I must warn the entire world…” never compete with a man who has nothing to lose”. This warning is absolutely true – if you compete with a man who has nothing to lose, you are sure to be defeated. A man who has nothing to lose has no fear. For him fear does not exist.
A man who has no attachment to family, no ambition for power, no societal compulsions and no value for money has literally nothing to lose. He understands the importance both of life and death…and hence treats both respectfully equal. He knows the art of life and death. I am speaking of the Art of Life…not of the ‘Art of Living’. The Art of Living is animalistic; it is the Art of Surviving … the Art of Life is Super Human. Man is a pilgrimage from animal to superman. He is one with existence. There is neither the burning desire inside of him to earn more or to take risks in life or ‘powerful’ ambitions; such a man is indubitably more than people who has sufficient savings. It is wrong to compare these two.
The world believes that only a person who has nothing to lose can take risks in life, and that is the person who comes out a winner in the fight for survival. This is a bull shit belief. Winning and losing exist in the dictionary of man who has something to lose! Believe me …I have nothing to lose. Winning and Losing become meaningless…rather both winning and losing converge with his Art of Life!
It is also a general perception that People who start their own business take huge risks in life. And only the people who have bare minimal resources to survive can take such risks because he has nothing left to lose, but instead, has something to gain. Again, how wrong is this interpretation! When I have nothing to lose, why should I take risks? Taking risks is for gaining. When I have nothing to lose, how can I gain? For a man who has nothing to lose…risk and life are one…life and God are one. Thus, ‘the man who has nothing to lose’ is a walking god on earth. For him alone is the ‘Art of Life’.
The ‘people who have nothing to lose’ are neither hungry for success nor do they stop. For them the joy of playing is important than winning. In a boxing ring, a person who has nothing to lose will fight till the last ounce of boxing joy. The joy of boxing and he are one. However, a boxer ‘who has something to lose’ like family and friends will take calculated steps to ensure that he emerges safe from the competition. To him, safety will be of a higher priority.
A tiger walks in the forest for it has nothing to lose. A bird flying high or a rose blooming have nothing lose. When a man has nothing to lose, he becomes as majestic as a tiger, as remote as a bird and as beautiful as a bird. He is not one with existence…rather he is existence.
So, it is true that only those who have nothing to lose are the men of tomorrow … whom Friedrich Nietzsche describes in his celebrated classic “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” as the Superman. And the most dangerous man ever born on the planet earth Osho describes ‘the man who has nothing to lose’ as the ‘New Man’.
You tell me now…do I have anything to lose?
About the Author
Dr. K. Raja Gopal Reddy is a seasoned internationally qualified Insurance professional.
What you are reading here, may not answer all the questions we have, but has the absolute power of asking unsettling questions which increase the interest in the strange world, and show the contradictory wonders lying just below the surface of the commonest things of life. Look at this disturbing but beautiful thought of Friedrich Nietzsche “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”.
Dr. Reddy can be reached at: raja66gopal@gmail.com
