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What is the relationship between feeling special and the desire to be ordinary?

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The desire to feel special and the urge to be ordinary are both masks of the ego; true simplicity arises only when we drop the need for comparison altogether.

— Osho
Synthesized from Source definition
Core Insight:
According to Osho, everyone carries a secret sense of being special; nursing or proclaiming it breeds ego, separation, and misery. Even the urge to be “ordinary” easily becomes the same ego—pride in being ‘extraordinarily ordinary.’ Both specialness and contrived ordinariness are ego games. Only by seeing this trick and dropping comparison altogether does genuine simplicity, love, and flow with existence appear.
Feeling special and trying to be ‘the most ordinary’ are both the ego wanting to be better; peace comes when you stop comparing and just be.
Why this matters practically
- Spot the ego’s need to be unique—even in “humility”—and let it go.
- Stop comparing yourself; it reduces suffering and opens space for love.
- Choose awareness and simplicity over identities, reconnecting you with life’s flow.
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