What Is
Meditation?
Excerpt 17. Meditation Is in the Gap
Be aware of your mental
processes, how your mind works. The moment you become aware of the functioning
of your mind, you are not the mind. The very awareness means that you are
beyond: aloof, a witness. And the more aware you become, the more you will be
able to see the gaps between the experience and the words. Gaps are there, but
you are so unaware that they are never seen. Between two words there is always
a gap, however imperceptible, however small. Otherwise the two words cannot
remain two; they will become one.
Between two words there is
always a gap, howsoever in perceivable, howsoever small, but the gap is there.
Between two notes of music there is silence, howsoever inperseivable. Otherwise
tow notes cannot be two; two words cannot be two without the interval - a
wordless interval is always there. But one has to be keenly aware, attentive,
to know the gap, the interval.
The more you become aware, the
slower the mind goes. It is always relative. The less aware you are, the faster
the mind is; the more aware you are, the slower the process of the mind is.
With all things... but because you have become aware, it looks slower, it
appears slower; it is the same. But you are keen, you are observing, you have
become more conscious. More consciousness means a slower mind. When mind is
slower, gaps widen; you can perceive them.
It is just like a film. When a
projector is run slowy, you see the gaps. There are so many gaps – gaps and
gaps and gaps. If I raise my hand, it cannot be filmed without gaps. I can
raise it without gaps, but it cannot be filmed without gaps. My hand raised,
one foot raised, will have to be shot in a thousand parts and each part will be
a still, dead photograph. These thousand parts, part-photographs – partial,
dead – if they can be passed before your eyes so fast that you cannot see the
gap, then you see the hand raised. Then you see the hand raised in a process
because the gaps are not seen. Otherwise, films can never be taken without
gaps. The gaps are there.
Mind, too, is just like a
projector, a linguistic projector. Gaps are there. Be more aware and attentive
of your mind, and you will see the gaps. It is just like a gestalt picture. A
picture can be made which can be seen as two things, but you cannot see the two
things simultaneously. The picture can be of an old lady, and the same picture
can be of a younger one. Both are in the picture but if you see one, you will
not see the other because the attention changes. You are focused on one, then
the other is not seen. When you see the other, the previous one is lost. Now
you know that the same dots, the same inkblot, has two pictures. Now you know
perfectly well, you have seen both, but you cannot see both simultaneously.
Still, you cannot see both simultaneously. If you see the old lady, the younger
is not seen. And you will even have some difficulty to change from one picture
to another, because the focus becomes focused. You know – now you have seen the
other picture also – but you will have some difficulty to change the focus.
When the focus is changed the younger lady will be seen, but the older one will
be lost.
The same thing happens with the
mind also. It is a gestalt. If you see the words, you cannot see the gaps. If
you see the gaps, you cannot see the words. But now you know: there are words
and there are gaps, and every word is followed by a gap and every gap is
followed by a word, but you cannot see both simultaneously. If you are focused
on the gap, words will be lost and you will be thrown into meditation. Words
will not be there. The gap!
These words and these gaps,
these are two things in the mind. Mind is divided into two things – gaps and
words – but every word follows a gap and every gap follows a word. The division
is in a series; the mind is not divided into two watertight compartments –
words and gaps. They are mixed. They are in a chain. Two words are being connected
through a gap, and two gaps are being connected through a word.
Mind focused, consciousness
focused, only on words is non-meditative. Consciousness focused only on gaps is
meditative. So meditation is a “gestalt attention” – attention, awareness, consciousness
of the gaps. And you cannot be simultaneously aware of both, that is
impossible. So, whenever you become aware, words will be lost. When you observe
keenly, you will not find words; you will find only the gap.
Not even “gaps” because you can
feel the difference between two words, but you cannot feel the difference
between two gaps. So words are always plural and gap is always singular: the
gap. That’s why I use “the gap”. Words can be many; gaps cannot be. They become
one. They trespass and they become one. So meditation to me means focusing on
the gap.
Excerpted from 'The
Psychology of the Esoteric' by Osho
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