According to Osho, there is only one basic ignorance: we do not know who we are. This absence of self-awareness is the tiny seed that spawns every other confusion and mistake. Light the inner lamp of 'Who am I?' and action becomes naturally right amid life's constant change. True religion is awakening, beyond habits, morality, and the ego's pits.
Life is like a shifting dark room; until you switch on the inner light by knowing who you are, you keep bumping into things.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, “Even now, awaken, O ignorant one”—this address by Paltu Dasji is for everyone; but what is the single basic ignorance we all share? Please tell us.
There is only one ignorance: we do not know who we are. All other ignorances are born out of this one. There is a single seed; then the tree grows large—many branches and sub-branches, many leaves and flowers, fruits. And in one seed, countless seeds appear. Botanists say a tiny seed is capable of covering the whole earth with greenery. And a tiny seed of ignorance has filled the human being with utter darkness. The seed is small: the lack of the awareness “Who am I?” One who lacks this very awareness—whatever he does will go wrong. When the inner lamp has not been lit, there is no possibility that your actions will be right. Yet we all try to set our actions right. It is like not lighting a lamp in the dark and instead practicing how to walk correctly—so that in the dark I can walk without falling,…
Osho, you said that you don't know who you are. Don't you really? Do we never know who we are?
But it has been a great problem for the scholars: "Why did Eknath treat his own god in this way?" They don't have any answer. At least he could have looked at him, at least he could have said, "Please sit down on the brick." I have talked with many Maharashtrian scholars who are followers of Eknath; they don't have any answer. I said, "It is so simple. The story may be bogus, and I know that it is bogus. There is no Vithoba; nobody ever comes, whether you keep your door open or locked. But one thing is certain: Eknath was really an authentic man. When he was doing one thing, he was doing it totally. When God comes he says, "Stand there, don't bother me till I am finished with my work." To me this is the implication in my saying that if death comes to my sannyasins…
Osho! I am utterly ignorant. Whenever I close my eyes, I see only great darkness. Will I ever receive even a ray of light? Please explain.
Modern man has lost certain things; among them is waiting. He has lost humility—because science has given him a reason. Science has given man the ego that says, “What can I not do! I will do everything—conquer storms, conquer clouds, turn deserts into gardens, float colonies in space—what can I not do!” Science has gifted man with ego. And science has also snatched waiting from your hands. It says: “Hurry! It can be done quickly!” Where it earlier took three days, science will get you there in three minutes. So science has taught haste, a rush. Now everyone is running. He who traveled by train now flies; he who traveled by bullock cart now goes by train. Speed! But if someone asks, “What will you do with the time you save?” it is very surprising. You did not go by train, you went by plane, you saved three days—now what?…
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…
Osho, no real question forms. I don’t even know whether I want to ask anything or not. But I want to hear something from you—for me. Please don’t mention my name.
What you appear to be on the surface, you are not. Your body is no more than clothing; your mind too is only the inner garment. Body and mind are not separate: the mind is the inner aspect of the body, the body the outer aspect of the mind. You are neither. You are the letter that never takes birth and never dies. You are part of that great epic which some call God, some Liberation, some Nirvana. You are a drop of the Lord’s eye—an immortal tear. You are a limb of the Divine; not separate. What name could you have? Thus the rishis of the Upanishads proclaim their Brahman-being—not their personal being, but Brahman’s being. Thus Al-Hallaj Mansur cries “Ana’l-Haqq!”—I am the Truth! Not “I am,” but Truth is. Our name separates us. Remember your namelessness, so this separateness dissolves. Our form, color, caste, class—these divide us. And…