Stay in the middle

The most difficult thing for the mind is to remain in the middle. And to move from one thing to its opposite is the easiest. This has to be understood very deeply, because unless you understand this, nothing can lead you to meditation. If you're balanced, mind disappears. Mind is like a disease: when you're imbalanced, it's there, when you are balanced, it is not there.

That's why it's easy for a person who overeats to go on a fast. It looks illogical, because we think that a person who's obsessed with food cannot go on a fast. But you're wrong. Only a person obsessed with food can fast, because fasting is the same obsession in the opposite direction. It's not really changing yourself. You're still obsessed with food. Before you were overeating, now you're hungry - but the mind remains focused on food from the opposite extreme....

Only friends can become enemies. You cannot suddenly become an enemy unless you have first become a friend. Only lovers can quarrel and fight, because unless you love, how can you hate? Modern research says that so-called love is a relationship of intimate enmity. A man who is not gathering any momentum to move anywhere, can be at ease with himself, can be at home.


Excerpted from The Empty Boat; courtesy: Osho International Foundation; www.osho.com