According to Osho, man is not a finished entity but a 'perhaps'—pure possibility, a trembling openness between beast and Buddha. Unlike animals, we are undetermined, aware we are yet ignorant of who we are, burdened and blessed with choice, risk, and death-awareness. Man’s essence is growth: transforming potential into actuality—turning the seed into a flower—through conscious exploration, so freedom ripens into knowing.
We’re like seeds that can choose how to grow, and by becoming more aware we can blossom into who we truly are.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, what is the definition of God?
Words are very small. If you say God is light, then what of darkness? The scriptures have said that God is light. Suppose we accept this as a definition—then what about darkness? Where will darkness go? Darkness is too; in fact it is far more than light. Light sometimes is and sometimes is not; darkness is always, eternal. Where will you place darkness? If you say God is light, darkness is left out. If you say God is darkness, then light is left out. If you say God is both darkness and light, a contradiction arises: they cannot be together. Try to have both darkness and light in the same room. If you bring in light, darkness disappears; if you preserve darkness, you cannot have light. Then how can both be together? That becomes an impossibility. So you cannot say “both” either. Then the fourth device is to say: it…
What exactly is man?
MAN IS A MERE PERHAPS, A POSSIBILITY, A POTENTIAL, a becoming, a longing. Man is not yet. Man has to be. That's the agony of man, and the ecstasy too. The beast is -- there is no growth possible. It is a finished product. There is no possibility to seek and search and be. Hence, there is no freedom. The beast is in absolute bondage. The beast lives and dies without knowing that he lives and dies.The beast is, but knows not that he is. Man is and KNOWS that he is, but knows not WHO he is. Man is a constant process. Something is always happening, is always on the verge of happening. Man is an excitement, an adventure, a pilgrimage. No beast can ever miss its destiny. It is always predetermined. The beast has an absolute fate. Nothing is going to be otherwise. The beast is pre-programmed. Man…
Osho, what is it to be a man?
It is one of the most difficult questions to ask -- difficult because it cannot be answered. It cannot be answered because it is not really a question but a quest. Questions are simple, they can be easily answered, but a quest is a challenge, it is an adventure. You have to explore it; it is not possible to give a ready-made answer to you. You have to go into your own depths and experience it, because man is not a being in the ordinary sense of the word. A rosebush is a being, a tiger is a being, a dog is a being; but man is not a being, man is a becoming. To be a being means that one has come with a fixed programme into the world. The rosebush can only grow roses -- it has an inbuilt programme -- it cannot grow lotuses or marigolds; that…
There was once a woman who abandoned the religion in which she had been brought up. She left the ranks of the atheists too, and joined another faith. Then she became convinced of the truth of yet another. Each time she changed her beliefs, she imagined that she had gained something, but not quite enough. Each time she entered a new fold she was welcomed, and her recruitment was regarded as a good thing, and a sign of her sanity and enlightenment.
HER INWARD STATE, HOWEVER, WAS ONE OF CONFUSION. AT LENGTH, SHE HEARD OF A CERTAIN CELEBRATED TEACHER, IMAM JAFAR SADIK, AND SHE WENT TO SEE HIM. AFTER HE HAD LISTENED TO HER PROTESTATIONS AND IDEAS, HE SAID, 'RETURN TO YOUR HOME, I SHALL SEND YOU MY DECISION IN A MESSAGE.' SOON AFTERWARDS THE WOMAN FOUND A DISCIPLE OF THE SHEIK AT THE DOOR. IN HIS HAND WAS A PACKET FROM THE MASTER. SHE OPENED IT, AND SAW THAT IT CONTAINED A GLASS BOTTLE, HALF FULL WITH THREE LAYERS OF PACKED SAND -- BLACK, RED AND WHITE -- HELD DOWN BY A WAD OF COTTON. ON THE OUTSIDE WAS WRITTEN: 'REMOVE THE COTTON AND SHAKE THE BOTTLE TO SEE WHAT YOU ARE LIKE.' SHE TOOK THE WADDING OUT AND SHOOK THE SAND IN THE BOTTLE. THE DIFFERENT COLOURED GRAINS OF SAND MIXED TOGETHER, AND ALL THAT SHE WAS LEFT WITH WAS…
The perfume of sandalwood, rosebay, or jasmine, cannot travel against the wind.
BUT THE FRAGRANCE OF VIRTUE TRAVELS EVEN AGAINST THE WIND, AS FAR AS THE ENDS OF THE WORLD. HOW MUCH FINER IS THE FRAGRANCE OF VIRTUE THAN OF SANDALWOOD, ROSEBAY, OF THE BLUE LOTUS, OR JASMINE! THE FRAGRANCE OF SANDALWOOD OR ROSEBAY DOES NOT TRAVEL FAR. BUT THE FRAGRANCE OF VIRTUE RISES TO THE HEAVENS. DESIRE NEVER CROSSES THE PATH OF VIRTUOUS AND WAKEFUL MEN. THEIR BRIGHTNESS SETS THEM FREE. HOW SWEETLY THE LOTUS GROWS IN THE LITTER OF THE WAYSIDE. ITS PURE FRAGRANCE DELIGHTS THE HEART. FOLLOW THE AWAKENED AND FROM AMONG THE BLIND THE LIGHT OF YOUR WISDOM Life has to attain a balance always. You have taken so much, now give it. Become a flower! Only when you become a flower is there a possibility of disappearing as a fragrance. But then too, remember, don't remain a closed flower, don't remain a bud; otherwise your fragrance will…