you there is nobody else who is not a coward. And it is good that people are not that way; otherwise, even while they are so helpless, they would feel so egoistic.
If they were not cowards they would be almost dead stones — they would not be alive — just egos, frozen. Don’t be bothered. Accept it. If it is there, it is there — a fact of life. Try to understand it And don’t listen to others; you are still being manipulated by others.
OSHO
