The Middle Way

An exploration of Osho’s and other mystics’ teaching that joy and suffering are two sides of the same coin – and how transcending both leads to true bliss

We’ve all heard Osho and other mystics say it: opposites are not enemies. They hold each other up, each giving meaning to the other. They are complementary, necessary to each other, inseparable.

Yet, despite hearing this so many times, when faced with pain we want only joy; when faced with death we want only life; when faced with darkness we want only the light…

Why should I include physical pain in my life? No – I want to get rid of it!

Why should I include hard labour? Or suffering in general… no, these must disappear from my life!

In fact, as Osho points out, the deepest desire in every human being – every single one of us – is the pursuit of bliss. Does that mean we must, as we ourselves seem to think, shun suffering entirely?

In reality, it’s not quite that simple.

The Tale of Two Magicians

An example came to me recently – perhaps a little trivial, but drawn from everyday life. I had been watching a TV series set in the Amazon rainforest. The story was centred on the struggle between two tribal shamans with ancient powers: a white magician, who was in harmony with nature, and a black magician, who was hungry for power.

In the end, the white magician triumphed, destroying his dark rival. I felt that satisfying glow you get when the “good side” wins. With the danger gone, life in the story seemed destined to be radiant and obstacle-free. I wanted to stay in that warm afterglow, so I looked for a second season. And I discovered, to my disappointment, that they never made one – and at this point, since it was quite an old series, they never will.

But my mind kept imagining what might happen next… how would the story go on without the black magician? And I found myself smiling as I realised that without a “baddie”… well, the story was over!

Of course, the producers wouldn’t invest money on making a second season… what kind of a story would that be, without a fight in it? With all dangers gone, the plot becomes flat, boring… zero entertainment. For enjoyment, you also need suffering; you need both the good magician and the bad magician. Without the black magician, the white magician’s powers – which have fuelled the story with all its special effects – would never be needed, and so… that’s the end of all entertainment.

You need a villain in order to show the hero. You have to suffer a little, courtesy of the villain, to enjoy the hero’s revenge.

When the Struggle Disappears

Another example from real life: A friend of mine had a hard time at work. He kept postponing his “real life” to his weekends and holidays. That’s when you would see him blossom and flow with creativity and initiative – travelling, and engaging in various cultural activities.

Then his company hit trouble, and the employees were offered voluntary redundancy with a generous payout. My friend didn’t think twice and immediately seized the opportunity. He would finally be able to live the life he had so far only allowed himself in those small fragments of holidays and weekends. But… within weeks of leaving his job, those moments of “freedom” lost their sparkle. The zest had gone. He found himself on the sofa, drained of energy and depressed, watching TV. Would it go on like this for the rest of his life?

It happens to many retirees too: once freed from the “burden” of work, they also lose the joy they had had in their free time.

The same in relationships – how thrilling it is to be reunited with a loved one after weeks apart! Yet in the daily routine of living together, those moments of reunion rarely reach the same emotional peak.

The Wisdom of Duality

Great Masters like Lao Tzu remind us that the wise do not fight pain and try to have only pleasure. They understand that life is built on duality. If you want happiness, you must also accept suffering. They come as a pair. That’s the nature of things, and there is no way out of it.

So, should we go on suffering?

Beyond Opposites

In the teaching of the mystics there is also another way. In fact, the path to bliss does not pass through the opposition between good and evil. There is an alternative world beyond these oppositions, where ecstasy is not counter-balanced by despair.

Osho:

It is necessary to transcend nature, because if you remain in it you will not attain to supreme bliss. In nature, there is both suffering and happiness.

In nature there is duality; its very existence is based on duality. In nature you can attain to happiness as well as to suffering. And however much happiness you desire, you will also have that much suffering. Your capacity to experience happiness will be exactly the same as your capacity to experience suffering. Nature is duality, and in a state of duality the sides are always equally balanced, always even. If this were not so, nature would be perverted, everything would go haywire.

So as you are moving more to one side, you are gaining momentum to move to the other side. If you wish your reputation to grow, be aware that your notoriety will also grow. It goes along with it. If you wish for good health, know that sickness too is standing just around the corner. And if you want life, you will also have to accept death. You will always have suffering as well as happiness in nature. Nature is duality.

You have to go beyond, because it is duality that is creating all the problems. You have to attain to that moment when duality vanishes. We call such a moment bliss, we call such a moment peace, we call such a moment moksha – when both happiness and suffering disappear. ¹

And:

I am not teaching you a positive way of living, I am not teaching you a negative way of living: I am teaching you the way of transcendence. All dualities have to be dropped: the duality of mind and heart, the duality of matter and mind, the duality of thinking and emotion, the duality of the positive and the negative, the duality of male and female, yin and yang, the duality of day and night, summer and winter, life and death – all dualities. Duality as such has to be dropped, because you are beyond duality.

The moment you start moving away from both yes and no, you will have your first glimpse of the ultimate. ²

This is not philosophy. In Osho’s vision it’s a path to ecstasy with a precise methodology: it is about remaining in the middle. The moment we witness what is happening to us, we remain in the middle, we aren’t moving from one side to the other side of the duality.

That’s what Buddha calls “the middle way.” And remaining on the middle way, witnessing, is what his Vipassana meditation is all about.