How does being aware lead to transformation?

It is said again and again that being aware is enough for transformation. How does it work?

But in the East we know the art of making the disappear. So who bothers? It is as if you see a ghost in the dark -- there is no ghost, just the form of the tree -- and you start analyzing. You never come close to the tree, you never bring light; you start analyzing the form from far away. You can go on analyzing: nothing is going to happen out of that analysis. Eastern psychology says: Light a candle, bring the candle to the place, and first see whether the ghost exists at all. If the ghost does not exist, then why bother? Why long long years of analysis? The analyzed goes on pouring out rubbish, and the analyst goes on dissecting, analyzing, labeling and categorizing the rubbish. Much work goes on, and all futile, much ado about nothing. Western psychology is based on analysis, Eastern psychology is…

Osho, we feel that to penetrate and transform the deeper layers of the unconscious only through awareness is difficult and not enough. What else should one do other than the practice of awareness? Please explain more about the practical dimensions on this matter.

Silence is energy. Brahmacharya is energy. Not to be angry is energy. But this is not suppression. If you suppress anger, you have used energy again. Don't suppress -- observe and follow. don't fight -- just move backwards with the anger. This is the purest method of awareness. But certain other things can be used. For beginners certain devices are possible. So I will talk about three devices. One type of device is based on body awareness. Forget anger, forget sex -- they are difficult problems. And when you are in them, you become so mad that you cannot meditate. When you are angry you cannot meditate; you cannot even think about meditation. You are just mad. So forget it; it is difficult. Then use your own body as a device for awareness. Buddha has said that when you walk, walk consciously. When you breathe, breathe consciously. The Buddhist method…

Osho, today you spoke of awareness and consciousness and it seemed as though this was all that was needed to guide one s actions. Does this mean then that murder, rape and theft are only wrong in so far as they are done without awareness, without consciousness?

A young farm boy from Arkansas was sent to New York by his father to learn the undertaking business under the tutelage of the great Frank E. Campbell. Some months later, the father visited his son in the big city. "Tell me," he said, "have you learnt much?" "Oh sure, Dad," said the son. "I have learnt a lot. And it has been very interesting." "What was the most interesting thing you learnt?" The son thought for a moment and then said, "Well, we did have one wild experience that taught me a lesson." "What was that?" "Well," said the son, "one day we got this phone call from the Taft Hotel. It seems that the housekeeper had checked one of the rooms and she discovered that a man and woman had died in their sleep on the bed and completely naked." "Wow!" said the father. "What did Mr. Campbell…

Osho, yesterday you said that when anger is watched consciously, it dissolves. But why is it that when sexual desire arises, even in awareness its intensity persists? Why is it so?

There is no entanglement in the breath. If you try to practice on anger… Anger is not happening every moment; it happens sometimes. And when it happens, it happens with such intensity that you are already going deep into it; so much is at stake in those moments that you may think, “We will look into awareness later; first let’s settle this now.” Lust is very deep, because existence has made it so deep; life depends on it. If lust were so easy that you decided and were freed, perhaps you would not even have been born—because many before you would have become free, and the possibility of your being would have been almost nil. But your parents, and their parents, did not become free; therefore you are. You too will not get free so easily, because your children are also to be—they are waiting: “Do not run away midway.”…

Osho, you say that your main concern is our spiritual not our psychological growth. What is the difference between them?

"I think we should treat not the symptoms but the real problem." This was the approach of the Southern planter just after the Civil War. This gentleman of the old school found his wife in the arms of her lover and, mad with rage, killed her with his revolver. A jury of his Southern peers had brought in a verdict of justifiable homicide, and he was about to leave the courtroom a free man when the judge stopped him. "Just a point of personal curiosity, sir, if you are willing to clear it up." In reply, the gentleman bowed. "Why did you shoot your wife instead of her lover?" "Sir," he replied, "I decided it was better to shoot a woman once than a different man each week." If you try to change your mind, you will have to shoot a different man each week. It is better to shoot…