What is the difference of consciousness between Eastern and Western man?

Beloved Osho, why has it happened that in the east, religion came to its highest flowering, and in the west the same has happened to science? Is there some difference of consciousness between the eastern man and the western man?

There is no difference of consciousness in the East and the West. The difference was in the climate, in the geography, in the situation; the difference was outside, not inside. Hence, religion became the only challenge in the East, and science became the only challenge in the West. But now the situation is totally different. The East has fallen into bankruptcy, which is natural ... that too is a law to be understood. When you are affluent, luxurious, religion is born. Once religion is born, immediately religion starts teaching you to be poor. That is a very strange thing, but there is some inner consistency in it. When you are luxurious, and the whole country is enjoying, and eating, and drinking, and being merry -- this is their only religion. Naturally, those who attain to samadhi and superconsciousness -- start condemning, "What are you doing, wasting your life eating, drinking,…

Beloved Osho, when I came to greece to see you, everything reflected more and more of the zorba. Now, being here in india, everything around you is reflecting more of the buddha. Osho, does this depend on being in greece or india?

In Harapur, seven thousand years ago, they had bathrooms attached to their bedrooms, they had bathtubs, and they had a very special arrangement for circulation of water in the city. The hot and cold water in your bathroom is not a new thing; it was available in Harapur, in Mohenjo daro. They had swimming pools. It must have been a very highly cultured society. At the time of Gautam Buddha, just twenty-five centuries ago, even then the West was not very evolved. And you can see it. We did not crucify Gautam Buddha, and the West crucified Jesus Christ five hundred years after Gautam Buddha. And what Jesus was saying was nothing compared to Gautam Buddha. Gautam Buddha was saying that there is no God; still, nobody thought of crucifying him. Jesus Christ was not saying anything against Judaism; on the contrary, he was simply saying that he was their…

The west has given birth to aristotle, nietzsche, heidegger, camus, berdyaev, marcel and sartre. Is it going to give birth to buddhas by itself or is a communion with the eastern consciousness needed?

But that is not possible for a child -- the same happens to humanity. The child grows branches in directions which are available. The child grows roots; those roots become entangled with the roots of the parents. And they remain entangled if you don't cut them. It is very difficult to find a really grown-up person; people grow old, they never grow up. And growing old is not growing up -- they are not synonymous. Growing old is moving towards death, growing up is moving towards more life, more abundant life. Great decisiveness is needed on your part. People remain entangled. A man may be fifty, but he is still behaving with his wife as if he were with his mother. He still expects the same from his wife as he used to expect from the mother; he is still a child. The woman may be fifty, but she still…

While talking about wisdom, insights, and enlightenment, you often say 'we in the east'. Please explain the meaning of this phrase.

THE EAST HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE EAST. The East is just symbolic of the inner space, of the inner world of consciousness. East is symbolic of religion, West is symbolic of science. So even if in the East a person attains to a scientific attitude, he becomes Western. He may live in the East, he may be born in the East -- that doesn't matter. Or, whenever a person attains to religious consciousness -- he may be born in the West, it makes no difference -- he begins to be a part of the East. Jesus, Francis, Eckhart, Boehme, Wittgenstein, even Henry Thoreau, Emerson, Swedenborg -- they are all Eastern. The East is symbolic, always remember. I am not concerned with geography. So whenever I say 'we in the East', I mean all who have come to know the inner reality. And whenever I say 'you in the…

Osho, what will happen if the eastern mind meets with the western mind?

The officer-in-charge took pity on him and he said, 'I can understand your difficulty, but now only one thing can be done. That too is not regular, but for you I will make a concession. You can choose either the indian hell or the german hell.' 'But what is the difference?' the man asked. 'In the german hell,' explained the officer-in-charge, 'you spend half your time eating all the food you want, listening to music and disporting yourself with girls. in the other half of the time you are pinioned to the wall and beaten mercilessly. Your nails and teeth are pulled out and boiling oil is poured over you.' 'And in the indian hell?' 'In the indian hell you spend half your time eating all the food you want, listening to music and disporting yourself with girls. In the other half of the time you are pinioned to the…