According to Osho, you’re not somewhere on a bridge—you are the bridge itself between ego (animal) and egolessness (divine). The more crystallized the ego, the more animal; when the ‘I’ vanishes, the divine remains. Don’t strive for freedom as an ego project; simply become alert and stop cooperating with ego. In that watchful non-cooperation, the bridge is transcended.
You are the bridge made of the feeling of ‘I’; just watch it without feeding it, and it fades to reveal the quiet divine.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
You said man is a bridge between the animal and the divine. Where are we on this bridge?
You are not on the bridge, you are the bridge. This has to be understood. If you think that you are on the bridge, you have missed the point -- this is the ego misinterpreting the whole thing. You are the bridge. You have to be surpassed, transcended. You, as you are, are the bridge. You have to be left behind; you have to go beyond yourself. If you understand this rightly then one thing can become very clear: if you are too much, you will become the animal; then too the bridge disappears. If the ego is crystallized too much, then too you are not a bridge, the bridge is no more -- you have become the animal. If you are not at all, the bridge again disappears -- then you are the divine. If only ego is left, you are a dog; the ego is the dog. If…
The pull of animality is powerful because that is our whole past, we are deeply rooted in it. The pull of the divine is not so powerful, cannot be, because we have not tasted anything of it. Every day the pull of the divine becomes greater and greater when you live with a Master. When you start imbibing his spirit, when slowly slowly his awareness merges with you, provokes you, challenges you, hammers you, when his presence becomes a constant call to wake up, then slowly slowly the divine pull becomes greater than the animal. And the moment it is greater than the animal the transformation happens immediately: you simply start moving in a direction you have never known existed. And as you start moving into the divine dimension the animal fades far behind.
Osho, this ego of mine from lifetimes is perhaps the greatest obstacle between you and me. This very ego does not let me bow at your feet, does not let me be effaced. Lord, have compassion on me and erase me; in this very life, absorb me into yourself and make me one.
Put your whole effort into meditation. I am standing with you! And the divine stands with you. The whole existence is with you. Whenever one sets out toward meditation, the whole existence, in bliss, extends help—for someone lost is coming home; someone far away is returning; a seed is sprouting, shooting, leafing. The sky gives it shade, the sun warmth, the clouds water. The earth gives it life. The whole existence becomes a helper. Yes—if you move against existence, then you are alone. The journey of ego is a solitary journey. In the journey of meditation, the whole existence is your ally. But do not leave it all to existence; you must labor. Existence will support. And what you have done so far is auspicious, in the right direction. Your steps are falling in the right direction. Look back and remember your face of five or seven years ago, saint!…
Osho, you have explained that either the energy rises from you and meets the Divine, or the Divine’s energy descends and merges in you. The first is the rising of kundalini, and the second is the receiving of God’s grace. Further, you have said that when the energy asleep within meets the cosmic energy, there is an explosion. So, for this explosion or for samadhi, is the union of kundalini awakening and grace necessary, or are the flowering of kundalini up to the sahasrara and the attainment of grace one and the same?
Your kundalini is your sleeping energy. It marks your boundary near the sexual center and near the brain center. That is why we continually feel that though we might drop identification with the whole body, we cannot drop identification with our head, with our face. It is not very hard for me to consider that perhaps this hand is not me; but if I look into a mirror and try to think, “This face is not me,” it becomes very difficult—that is the frontier. Therefore a man may be ready to lose everything, but he is not ready to lose his intellect. Someone asked Socrates, “Would you prefer to be a dissatisfied Socrates or a satisfied pig?” Because Socrates was speaking of contentment; he was saying: contentment is the supreme wealth. So someone asked him, “Would you prefer to be a satisfied pig or a dissatisfied Socrates?” And Socrates said,…
Question: FOCUS ON FIRE RISING THROUGH YOUR FORM FROM THE TOES UP UNTIL THE BODY BURNS TO ASHES BUT NOT YOU. MEDITATE ON THE MAKE-BELIEVE WORLD AS BURNING TO ASHES AND BECOME BEING ABOVE HUMANAS, AS SUBJECTIVELY, LETTERS FLOW INTO WORDS AND WORDS INTO SENTENCES, AND AS, OBJECTIVELY, CIRCLES FLOW INTO WORLDS AND WORLDS INTO PRINCIPLES, FIND AT LAST THESE CONVERGING IN OUR BEING All the enlightened ones, all the religions, agree on one thing only. Their disagreements are many, but there is one agreement amongst all, and that is that man, because of his ego, is closed to the reality. The ego is the only barrier; the feeling that I AM. On this point Buddhas and Christs and Krishnas all agree. And because they all agree it seems to me that this is the basic thing in all religious endeavor.