According to Osho, teachings appear both logical and illogical because he first uses logic to meet the mind where it is and win attention; once trust relaxes the ego, he shifts beyond logic, since life, love and transformation are supra-logical and immeasurable. Logic opens the door; illogic—direct experience and catalytic situations—transforms the whole being, which no argument can accomplish.
He talks logically to get your attention, then guides you beyond logic because real change is bigger than thinking.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, your talks are very logical, but on the other hand your way of working is so illogical. What is this mystery? Please explain.
When this phenomenon was known it was very puzzling. Eddington said that physics is becoming mysticism. Even mystics cannot do such miracles; no mystic has been known to do it. They have walked on water and they have raised the dead, but even Buddha has to walk from one village to another -- not just appearing in one village, disappearing, appearing into another. Then in forty years time he would have done at least the work of four thousand years! But when physicists were asked, "How do you explain it?" they said, "We cannot explain it. This is how it is." They were asked, "It does not fit with logic." So they said, "We have to change logic!" Logic will have to fit with it; existence has no obligation to fit with logic. Why it should fit with your logic? Logic is man's invention, existence is not. Man himself is…
“But Osho, to me your talks seem very, very logical.”
They are logical. My whole effort is that what I say to you be logical—so that you agree to walk with me. Once you agree, then into the ditch we go; then I’ll take you off your tracks! Just consent once, let our hands meet once—then there’s nothing to worry about. Once your hand is in my hand, you won’t keep it outside for long. First I catch the fingers, then the wrist, and then… the person is gone! So I make the first connection through logic, because that’s where you live; only from there can connection happen—there is where you are. This is why even atheists come to me; even atheists agree with me. The atheist has no quarrel with me because I speak the atheist’s language. But that is a net. That language is a net. It’s like when we go to catch fish, we put dough on…
Osho, to what extent does life have relevance to logic?
I am not against logic. Use it -- it is a beautiful strategy as far as things are concerned, the marketplace is concerned, the superficial world is concerned -- but beware that you don't go on carrying it into deeper layers of life and experience. There it is a hindrance. Logic means mind. Mind is helpful in understanding the objective world. Mind is a hindrance in understanding the subjective world, because the subjective world is beyond the mind, behind the mind. You can use your eyes to see others, but you cannot use your eyes to see yourself. If you want to see yourself through your own eyes you have to use a mirror. To look in a mirror means you are creating a reflection of yourself -- which is not you, certainly not you, but you can see the reflection. Logic can see only the reflected glory of existence;…
Logic is applicable to the mundane world, for calculation, for arithmetic, for business, for science -- for the world of the objects it is perfectly okay, but the moment you start entering into higher planes of being, the moment you become interested in poetry, in singing, in music, in dance, in love, in prayer, then you have to leave the world of logic behind. Then you have to take a quantum leap, because unless you are capable of containing contradictions within yourself you will not be able to be a poet. You will not be able to be really a creator. Logic cannot create. It can analyse, it can dissect. There is a story of a Sufi mystic, Farid: one king came to visit the mystic. Somebody has presented him a golden scissor, studded with very precious diamonds.
So all religions have become theologies. Theology means logic about god. That is sheer stupidity, there is no logic about god. God is the most illogical phenomenon. It is as illogical as love. Is there any logic in love? You fall in love with somebody -- what logic is there? If somebody insists "Why?", you can only shrug your shoulders, that's all. You can only say it has happened; it is a happening, not a doing. It is something bigger than you, hence it is incomprehensible. And it is not of the mind, it is of the heart, so the mind knows nothing about it. The mind condemns it, the mind calls it falling in love. Mind the word "falling", it is a condemnatory word. The mind says you have fallen, you are no more in your senses, you have gone a little bit cuckoo. It is a condemnation.