Belief And Trust.

Q> Since Man is confronted again and again with inner dilemmas, what should be the basis for overcoming them? How can we turn this state of inner dilemma into growth? And what should be the main and fundamental factor before us when we are finding a resolution to an inner dilemma?

Osho>
To pass through a state of inner conflict is a real discipline for self growth. To go patiently through a state of inner conflict is real asceticism, and only by facing this dilemma one can transcend it.

One way is to make a hasty decision, a hasty resolution – and man uses many routes to arrive at such a decision. If he catches hold of some scripture, decision, the answer, is immediately there. The scripture will tell him in a very definitive language to do such and such a thing and to have faith in it. But one who arrives at a decision by resorting to the scriptures denies himself the status of being human. He had an opportunity to evolve, but he rejected it. Or one can catch hold of some teacher, some guru. But whoever does so is losing the opportunity to grow. There was a crisis, life left him to go through it alone, unaided – but he saved himself from the inconvenience. He carried on without passing through the crisis. Had the gold gone through the fire it would have emerged shining. But that person never passed through the fire. Instead, he sheltered behind a guru. Naturally, the gold did not purify itself.

Live the dilemma, go through the heat and suffering of it, die and be consumed by it, experience it. Don’t run away from its fire, because what is manifesting as fire will burn away all the dirt, all the rubbish, and the pure gold will remain.

Pass through the dilemma; understand it is human destiny. You will have to go through it; live it. Don’t hurry. Don’t make a hasty decision. Yes, if you pas through it, the decision will come. Pass through it and the trust will emerge by itself – you will not have to get it from somewhere.

A trust brought in from the outside is of no value. The very fact that the trust had to be brought in shows that the mind was not yet ready for it, it has been prematurely brought in. A trust that has to be enforced only means that behind it, there exists same mind full of conflict. This conflict will remain alive beneath the outer layer of this trust. And although this kind of trust may work superficially, it will be of no help at a critical time.

There is a great difference between belief and trust. Belief is that which we impose upon ourselves without resolving the doubt, while trust is the outcome of the doubt falling away. Trust is a destination by journeying through doubt. Beliefs are blind supports that we clutch at out of our fear of doubt.

Hence I would say: live the dilemma, live it with intensity. If you live it mildly, it will take a long time. If you put the gold into slow fire, it can take lifetimes for it to shine to its purity. Live intensely!

Dilemma is the essential way in which man is tested, and from facing this dilemma, his worthiness to attain to godliness is born. So live! Don’t escape; don’t look for consolations. Just realize that this is the destiny: dilemma is your destiny. Fight it; enter into the dilemma with intensity.

What will be the outcome of this? The outcome will be 2 fold. As soon as a person agrees to go completely into his inner conflict, a third point emerges within that person – a third power besides the other two is born in him. As soon as a person agrees to live through his inner conflict, 3 things instead of just 2, start functioning in him. This 3rd force- which takes the decision to live through the dilemma – is outside of it, is uninvolved in it.

The one who discovers this 3rd force within himself also becomes immediately capable of seeing it in the whole universe. You are only looking at the dilemma, without realizing that the one who sees it, the one who knows it, cannot be a part of the dilemma but will always be outside it.

When the 2 are fighting inside you and you become aware of this, you are inevitably separate from the 2 – otherwise how could you be watching them? Had you been associated with either one of the 2, you would have become identified with that 1 and separate from the other.

Inner conflict is there because the 3rd one is also present – watching, saying that a big conflict is taking place in the mind. Sometimes the mind says this and sometimes it says that – but who is the one who is mentioning this conflict?

Enter the conflict and go on recognizing, becoming acquainted with this 3rd one. As you enter into the conflict, gradually you will begin to see this 3rd one, the witness. And the day this witness is seen, conflicts will begin to fade away. The reason why there is conflict is because this 3rd one is not seen. As soon as it is seen, synthesis begins.

This 3rd one is within everyone as well as without, but unless it is first seen inside, it cannot be seen on the outside. Once it is seen inside, then nothing but this 3rd one begins to be seen on the outside as well.