59.

Schizophrenia
Man is split. Schizophrenia is a normal condition of man--at least now. It may not
have been so in the primitive world, but centuries of conditioning, civilization,
culture and religion have made man a crowd--divided, split, contradictory.... But
because this split is against his nature, deep down somewhere hidden the unity still
survives. Because the soul of man is one, all the conditionings at the most destroy
the periphery of the man. But the center remains untouched--that's how man
continues to live. But his life has become a hell. The whole effort of Zen is how to
drop this schizophrenia, how to drop this split personality, how to drop the divided
mind of man, how to become undivided, integrated, centered, crystallized. The way
you are, you cannot say that you are. You don't have a being. You are a
marketplace--many voices. If you want to say 'yes', immediately the 'no' is there.
You cannot even utter a simple word 'yes' with totality.... In this way happiness is
not possible; unhappiness is a natural consequence of a split personality.

Osho Dang Dang Doko Dang Chapter 3

Commentary:

The person on this card brings a new twist to the old idea of "getting stuck between
a rock and a hard place"! But we are in precisely this sort of situation when we get
stuck in the indecisive and dualistic aspect of the mind. Should I let my arms go and
fall head-first, or let my legs go and fall feet-first? Should I go here or there? Should
I say yes or no? And whatever decision we make, we will always wonder if we should
have decided the other way. The only way out of this dilemma is, unfortunately, to
let go of both at once. You can't work your way out of this one by solving it, making
lists of pros and cons, or in any way working it out with your mind. Better to follow
your heart, if you can find it. If you can't find it, just jump--your heart will start
beating so fast there will be no mistake about where it is!

60. Ice-olation

We are miserable because we are too much in the self. What does it mean when I
say we are too much in the self? And what exactly happens when we are too much
in the self? Either you can be in existence or you can be in the self--both are not
possible together. To be in the self means to be apart, to be separate. To be in the
self means to become an island. To be in the self means to draw a boundary line
around you. To be in the self means to make a distinction between 'this I am' and
'that I am not'. The definition, the boundary, between "I" and "not I" is what the self
is--the self isolates. And it makes you frozen--you are no longer flowing. If you are
flowing the self cannot exist. Hence people have become almost like ice-cubes.
They don't have any warmth, they don't have any love--love is warmth and they are
afraid of love. If warmth comes to them they will start melting and the boundaries
will disappear. In love the boundaries disappear; in joy also the boundaries
disappear, because joy is not cold.

Osho Zen: The Path of Paradox, Volume 1 Chapter 5

Commentary:

In our society, men in particular have been taught not to cry, to put a brave face on
things when they get hurt and not show that they are in pain. But women can fall
into this trap too, and all of us at one time or another might feel that the only way
to survive is to close off our feelings and emotions so we can't be hurt again. If our
pain is particularly deep, we might even try to hide it from ourselves. This can make
us frozen, rigid, because deep down we know that one small break in the ice will
free the hurt to start circulating through us again. The rainbow-colored tears on this
person's face hold the key to breaking out of this 'ice-olation'. The tears, and only
the tears, have the power to melt the ice. It's okay to cry, and there is no reason to
feel ashamed of your tears. Crying helps us to let go of pain, allows us to be gentle
with ourselves, and finally helps us to heal.