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You know more than he knows. You know more tricks than he knows. You can put him in a corner through words and reasoning and he is unable to answer. But this is not the way to convince him. Deep down he knows that, "Some day I will find more tricks and put you right in your place. Right now I cannot answer. Okay, I accept defeat." He is defeated, but not won over.
And these are two different things. When you win a heart he is not defeated -- he is happy. He is victorious in your victory, he participates. It is not your victory -- truth has won, and you both can celebrate. But when you defeat a person, he is never won over; he remains the enemy. Deep down he is waiting for the right moment when he can assert himself.
No debate can become a conviction. And if conviction is not reached, where is the conclusion? The conclusion is forced, it is always premature. It is just like an abortion, it is not a natural birth. You have forced -- a dead child is born or a crippled child, who is going to remain crippled, weak and dead his whole life.
Socrates used to say, "I am a midwife, I help natural birth." A master is a midwife. He is not going to force, because a forced birth cannot be a real birth. It is more like death and less like life.
So a master is never argumentative. And if sometimes he appears to be argumentative, he is just playing with you -- and playing for a certain reason. Don't become a victim. He is playing for a certain reason; he can be argumentative just to find whether your argumentativeness is aroused or not. If it is aroused, you have missed. If you can listen to his argumentativeness without becoming argumentative, he will not play the game with you. He has to look within you. You may be consciously listening, unconsciously argumentative. Then he has to bring your unconscious up so that you can become aware of it.
Sometimes a master will look as if he is aggressive, as if he is bent upon defeating you. But he is never bent upon your defeat -- just to defeat your ego, not you; just to destroy your ego, not you. And remember: the ego is the poison, it is destroying you. Once the poison is destroyed you will be free and
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