THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF MEN, and the Master behaves differently according to the type. The highest type is the man who has tasted the joy of no-mind. The Master behaves with that type of man in a totally different way, because he knows he will understand.
The state of no-mind is the highest state. You are at the peak when you are in the state of no-mind, when you are absolutely silent, when nothing stirs within you, no idea, no thought, when the mind has ceased to create noise, the constant noise. The mind is chattering so much that it won’t allow you to hear anything. When the mind’s chattering ceases, for the first time you become aware of the music of your own being. And for the first time you also become aware of the music that this existence is.
When such a man approaches a Master, the Master behaves in a totally different way — because he knows whatsoever he does he will be understood. Communion is possible because there is no barrier.
The second type of man is the man who lives in between, between the first and the third. He has a meditative mind — not a no-mind yet, but a meditative mind. That is, he is on the way. He has learned how to be a little silent, a little more harmonious than others. The noise is there, but it is a distant noise; he has been able to detach himself from it. He has created a little distance between himself and his mind; he is no more identified with the mind. He does not think, “I am the mind.” The mind is there, still chattering, still playing old tricks, but the man is a little alert not to be a slave of the mind. The mind has not left him, but the mind is no longer so powerful as it ordinarily is.
In the state of no-mind, the mind has left; the mind has become tired. The mind has come to realize that “This man has gone beyond — beyond my powers. Now this man cannot be exploited any more. This man has become utterly unidentified with me. He will use me but I cannot use him.”
The second type of man, who is in between, sometimes falls back into the old pattern, is USED by the mind, sometimes gets out of the old pattern. It is hide-and-seek. Mind is still not absolutely certain that it has failed; there is still hope, because once in a while the man starts listening to the mind, becomes again identified. The distance is not great; the mind is very close. Any moment — any moment of unconsciousness — and the mind takes over, starts bossing over him again.
This is the second type of man: the meditative man, who has known a few glimpses of the eternal. Just as you can see the Himalayas from thousands of miles away…the snow-covered peaks in the early morning sun in an open sky, unclouded sky, can be seen from thousands of miles away. That is one thing; and to be on the peak, to abide there, is quite another.
The first type of man ABIDES in no-mind. The second type of man has glimpses only — of tremendous value of course, because those glimpses will pave the way so that he can reach the peak. Once you have seen the peak, even from thousands of miles away, the invitation has been received. Now you cannot remain in the world at rest, in the old way. Something starts challenging you, something starts calling you forth. An adventure has taken possession of you: you HAVE to travel to the peak. It may take years, maybe lives, but the journey has started. The first seed has fallen into the heart.
The Master behaves with the meditative man in a different way, because with the first, communion is possible, with the second, communication is possible.
And then there is the third type: the man who lives identified with the mind, with the ego, with whom even communication is not possible, with whom there is no way to relate.
This word “identification” is beautiful. It means to make something an entity, to entityfy the “id”; that is the meaning of identification. When YOU become the mind you have become a thing; you are no more separate. You have fallen in sleep. This is what is called metaphysical sleep. You have lost track of your own self. You have forgotten your reality and you have become one with something which you are not. To become one with something that you are not is identification; and to be that which you are is dis-identification.
The first man lives in disidentification. He knows he is not the body, he is not the mind. He simply knows he is only awareness and nothing else. The body goes on changing, the mind goes on changing, but there is one thing in you which is unchanging, absolutely unchanging; that is your awareness. It was exactly the same when you were a child and it will remain exactly the same when you are an old man. It was the same when you were born and it will be the same when you die. It was the same before your birth, it will be the same after your death. It is the ONLY thing in existence which is eternal, unchanging, the only thing that abides.
And only this eternal awareness can be the true home, nothing else, because everything else is a flux. And we go on clinging to the changing; then we create misery, because it changes and we want it not to change. We are asking for the impossible, and because the impossible cannot happen we fall into misery again and again.
OSHO
