According to Osho, ignorance and knowledge are not opposites outside Brahman; both are expressions of the one Reality. Nothing stands apart from That, so what we call ignorance arises within Brahman and is, paradoxically, Brahman appearing as not-knowing. Recognizing this dissolves duality and relaxes the compulsion to separate or condemn.
Everything belongs to the same One, so even your confusion is part of it.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Then that is ignorance, isn’t it? So ignorance too is Brahman, and knowledge too is Brahman. Into that, what separate ignorance could come—where would it come from? Brahman itself is also the ignorant one.
Then ignorance too is Brahman, and knowledge too is Brahman. Within That, what ignorance could come separately—where would it come from? Brahman itself is also the ignorant one.
Eternal consciousness, itself beyond creation and destruction, is known as knowledge. The consciousness that is whole and all-pervading, and that permeates the entire cosmos like clay permeating the articles made of clay, and like gold permeating articles made of gold, and like yarn permeating articles made of yarn, is called the infinity.
THAT WHICH IS BLISSFUL CONSCIOUSNESS, WHICH IS AN OCEAN OF LIMITLESS BLISS, AND WHICH IS THE VERY NATURE OF EVERLASTING HAPPINESS IS KNOWN AS BLISS. In your innermost center, the moment there is no known and knower, this happening happens. There are ripples, ripples of bliss. And they go spreading, and they go on spreading, they go on... and there is no end to them then. And continuously, one lives in bliss. Because now you are the source: This bliss cannot be destroyed. Because now you are the source: This bliss cannot be taken back. Whenever something else is the source, it can be taken back; it is bound to be taken back, it can only be momentary and temporal. It is not your being, it is just a happening outside -- just a foreign something outside. Bliss is unrelated to anyone; bliss is not produced by any cause; it…
Invocation
IF YOU THINK THAT YOU KNOW BRAHMAN WELL, THEN YOU KNOW LITTLE INDEED, FOR THE FORM OF BRAHMAN THAT YOU SEE AS CONDITIONAL IN LIVING BEINGS AND GODS IS BUT A TRIFLE. THEREFORE, YOU SHOULD INQUIRE FURTHER ABOUT BRAHMAN. I DO NOT THINK I KNOW IT WELL, NOR DO I THINK THAT I DO NOT KNOW IT, YET I KNOW TOO. HE AMONGST US KNOWS IT WHO KNOWS THAT IT IS OTHER THAN THE UNKNOWN AND THE KNOWN. Kabir used to say that once a fish heard two scholars talking on the bank of a river, talking about what the ocean is. The fish became very much mystified; she started inquiring. It became an obsession for her -- what the ocean was. She inquired from elders, and they said that they had also heard about it, but they didn't know what it was. They had never seen it -- and…
Invocation
HE KNOWS IT WHO KNOWS IT NOT, AND HE KNOWS IT NOT WHO KNOWS IT. TO THE MAN OF TRUE KNOWLEDGE IT IS THE UNKNOWN, WHILE TO THE IGNORANT IT IS THE KNOWN. INDEED, HE ATTAINS IMMORTALITY WHO REALIZES IT IN AND THROUGH EVERY BODH -- PULSATION OF KNOWLEDGE AND AWARENESS. THROUGH THE ATMAN HE OBTAINS STRENGTH AND VIGOR AND THROUGH ITS KNOWLEDGE, IMMORTALITY. FOR ONE WHO REALIZES IT HERE, IN THIS WORLD, THERE IS TRUE LIFE. FOR ONE WHO DOES NOT SO REALIZE IT, GREAT IS THE LOSS. DISCOVERING THE ATMAN IN EVERY SINGLE BEING, THE WISE ONES, DYING TO THIS WORLD OF SENSE-EXPERIENCE, BECOME IMMORTAL. This is the mystery of religious knowing. The more you know it, the more it becomes unknown -- the more you feel how impossible it is to know, how difficult it is to know. The more you know the impossibility of this, the…
What exactly do yowl mean by 'conscious ignorance'? Is it the recognition that one is ultimately, fundamentally ignorant? Or is there more to it?
Ashoka, conscious ignorance is not ignorance at all. It is the ultimate state of consciousness -- how can it be ignorant? It is pure knowing. Of course, there is no knowledge, hence it is called ignorance. But there is knowing, utter knowing, clarity, transparency. No knowledge is gathered, but all is known. Conscious ignorance means innocence AND conscious. If innocence is unconscious, sooner or later it will be corrupted by knowledge. Unconscious mind is always ready to be corrupted, polluted, distracted. Consciousness means centering, awareness -- you cannot be distracted. You remain in your knowing, but you don't accumulate knowledge. Knowledge is always of the past: knowing is in the present, is of the present. Like a mirror: the mirror reflects if something comes before it, but when it passes the mirror is empty again. This is conscious ignorance -- not that the mirror does not reflect: it reflects, but…