Yes And No
Man is a dilemma, he is both yes and no. It is not abnormal, it is the normal state of humankind. Man is half earth, half sky; part matter, part consciousness; part dust, part divine. Man is a tension.
The past is that of an animal and the future is that of God. And between the two is man — half animal, half angel. The no comes from the past, the yes is a possibility for the future.
Doubt comes from darkness, trust is the byproduct of light. The higher self in you is always trusting, the lower is cunning and always doubting. And you are both, as you are now.
Yes can exist only with the No; this is one thing more of great importance to be remembered. The No can exist without the higher — it will remain unfulfilled, but it can exist. The Yes cannot even exist without the No.
With loose strings on a sitar how can you create music? They have to be tight, in a certain tension. And in the right tension the greatest melody is possible.
Similarly right tension between the No and the Yes, between the body and the soul, between the earth and heaven; a right tension with no antagonism. The No has not to be denied for the Yes, neither has the Yes to be denied for the No. They are together, they are two aspects of the same reality, they interpenetrate.
Don’t drop your doubt. Let your No become the tension for your Yes, let your No become the background for your Yes. Let your no create the context in which the yes will be more meaningful. Only in contrast does meaning arise. You write with white chalk on a blackboard — why? Because only in contrast will the white show; it will be loud and clear. Let no become the blackboard, and yes the white writing on it.
Your trust should not be a blind trust, your trust should be a trust which has eyes. Your trust should not be an impotent trust, a trust which is trust because you are impotent to say no. Your trust should be alive, strong and vital. Your trust will be capable of saying No. Say Yes and yet retain the capacity to say No, then you will be surprised — your Yes has such sharpness, such brilliance, such intelligence! Then it is not blind, it has eyes to see.
Use No as a foundation for Yes, use doubt as manure for the rosebush. Use everything that God has given to you. Nothing, nothing at all, has to be denied; all has to be absorbed, because nothing is unessential or unimportant. Even though sometimes it looks unessential and unimportant, even though sometimes it looks positively harmful and poisonous, it has not to be denied. It has not to be thrown out, because later on, on the way, as you become wiser you will repent if you threw something away, because you will need it in some situation. There are moments when poison is needed as medicine. There are moments of wisdom when just the touch of the wise man and the poison becomes nectar.
