[[This is taken from Dhammapada Volume 5, by OSHO]]
Positive and Negative thinking are both on a same plane. They are divided by tattered plane.
But why is positive considered better than negative?
Mind is rooted in the language of "No". It is negative.
Heart is rooted in the language of "Yes". It is positive.
The more you say "no", the more society perceives you as a great thinker. The minds nourishment comes from saying "no". There is nothing like a positive mind.
The heart says "Yes".
It is better to say "Yes" than "No". Because, one cannot live by saying "No". The more you say "No", the more shrunken you become. The less alive you become. Even if society thinks you are great, you are shrinking, dying, committing a slow suicide. Say no to beauty, to love, you will be less than you were before. Chunk by chunk, you will disappear. And what is left of it? A very empty life, which is meaningless, without any significance, no dance, no celebration and no joy.
An example of this is the modern man. He has said so many "No" than ever before. We go on asking meaning of life. We have said "No" to god. Life has become impossible to us, but we go on living because we are afraid of death, we are cowards. We live out of fear, not out of love.
If one has to choose to be one, it is better to be positive. The more you are positive, the more you are closer to heart. Heart does not know the language of negative. It does not asks, but it simply enjoys, In enjoying, it knows what is it.
Mind know questions and the heart knows the answer. Philosophy keeps on questioning. From one question, emerge thousands of other questions. But mind wont listen to heart, because there is no communion between the two. Heart knows the language of silence which the mind does not understand. Since the heart does not ask, the mind thinks it is blind.
But they are two sides of the same phenomenon. Positive is joined with negative. The goal is to go beyond both duality, go beyond both "yes" and "no". "Yes" can have meaning only in the context of "No". They are polar opposites but they help each other in a subtle way.
Spiritual masters do not teach the way of positive or negative. They use the language of the heart, just to take you to the other shore. Heart is the boat, which has to be left behind once you have reached the other shore. They teach the way of transcendence. Yin and yang, day and night has to be dropped.
When you move away from both, then you will have glimpse of the ultimate. Ultimate remains inexpressible, you can not say yes or no.
Gautama, the Buddha, never said no to god, never said yes to god. He was neither atheist nor theist. When people came to him with questions, he was silent. He was really answering, because god means something which is transcendental. Rarely people understood him.
Ultimate can not be talked about.
But if you have to choose between positive or negative, choose the positive because it is easier to slip out of yes than slip out of no. "No" does not have much space in it. "Yes" is wider. To move away from "No" is very difficult.
From No", come to "Yes", then from "Yes", go to the beyond. Beyond is neither positive nor negative. Beyond is god, beyond is enlightenment.