Evolution isn’t a conveyor belt; even animals choose a little, and by the time we’re human, our growth happens mostly when we choose it.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, Mahipal-ji asks about karma: this evolution that is happening—the animals and birds moving toward the human realm—is it simply the result of a spontaneous, automatic evolution that runs by itself, or does their conscious effort also participate in it?
As I said: when a new consciousness develops, new bodies must be assumed. When a conscious society’s numbers increase, new planets and satellites must be colonized. Scientists cannot explain how life first appeared on Earth; they can describe evolution, but evolution presupposes something that evolves. Where did life come from? If the fish became human, where did the fish come from? If plant became fish, where did life enter the plant? Life must come from somewhere. Similarly, when a mother becomes fit to conceive, a soul enters her. When a planet or satellite becomes fit for life, life migrates there from other planets. The first germs always transmigrate; there is no other way. From another planet—perhaps one where life is nearing its end—the seed comes. You also asked whether the efforts of Buddhas and Mahaviras—or I, or anyone—ever actually help beings to evolve. It has happened many times. Our view…
Osho, man's partial consciousness is a stage in the grand evolution of life. What could be the significance of his volitional efforts in its growth? Please also explain the role that the buddhas, the enlightened ones, play in the expansion of human consciousness.
Of course, obviously, a Buddha knows less than you, but that doesn't mean that you are more grown-up. A Jesus knows less than you. He knows less than any Catholic priest because he was never trained, never educated. He was just a carpenter's son -- uneducated, with no information of the world; but still, you are not more evolved than him. A Mohammed is just illiterate, a Kabir is just a nobody -- but they are more evolved. But then that evolution is something else: an evolution of consciousness, not just of things. You can substitute having for being. Being is a different dimension of growth -- a vertical one; having is horizontal. Things go on and on, and you have so many things -- so much information, so much knowledge, so much wealth, so many degrees, so many honours. But this is accumulation: it is horizontal. There is no…
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…
Is sadhana a natural growth, or is it a jump outside the evolutionary process of nature? If sadhana is not a jump and transcendence of the natural evolution, then is it possible that the entire human race can reach spiritual heights all by itself? If it is true that the course of evolution continues to move ahead, why were the greatest spiritual cultures of the past left behind in the whole evolutionary process?
As the individual becomes more and more conscious, his ability to choose becomes more and more profound. The more unconscious an individual is, the less profound is his ability to choose. For example, there is no way that water lying in the sun cannot turn into vapor -- it would be difficult for it not to. The water can't decide whether to become vapor or not. If it stays in the sun, then it is sure to become vapor, and lying in the cold, it is sure to become ice. This, the water will have to live through, although it will have no knowledge that it is living through it, because its consciousness is low, or not at all, or dormant. Trees in Africa rise hundreds of feet in search of the sun. They grow in height. Trees in India won't grow to such heights, because in India there aren't…
Osho, deep down, what is the difference between plant life and animal life?
But not all human beings act. Very few are truly worthy of the name ‘human.’ Most only react. Someone loves you, and you love in return—that is reaction. If someone abuses you and you still love, that is action. When someone loves you and you love back, it is reaction—just like a dog wagging its tail when you throw it bread; there is no fundamental difference. But if someone abuses you and you can love, then it is action. So I am saying: some plants have begun to move; they are entering the direction of the animal. Some animals even act a little—very little; such animals are moving toward the human. Some human beings truly act; they are moving toward higher planes of consciousness. The difference is in freedom. The lower we go, the more dependent it is: stone the most dependent, plant less, animal less than that, the so-called…