For millions of years, whenever we felt we were threatened by something dangerous, we instinctively reacted.

Today, when someone insults us or says something hurtful, unconsciously we revert to that old habit and react, even though we are not in any danger at all. Just our feelings are hurt, and our ego is pinched!

And what is that reaction?

The mind kicks in and verbalizes: perhaps we return the insult to the other person, or blame our karma, our past lives, or our upbringing…. We are rationalizing that we can identify something or someone as the source of our pain.

It turns out that this is exactly how we take a wrong turn.

At the very moment any hurtful situation impacts us, we have two options. One is to verbalize as just described, or we can simply do nothing and feel the impact without any comment, judgment, or verbalization.

The first option leads to suffering without the possibility for us to grow as an individual. This happens in two ways which are valuable to understand:

The simplest way that verbalization takes us on the path of suffering rather than the path of individual growth is that we use those words to convince ourselves that we know the cause of the pain.

This is obviously a self-deception. The source is currently unconscious, so is invisible to us. In this way, the conscious mind has cunningly ensured that we avoid experiencing that pain in its totality.

The other way this avoidance happens is subtle. When we describe in words something that is happening in the present – that is we verbalize – we are no longer describing the real situation.

We are now describing a representation of that situation in our mind. This is a perfect mechanism for avoiding the opportunity to experience that real situation.

You may have heard this explained in relation to looking at a rose flower. There you are in the presence of the rose flower. Then the mind kicks in and you start verbalizing, “How beautiful.” At that moment, you switch from relating to the real rose flower in front of you, to the representation of that rose flower in your head. In that same instant, you leave the present moment and enter the world of the mind, of the past or the future – and have successfully avoided experiencing what is really happening here and now.

We use these tricks to dodge facing the experience directly because we don’t want to relive it – we are refusing to see it as it is. Whatever we refuse to see is, by definition, unconscious. It is that choice not to see something that renders it invisible, unconscious.

So, by choosing to prevent that original experience from coming to the surface and being conscious, it remains unresolved, just waiting for the next situation to trigger yet another mis-directed reaction.

The second option leads directly to the pain without any avoidance – but now with the possibility of individual growth. It is the basis of the transformative art of acceptance.

Now, you are allowing yourself to experience the pain without the distraction of all that verbalization and rationalization. You will then discover that this pain is not caused by the current situation. The current situation is triggering an old wound from way back: some traumatic event that will remain stored in the unconscious – ready to be triggered again and again – until we have the courage to see it clearly.

The truth is that we don’t need to analyze the context of that original wound. You just need to experience it totally. In fact, the pain is not even caused by the original trauma but is caused by our refusal to see it.

Finally, the unconscious mind knows that this old wound is long past its shelf life and can be permanently released. It has been taking care of this wound for so long, but is encouraging you to simply see it, experience it, allow it… let it see the light of day…. At which point its irrelevance today will be obvious and it can be released forever.

Now, this is the basis of the ancient Chinese story about “The Empty Boat” — and is easier said than done.

As an interim step, to help you, we have OSHO No-Mind.

Firstly, instead of succumbing to our old habit of verbalizing about the experience, you speak, but now in a language you don’t know. It has to be totally authentic – so that someone watching you has no idea that you are not speaking a real language. By using these nonsense words, there is no possibility of falling into the old habit of rationalization.

You cannot rationalize with meaningless words.

Whatever comes to your mind, you simply express it in that meaningless language. In this way, you are also now breaking that ancient habit of verbalizing everything in front of you. Instead you are allowing yourself to experience exactly what is there – the essence of meditation!

Secondly, by using that language that you don’t know, you can now express that pain to the maximum, and allow that old wound to come to the surface. Without the distraction of the mind, and all its attempts to discuss the situation, you can stay right here and experience it directly, right now.

So, this is really a passionate dialog with the sky. You express your anger, your resentment, your hurt, your fear… – whatever emotions are there – with great totality, being really authentic, making your expression a reality. Just go nuts! Let it all hang out!

Then you are able to really feel the pain without any distraction… and as you continue it may come to a peak, but if you stay with it, it naturally evaporates into that same sky! And will never trouble you again.

In OSHO No-Mind, this speaking in nonsense sounds in a language you don’t know, lasts for one hour. You can read more about You can read the full instructions here. Once that first hour is over, you just sit doing nothing. The relaxation and joy of feeling the release from those old wounds is profound. The silence descends on its own.

The mind is really just a process of verbalization, minding would be more accurate.

A process like walking. So, you are walking, and then you sit down. You still have legs, but where has the walking gone? Like that, in that second hour, your consciousness is there but there is no minding. That is no-mind.

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