The West represents the male mind, aggressive intellect. The East represents the female mind, receptive intuition. East and West are not just arbitrary -- the division is very significant and profound.
And you should not forget Rudyard Kipling: what he said has significance, has meaning. He says East and West shall never meet. There is a fragment of truth in it, because the meeting seems to be impossible; the ways of their working are so diametrically opposite.
The West is aggressive, scientific, and ready to conquer nature. The East is non-aggressive, receptive -- ready to be conquered by nature. The West is eager to know. The East is patient. The West takes every initiative to reach into the mysteries of life and existence; it tries to unlock the doors. And the East simply waits in profound trust: "Whenever I am worthy, the truth will be revealed to me."
The West is concentration of the mind: the East is meditation of the mind. The West is thinking: the East is non-thinking. The West is mind: the East is no-mind. And Kipling seems to be logically right, that it seems impossible that East and West could ever meet.
And "the East and the West" does not only represent the earth being divided in two hemispheres: it represents your mind too, your brain too. Your brain is also divided in two hemispheres just like the earth. Your brain has an East in it and a West in it. The left-side hemisphere of your brain is the West; it is connected with the right hand. And the right-side hemisphere of your brain is the East; it is connected with the left hand.
The West is rightist. The East is leftist. And the processes of both are so different.... The left hemisphere of your mind calculates, thinks, and is logical. All science is produced by it. And the right hemisphere of your brain is a poet, is a mystic. It intuits, it feels. It is vague, cloudy, and misty. Nothing is clear. Everything is a kind of chaos, but that chaos has its beauty. There is great poetry in that chaos; there is great song in that chaos. It is very juicy.
The calculative mind is a desert-like phenomenon. And the non-calculative mind is a garden. Birds sing there and flowers bloom... it is a totally different world.
Pythagoras was the first man to try the impossible, and he succeeded! In him, East and West became one. In him, yin and yang became one. In him, male and female became one. He was an ardhanarishwar -- a total unity of the polar opposites. Shiva and Shakti together: intellect of the highest caliber and intuition of the deepest caliber. Pythagoras is a peak, a sunlit peak, and a deep, dark valley too. It is a very rare combination.
Pythagoras, Atlantis, and the Greatest Luxury
Osho, Philosophia Perennis, Volume 1, Number 1
No comments:
Post a Comment