According to Osho, the West rushes because its religions assume only one life; time feels scarce, fueling urgency, productivity, wealth—and anxiety. The East moves slowly because it envisions countless lives; time feels abundant, encouraging patience, acceptance, even laziness and poverty. Both are partial truths. He proposes a synthesis: be fully alive and active in the present without inner tension—urgency outside, spaciousness inside.
The West runs fast thinking there’s only one life; the East walks slowly thinking there are many; the wise way is to act now but stay calm inside.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Why is there so much hurry in the west while the east seems to be so relaxed?
Different time orientation. The East thinks in terms of eternity, in terms of many many lives, incarnation after incarnation, one after another. The time span is very big, so there is no hurry. In the West the time span is very small, so there is hurry -- only one life. Only one life? -- and life is slipping by, it is going down the drain. If you live sixty years, twenty years will be lost in sleep; twenty years will be lost in some stupid job; fifteen years will be lost eating, defecating and things like that -- what is left? And whatsoever is left will be lost sitting before a TV -- finished! Fear arises, one becomes very much frightened. Something has to be done before it disappears... great, hectic hurry! The East thinks in a very very infinite span -- one life after another, the wheel of life…
You ask: “Osho, when will morning come?”
The council met—yet not inside the church; they gathered under a tree, at a safe distance. There was much opposition: “The ancient church, our forefathers’ heritage, centuries of experience and love—how can we pull it down?” But if no worshippers come, what is a church for? It must be done. So they passed some resolutions. First: with great sorrow, out of compulsion, O Lord forgive us—we resolve to demolish the old church. But instantly, struck by guilt, they passed a second: we will build a new church exactly like the old one, a perfect replica. Still the guilt hurt, so a third: we will build the new church using the old church’s bricks, doors, windows, glass—nothing new will be used. But the guilt was very deep; they passed a fourth: until the new is built, the old will not be pulled down. Our attachment to words, doctrines, scriptures, temples and…
Osho, why have I always been in such a hurry? Today I saw so clearly that it was my way of keeping the divine at a distance, and I felt incredibly sad, and saw the absurdity of this pattern.
Silverstein, the inveterate joiner, came rushing home, proudly holding a membership card to his newest organization. "Look," said Silverstein to his son, "I just joined the Prostitute Club!" "What?" said the boy. "Let me see that card." After reading it, he announced, "Pa, that's the Parachute Club!" "All I know is," said Silverstein, "they guaranteed me three hundred and sixty-five jumps a year." There are these people who are constantly joining this club and that, and this organization and that. They are simply afraid of being themselves, simply afraid of being left alone. There are people who are constantly rushing -- don't ask where, they themselves don't know. But in the rush they are occupied, and the occupation keeps them away from themselves, away from looking into their own inner hollowness. This constant hurry is nothing but an escape from your inner self. And there is a truth in it…
When an archer is shooting for fun he has all his skill. If he shoots for a brass buckle he is already nervous. If he shoots for a prize of gold he goes blind or sees two targets -- he is out of his mind.
HIS SKILL HAS NOT CHANGED, BUT THE PRIZE DIVIDES HIM. HE CARES. HE THINKS MORE OF WINNING THAN OF SHOOTING -- AND THE NEED TO WIN Herrigel could not understand. He tried and tried and said again and again, "If my aim is a hundred percent accurate, why don't you give me the certificate?" The Western mind is always interested in the end result and the East is always interested in the beginning, not in the end. To the Eastern mind the end is useless; the importance is in the beginning, in the archer, not in the target. So the master said, "No!" Then, completely disappointed, Herrigel asked permission to leave. He said, "Then I will have to go. Three years is so long and nothing has been gained. You go on saying no...that I am still the same." The day he was to leave he went to say goodbye…
Question: ON KNOWING THE ETERNAL LAW: ATTAIN THE UTMOST IN PASSIVITY, HOLD FIRM TO THE BASIS OF QUIETUDE. THE MYRIAD THINGS TAKE SHAPE AND RISE TO ACTIVITY, BUT I WATCH THEM FALL BACK TO THEIR REPOSE, LIKE VEGETATION THAT LUXURIANTLY GROWS BUT RETURNS TO THE ROOT (SOIL) FROM WHICH IT SPRINGS. TO RETURN TO THE ROOT IS REPOSE; IT IS CALLED GOING BACK TO ONE'S DESTINY. GOING BACK TO ONE'S DESTINY IS TO FIND THE ETERNAL LAW, TO KNOW THE ETERNAL LAW IS ENLIGHTENMENT. AND NOT TO KNOW THE ETERNAL LAW The whole concept of the Western mind is to fight to survive. They say, `survival of the fittest', `life is a struggle'. Why is it a struggle? It is a struggle because death is taken as the opposite.