Is economic progress necessary?

Osho, and before that, is economic progress necessary?

Absolutely necessary, absolutely necessary. And that’s why I am not a supporter of renunciation-and-all-that, because renunciationists never believe in economic progress.

How is progress, whether in civilization, culture or religion, possible if we accept life as it is and do not seek to change it in any way?

There is no need for any progress. Progress is the most false god created by man. There is no need. What does progress mean? Progress means deep down to sacrifice the present for the future. You sacrifice today to live tomorrow; then tomorrow, again it is not tomorrow, it is today; again you sacrifice it for the tomorrow. The father sacrifices for the children, the children sacrifice for their children, and nobody lives life ever. One generation sacrifices for another because there has to be progress; and then nobody lives it ever. There is no need for progress. The very word 'progress' moves you into the future. And there can never be an end to it. You cannot come to a state when you can say: Now the progress has been achieved, because progress is not a thing to be achieved, it is a process. So the state: Now everybody…

Osho, you say, “As He wills, let us become mere instruments; whatever role in life we have been given, let us fulfill it.” But letting what happens happen—i.e., flowing along with the body, mind, and ego—gives rise to suffering. So should we keep applying the principle of instrumentality even in relation to the body, mind, and ego, and go on suffering? How do we solve the riddle between the principle of instrumentality and the continuous reality of suffering?

That supreme bliss is beyond both pleasure and pain. It is neither like night nor like day. It is twilight. The sun has set, night has not yet come; the light remains—very gentle, sweet, non-aggressive—that is twilight. Morning has come, the sun is not yet risen, the night has gone—such is the twilight. One who abides in that twilight—that is what we call prayer. That is why Hindus call their prayer sandhya. Sandhya means one who has stopped in between the dualities, who has found the truce between the two. Between pleasure and pain, love and hate, victory and defeat, night and day, life and death—one who has found the pact and stands in that concord. Seek that interval of conjunction. Krishna says, it is simple to find. If you cease to be the doer, you will find it instantly. It is only through your doer-ship that you keep missing.…

Osho, you say that a man’s needs are very few. But if man produces only as much as is needed, the building of civilization and prosperity will become impossible. And you also say that only in prosperity does religion arise. Then what should man do?

Consider the old paintings: Ajanta, Ellora, the Taj Mahal—they were born from a different state of mind. If you look at the Taj Mahal, even in agitation, after a while you will find the inside turning calm. Then there is modern painting—Picasso. If you look at such a painting for a while, you will feel you are going mad. You cannot gaze at it long; if you fix your eyes on it, you are in trouble—because the painting is only restlessness, derangement, tension, turmoil. When civilization is diseased, culture too becomes diseased—because culture is fragrance. When the flower is sick, its scent is no longer a perfume; it becomes a stench. Civilization is the flower; culture is its fragrance. But when the flower itself is rotten, where can fragrance be? Therefore in every direction culture has also fallen ill. No, culture will arise only when people are so fulfilled that…

Osho, you often say that material prosperity is the foundation of spiritual growth; but in your last discourse on non-possession you said that the fewer things one has, the less enslaved one is, and the more things one has, the more enslaved one becomes. Please clarify this fundamental paradox between prosperity and non-possession, and also explain how more things make a person more enslaved. And how does the possessor become possessed?

Material prosperity is the foundation of spiritual life, but a building is not raised by the foundation alone. It can happen that the foundation is there and the house is never built. A house never exists without a foundation, but a foundation can exist without a house. One may lay the footings and leave them filled in—then there will be a foundation, not a building. But wherever there is a building, it cannot be without a foundation. Prosperity is the base of detachment. Without becoming prosperous, no one ever really discovers that prosperity is futile. Without having wealth, no one ever realizes that nothing essential is gained by wealth. The greatest gift of wealth is not wealth—it is the breaking of the illusion about wealth; it is disillusionment. If wealth is never attained, its futility is never known. The poor, the needy, the destitute find it very hard to be…