Are we making this journey of evolution together?

Osho, is it your soul that grows, or another’s?

The truth is, we and others are not as separate as we appear. If your soul grows, it is impossible that mine does not grow along with it. It may be that I don’t even notice it. When a Socrates is born, something of an uplift happens in the soul of all humanity. Whether anyone recognizes it or not is not the central point. My soul is not some broken-off, separate thing that could grow all alone. If it grows, it grows together; if it shrinks, it shrinks together. We may be a little ahead or a little behind, but we cannot be separate. One wave rushes ahead; behind it another wave rushes on. But the two waves are not separate—they can be ahead and behind. Buddha may be ahead, I may be behind, but we cannot be separate. Ultimately, if you look closely, all human souls grow together. And…

Osho, it is surprising that among animals there is hardly any hypocrisy or deceit, and among indigenous people it is also very little, whereas in the so-called educated and civilized society it is at its peak. Has humanity’s long and arduous journey from barbarism to civilization then gone in vain? And in that case, is the tribal order preferable?

Animals are without falseness, without hypocrisy—not because they have achieved something, but because they are incapable. They cannot be hypocrites; there is no way for them to be. They have no facility for being bad, no possibility of falling. But precisely because an animal cannot fall, it also cannot ascend to divinity. One who cannot fall cannot rise. And where there is no possibility of sin, there is no possibility of the divine either. The animal is in a kind of stupor; it does as nature makes it do. Its journey is mechanical. It has no free will. Therefore an animal cannot do evil, but it cannot do good either. It simply does what nature impels. It has no individuality of its own. Hence an animal can be neither wicked nor virtuous, neither a great sinner nor a great saint. An animal remains an animal. The animal is born complete.…

Beloved Osho, from your talks I understand that there is some kind of evolutionary process that happens. But I have also heard you say that man has not evolved at all. Where are all the seekers who died enlightened?

Man as a collectivity has not evolved. Whatever little bit of humanity has happened to the collective mass is because of those few seekers who became enlightened. But you should understand the proportion. It is like a spoonful of sugar you drop in the ocean to make it sweet; it is not going to do much to the ocean. The ocean is too vast. A spoonful of sugar was perfectly good for a cup of tea, but it is not good for the ocean. An enlightened man is a cup of tea. Even his group -- those who become attuned with him -- are still so small that they cannot make much change in the collective mass, in its vast darkness, unconsciousness. But in thousands of years so many people have become enlightened that a little bit of change in humanity you can see. But the credit does not go…

I only teach the simple art of how to see. In the East we don't have any word exactly parallel to 'philosophy'. The word that we have is 'darshan', which is a totally different word. Philosophy means thinking about truth and darshan means seeing the truth. So I never translate darshan as philosophy but as philosia. 'Sia' means to see, 'philo' means love -- love of seeing; not love of thinking but seeing. The truth is always there, coming continuously, knocking on your doors -- but your doors are closed. Sannyas means the art of opening your doors, the art of opening your eyes, becoming receptive, available. All that is needed on the part of a sannyasin is to be available to the beyond, to be in a yes mood with the beyond -- and truth comes, it inevitably comes and liberates.

On man's path of evolution is it possible that at some time in the future humanity as a whole can attain enlightenment? At what point of evolution is man today?

The conscious choice to evolve is a great adventure, the only adventure there is for a human being. The path is arduous; it is bound to be so. Errors are bound to be there, failures, because nothing is certain. This situation creates tension in the mind. You do not know where you are, you do not know where you are going. Your identity is lost. The situation may even reach such a point that you become suicidal. Suicide is a human phenomenon; it comes with human choice. Animals cannot commit suicide, because to choose death consciously is impossible for them. Birth is unconscious, death is unconscious. But with man -- ignorant man, unevolved man -- one thing becomes possible: the ability to choose death. Your birth is not your choice. As far as your birth is concerned, you are in the hands of unconscious evolution. In fact, your birth is…