According to Osho, we repress ourselves not out of choice but survival-learning from childhood. Helpless children are conditioned by reward and punishment; approval brings love and food, disapproval brings pain and withdrawal. This Skinnerian training imprints a 'conscience' that polices us from within, turning external control into internalized guilt and defenses, so we voluntarily continue self-repression long after danger is gone.
As kids we obey to get love and avoid hurt, and that training sticks, so we keep shutting ourselves down even when we’re grown.