According to Osho, fear is an inborn, intelligent survival response, while guilt is artificial—a product of priests who pathologize fear to control people with threats of sin and hell. Healthy fear protects life; guilt is fear turned against oneself. Recognize and keep intelligent caution, but discard imposed guilt so your energy remains free, unmanipulated, and alive.
Fear keeps you safe; guilt is what others create by scaring you into thinking you’re bad.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Question: BELOVED MASTER, CAN YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT GUILT AND FEAR? Gas chambers are still not known in hell. In a single gas chamber, ten thousand people, within seconds, can become smoke. And you will be surprised to know that although we are living in the twentieth century, man is still an animal. Thousands of people used to go to see. Glass was fitted, fixed in, one-way. You could see what was happening inside, but the insiders could not see who was looking in from the outside. Thousands of people would stand outside watching through the glass: people disappearing in smoke -- simply disappearing in smoke -- thousands of people dying within seconds. And the people who were enjoying outside, can you call them human beings? But remember, it has nothing to do with Germany, this is so all over the world. Man is exactly the same everywhere.
Why does religion create so much guilt?
Religion does not create guilt -- if it creates guilt it is not religion. Yes, Mohammedanism, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, they create guilt. Let that be your definition of religion: if it creates guilt it is not a religion. It is something else pretending, something else garbed as religion, posing as religion -- but it is not religion. Religion creates celebration, not guilt. These are hidden things which don't want to expose themselves. These so-called religions are more political than religious. Their whole idea, desire, ambition, is how to dominate people, how to control people. And naturally, guilt is one of the best mechanisms ever evolved to control people, to dominate people. Make them feel guilty! Once they start feeling guilty they are in your control. All dictators do that, all politicians do that. And your priest is just a politician behind the mask. The popes, the SHANKARACHARYAS, are all politicians;…
Are fear and guilt the same thing? And surely as light shows up darkness, so jesus must have made people aware of their guilt.
But when a Jesus, a sage, appears, darkness is simply destroyed. When the light is there, darkness is not shown. Darkness simply is not, because darkness is nothing but the absence of light. If there is darkness in the room and I give you a lamp and tell you, "Go. And take the lamp with you, because with the lamp it will be easy to see the darkness..." If you go in darkness, how will you be able to see the darkness? -- it looks logical. But absurd! Darkness can be seen only when there is no light. If you take the light with you, you will never be able to see darkness, because once the light is there, darkness is no longer there. Jesus simply destroys darkness, he destroys guilt. He creates hope, he creates confidence and trust. People who have been condemned for long, have lost all hope.…
Why is it that 'going with the flow' makes me feel guilty? Please talk about guilt . It is the guilt factor that makes floating so unattractive.
The child wants to enjoy everything, and the parents are guilt-ridden. The child wants to shout and he enjoys shouting; that is his expression, that is his creativity. That shout, if helped and not destroyed, will become his song -- that is the beginning of the song. But we stop him. We say, "Don't shout! This is ugly, this is bad, this is unmannerly. This is not done in the society. You belong to a famous family, you belong to a great, respectable family -- you should not do this. This is okay for the urchins, but not for you. You represent us: look how serious we are. We never shout -- and you are shouting?" And the child was enjoying the shouting so much. In fact, when you stop him shouting you have condemned his joy -- that's what he will understand deep down, existentially. What will happen to…
Beloved Osho, I feel so guilty when wanting to express myself and when I finally take courage to do so, it feels more like a no to others than a yes to myself. Then the guilt returns because of this. Postponement or defiance are the only ways I know but they seem part of a circle anyway. Beloved master, is there a way to transform guilt?
I said, "Just sit down. How, by cutting your hair, can your religion be destroyed?" He said, "I don't want to listen to anything. It is written in the scriptures, and I don't want to listen to anything against my scriptures. So please, give me my kachchha and I am going." Because while I was cutting his hair, I thought it would be good to take his kachchha also. So I pulled his kachchha out and he was so deeply asleep.... I said, "Kachchha? Who has taken your kachchha? You never take a bath -- I can say that my chauffeur is within a one mile radius, your kachchha sends such disgusting radiations. If somebody has taken it, be finished with it!" He said, "No, it is my religion! And first I want to know who the person is." And he had his sword in his hand. I said, "Calm…