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Thanks to Freud, Adler, Jung, and Wilhelm Reich, psychoanalysts in the West are solving many problems related to the human mind. These feelings of dissatisfaction, conflicts, schizophrenia, madness. Could You explain the role of the system of psychoanalysis in solving human problems related to the mind, describe its limitations and shortcomings, and also compare this system with your meditation techniques?
The main thing that must be understood is that no problem related to the mind can be solved until you go beyond it. You can bring your state back to normal, you can postpone the solution to a problem, you can dampen its intensity, but you cannot solve it. Psychoanalysis can make a person a "normal member of society," but it is unable to solve the problem. And when the solution to a problem is postponed, when it is shifted, a new problem arises. It simply moves elsewhere, but it doesn't go anywhere. Sooner or later, a new attack will occur, and each time it happens, it will become harder and harder to hide it or postpone the solution. Psychoanalysis is a temporary relief, for this method offers nothing that goes beyond the boundaries of the mind. And a problem can only be solved when you manage to go beyond its limits. If you cannot do this, then the problem is in you. And then who will solve it? How can it even be solved? The problem is in you; it is not something separate from you.
All meditation techniques are based on completely different principles. They say that problems are here, around you, but they are not you, not your personality. You can rise above them; you can look at them as an observer looks down from a high hill upon a valley. Such witnessing of one's "I" can solve the problem. In fact, simple awareness of the problem already solves it halfway, for if you manage to see the problem detachedly, to observe it impartially when you are not involved in it—then you can stand aside and simply Watch. The clarity that arises during such witnessing is what brings you the solution, gives you the secret key. And almost all problems exist only because there is no such clarity through which they could be understood.
in
When there is a correct understanding of the problem, it is solved, for the problem is created by the unconscious mind. You create a problem because you do not understand. So the most important thing is not to solve the problem; the main thing is to rise to a higher level of understanding. And when there is understanding, clarity, then one can look at the problem impartially, from the point of view of a witness; as if it were not your problem at all, but someone else's. A problem can only be solved when you manage to create some distance between yourself and it. Meditation creates such a distance; it gives you perspective. You rise above the problem. The level of perception changes. In psychoanalysis, you remain on the same level. And this level never changes; you are tied to it. Neither your level of awareness, nor your consciousness, nor your capacity for contemplation change. In meditation, you rise higher and higher. You can look down upon your problems from above.
Now they are somewhere there, in the valley, and you have climbed the hill. From this point, from this height, all problems look different. And the greater the distance, the more your ability to look at them from the side grows, as if they were not yours at all. Remember one thing: if a problem is not yours, you can always give good advice on how to resolve it. If it is someone else's problem, if someone else is in trouble, you will always find a bit of wisdom; you will give sound advice. But if the problem is yours, then you simply do not know what to do. What happened? The problem is the same, but now it concerns you. When this problem belonged to another, you were at a distance from which you looked at it impartially. Any person can be a good advisor to others, but when it comes to themselves, all their wisdom disappears somewhere because that very distance vanishes.
For instance, someone dies in the family, and all the relatives are inconsolable: we can give good advice. You can say that the soul is immortal, that nothing in this world dies, and life is eternal. But when a person you loved dies, who meant something to you, who was close to you, then you sob and groan. You will no longer be able to tell yourself the same thing—that life is eternal and no one ever dies. All this looks somewhat strange. So remember: when giving advice to others, you may look foolish. If you tell someone whose loved one has died that life is eternal, they will think you are an idiot. You are talking nonsense. They know what it's like to lose a loved person. No philosophy can help here. And they know why you are saying all this—because this problem does not concern you. You can afford to be wise, but they cannot. Thanks to meditation, you rise above your ordinary existence. A new state is born within you, a point from which you can look at everything happening with a new gaze. Distance appears. Problems do not go anywhere, but now they are very far away, as if all this is not happening to you. Now you can give yourself advice, but it is no longer needed. The distance itself will make you wise. The entire technique of meditation consists in creating distance between the problems and you. Right now, you are so entangled in your problems that you are unable to think or reflect; you cannot go beyond the boundaries of the problems, you cannot look at them from the side.
Psychoanalysis only helps to modify the situation. This is not transformation; this is one problem. And the second consists in the fact that psychoanalysis makes you dependent. You need an expert who will do everything. This will take three or four years, and if the problem is serious—then all five years. You simply fall into dependency, and you do not develop. Rather the opposite, you will become more and more dependent. Every day—well, or two to three times a week—you will feel the need for this psychoanalyst. If you miss an appointment, you will feel uneasy. If you stop going to the psychoanalyst, you will feel lost. This becomes similar to alcohol dependency. You fall into dependency on someone who is a specialist. You can tell this person about your problem, and they will solve it. You will discuss everything, find the causes of the problem in your subconscious. But another person will do this; someone else will solve the problem. Remember, if a problem is not solved by you, this solution will not add maturity to you. If another person solved the problem, then this solution may add maturity to them, but not to you. You may become even more immature; and later, when new problems arise, you will need the advice of a specialist, a professional. True, I do not think that psychoanalysts themselves develop in any way by solving your problems, since they go for psychoanalysis to other psychoanalysts. They have their own problems. They solve your problems and cannot solve their own. Here again is the question of distance.
Every psychoanalyst goes to another with their problems. It is like in medicine. If a doctor falls ill, he cannot diagnose himself. It is all so close that it's frightening; he would rather go to another doctor. If you are a surgeon, you cannot operate on yourself, can you? There is no distance. It is very difficult to operate on oneself. And when your wife falls ill and needs a serious operation—that will also be hard, you won't be able to operate on her: your hands will shake. She is a close person to you, and you will be afraid: you cannot be a good surgeon. You will have to call another surgeon to operate on your wife. What is happening? You are a surgeon and have already performed many operations. But you cannot operate on your own child or wife; the distance is insufficient—it's almost non-existent, and without it, you cannot be impartial. Therefore, a psychoanalyst can help others, but when he himself finds himself in trouble, he needs the advice of an outsider; he needs another specialist to conduct the psychoanalysis. And how strange it is that even a person like Wilhelm Reich eventually went mad. It is impossible to imagine Gautama Buddha going mad—can you imagine it?
If Buddha could go mad, then there is no way out of these sufferings. It is simply incredible that Buddha would go mad. Look at the life of Sigmund Freud. He is the father and founder of psychoanalysis; he penetrated very deeply into the essence of problems. But as far as himself was concerned, not a single problem was solved. Not one! Fear was as much a problem for him as it was for any other person. He was full of fears and anxieties. He had such fits of rage that he could lose consciousness. This man knew so much about the human mind, but when it came to himself, it seems all this knowledge was absolutely useless.
Jung also lost consciousness when experiencing deep anxiety; he had seizures. Where does the problem lie? Again, in the presence of distance. They reflected on problems, but their consciousness did not expand. They thought rationally, logically, meticulously, and came to some conclusions. And perhaps they were right in some things, but that is not the point. Their consciousness did not expand; they did not step beyond the limits. And without this, you cannot solve a problem; you can only modify it. In the last days of his life, Freud said that man is incurableable. True, man is capable of adapting, but that is the most we can hope for; there is no other hope. And that's all! Freud says that man cannot be happy. We can make him not so unhappy, but no more than that. That's how it is.
Well, and what solution can come from such an approach? And this after forty years of working with people! He concludes that man cannot be helped, that suffering is embedded in our very nature and we are doomed to suffer...
Osho
The main thing that must be understood is that no problem related to the mind can be solved until you go beyond it. You can bring your state back to normal, you can postpone the solution to a problem, you can dampen its intensity, but you cannot solve it. Psychoanalysis can make a person a "normal member of society," but it is unable to solve the problem. And when the solution to a problem is postponed, when it is shifted, a new problem arises. It simply moves elsewhere, but it doesn't go anywhere. Sooner or later, a new attack will occur, and each time it happens, it will become harder and harder to hide it or postpone the solution. Psychoanalysis is a temporary relief, for this method offers nothing that goes beyond the boundaries of the mind. And a problem can only be solved when you manage to go beyond its limits. If you cannot do this, then the problem is in you. And then who will solve it? How can it even be solved? The problem is in you; it is not something separate from you.
All meditation techniques are based on completely different principles. They say that problems are here, around you, but they are not you, not your personality. You can rise above them; you can look at them as an observer looks down from a high hill upon a valley. Such witnessing of one's "I" can solve the problem. In fact, simple awareness of the problem already solves it halfway, for if you manage to see the problem detachedly, to observe it impartially when you are not involved in it—then you can stand aside and simply Watch. The clarity that arises during such witnessing is what brings you the solution, gives you the secret key. And almost all problems exist only because there is no such clarity through which they could be understood.
in
When there is a correct understanding of the problem, it is solved, for the problem is created by the unconscious mind. You create a problem because you do not understand. So the most important thing is not to solve the problem; the main thing is to rise to a higher level of understanding. And when there is understanding, clarity, then one can look at the problem impartially, from the point of view of a witness; as if it were not your problem at all, but someone else's. A problem can only be solved when you manage to create some distance between yourself and it. Meditation creates such a distance; it gives you perspective. You rise above the problem. The level of perception changes. In psychoanalysis, you remain on the same level. And this level never changes; you are tied to it. Neither your level of awareness, nor your consciousness, nor your capacity for contemplation change. In meditation, you rise higher and higher. You can look down upon your problems from above.
Now they are somewhere there, in the valley, and you have climbed the hill. From this point, from this height, all problems look different. And the greater the distance, the more your ability to look at them from the side grows, as if they were not yours at all. Remember one thing: if a problem is not yours, you can always give good advice on how to resolve it. If it is someone else's problem, if someone else is in trouble, you will always find a bit of wisdom; you will give sound advice. But if the problem is yours, then you simply do not know what to do. What happened? The problem is the same, but now it concerns you. When this problem belonged to another, you were at a distance from which you looked at it impartially. Any person can be a good advisor to others, but when it comes to themselves, all their wisdom disappears somewhere because that very distance vanishes.
For instance, someone dies in the family, and all the relatives are inconsolable: we can give good advice. You can say that the soul is immortal, that nothing in this world dies, and life is eternal. But when a person you loved dies, who meant something to you, who was close to you, then you sob and groan. You will no longer be able to tell yourself the same thing—that life is eternal and no one ever dies. All this looks somewhat strange. So remember: when giving advice to others, you may look foolish. If you tell someone whose loved one has died that life is eternal, they will think you are an idiot. You are talking nonsense. They know what it's like to lose a loved person. No philosophy can help here. And they know why you are saying all this—because this problem does not concern you. You can afford to be wise, but they cannot. Thanks to meditation, you rise above your ordinary existence. A new state is born within you, a point from which you can look at everything happening with a new gaze. Distance appears. Problems do not go anywhere, but now they are very far away, as if all this is not happening to you. Now you can give yourself advice, but it is no longer needed. The distance itself will make you wise. The entire technique of meditation consists in creating distance between the problems and you. Right now, you are so entangled in your problems that you are unable to think or reflect; you cannot go beyond the boundaries of the problems, you cannot look at them from the side.
Psychoanalysis only helps to modify the situation. This is not transformation; this is one problem. And the second consists in the fact that psychoanalysis makes you dependent. You need an expert who will do everything. This will take three or four years, and if the problem is serious—then all five years. You simply fall into dependency, and you do not develop. Rather the opposite, you will become more and more dependent. Every day—well, or two to three times a week—you will feel the need for this psychoanalyst. If you miss an appointment, you will feel uneasy. If you stop going to the psychoanalyst, you will feel lost. This becomes similar to alcohol dependency. You fall into dependency on someone who is a specialist. You can tell this person about your problem, and they will solve it. You will discuss everything, find the causes of the problem in your subconscious. But another person will do this; someone else will solve the problem. Remember, if a problem is not solved by you, this solution will not add maturity to you. If another person solved the problem, then this solution may add maturity to them, but not to you. You may become even more immature; and later, when new problems arise, you will need the advice of a specialist, a professional. True, I do not think that psychoanalysts themselves develop in any way by solving your problems, since they go for psychoanalysis to other psychoanalysts. They have their own problems. They solve your problems and cannot solve their own. Here again is the question of distance.
Every psychoanalyst goes to another with their problems. It is like in medicine. If a doctor falls ill, he cannot diagnose himself. It is all so close that it's frightening; he would rather go to another doctor. If you are a surgeon, you cannot operate on yourself, can you? There is no distance. It is very difficult to operate on oneself. And when your wife falls ill and needs a serious operation—that will also be hard, you won't be able to operate on her: your hands will shake. She is a close person to you, and you will be afraid: you cannot be a good surgeon. You will have to call another surgeon to operate on your wife. What is happening? You are a surgeon and have already performed many operations. But you cannot operate on your own child or wife; the distance is insufficient—it's almost non-existent, and without it, you cannot be impartial. Therefore, a psychoanalyst can help others, but when he himself finds himself in trouble, he needs the advice of an outsider; he needs another specialist to conduct the psychoanalysis. And how strange it is that even a person like Wilhelm Reich eventually went mad. It is impossible to imagine Gautama Buddha going mad—can you imagine it?
If Buddha could go mad, then there is no way out of these sufferings. It is simply incredible that Buddha would go mad. Look at the life of Sigmund Freud. He is the father and founder of psychoanalysis; he penetrated very deeply into the essence of problems. But as far as himself was concerned, not a single problem was solved. Not one! Fear was as much a problem for him as it was for any other person. He was full of fears and anxieties. He had such fits of rage that he could lose consciousness. This man knew so much about the human mind, but when it came to himself, it seems all this knowledge was absolutely useless.
Jung also lost consciousness when experiencing deep anxiety; he had seizures. Where does the problem lie? Again, in the presence of distance. They reflected on problems, but their consciousness did not expand. They thought rationally, logically, meticulously, and came to some conclusions. And perhaps they were right in some things, but that is not the point. Their consciousness did not expand; they did not step beyond the limits. And without this, you cannot solve a problem; you can only modify it. In the last days of his life, Freud said that man is incurableable. True, man is capable of adapting, but that is the most we can hope for; there is no other hope. And that's all! Freud says that man cannot be happy. We can make him not so unhappy, but no more than that. That's how it is.
Well, and what solution can come from such an approach? And this after forty years of working with people! He concludes that man cannot be helped, that suffering is embedded in our very nature and we are doomed to suffer...
Osho