According to Osho, Friedrich Nietzsche is the greatest Western philosopher—profound, multidimensional, and far ahead of his time. Misread largely because Hitler appropriated him, Nietzsche’s aphoristic style condensed vast insights, inviting distortion yet preserving brilliance. Osho predicts and notes a revival: a century later, readers finally uncover Nietzsche’s unmatched depth, fresh vision, and liberating, many-sided understanding.
Osho says Nietzsche is the greatest Western thinker; people misjudged him because of Hitler and his short sayings, but now many are finally seeing his real depth.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Whom do you think is the greatest western philosopher?
Friedrich Nietzsche. It will surprise you, but Friedrich Nietzsche is the most misunderstood philosopher... and he was more misunderstood because Adolf Hitler accepted him as his master. He was not a fascist. No other philosopher in the West had such a deep insight into things. And his approach was so multidimensional that he could not write in the ordinary way philosophical treatises are written. He wrote in maxims, because he had so much to write that he could write only in condensed forms. That became one of the reasons for misunderstanding him. Now there is a revival of interest in Nietzsche. And I was hoping that there would be a revival, because the greater a philosopher is, the more is the possibility that his contemporaries will not understand him. It will take at least a hundred years for people to understand him; a genius is always a hundred years ahead…
Beloved Osho, there is a revival of interest in nietzsche all over europe, from both the pre-and post-war generations. Nietzsche's appeal seems to lie in his views still being contemporary. Could you please comment?
But one thing has to be remembered: he was misunderstood, and all the people who have been misunderstood have one thing in common -- that nobody refutes them. It is as if misunderstanding is enough. Nobody has refuted Friedrich Nietzsche. Although he has challenged the whole of Christianity, the popes have been silent -- because what he is saying is so clear that it is better to ignore rather than to refute it; you cannot refute it. It is good -- it will help Europe to get rid of Christianity, which has been a calamity and has kept people retarded. It will also help people to think more aphoristically -- which looks like the person is jumping from one conclusion to another conclusion. That's how every great philosophical treatise should be written, because it is not written for children, it is not written for schools; it is written for the…
Question: BELOVED OSHO, PROLOGUE PART 1 WHEN ZARATHUSTRA WAS THIRTY YEARS OLD, HE LEFT HIS HOME AND THE LAKE OF HIS HOME AND WENT INTO THE MOUNTAINS. HERE HE HAD THE ENJOYMENT OF HIS SPIRIT AND HIS SOLITUDE AND HE DID NOT WEARY OF IT FOR TEN YEARS. BUT AT LAST HIS HEART TURNED -- AND ONE MORNING HE ROSE WITH THE DAWN, STEPPED BEFORE THE SUN AND SPOKE TO IT THUS: GREAT STAR! WHAT WOULD YOUR HAPPINESS BE, IF YOU HAD NOT THOSE FOR WHOM YOU SHINE! YOU HAVE COME UP HERE TO MY CAVE FOR TEN YEARS: YOU WOULD HAVE GROWN WEARY OF YOUR LIGHT AND OF THIS JOURNEY, WITHOUT ME, MY EAGLE AND MY SERPENT. BUT WE WAITED FOR YOU EVERY MORNING, TOOK FROM YOU YOUR SUPERFLUITY AND BLESSED YOU FOR IT. BEHOLD!
Beloved Osho, whenever I read friedrich nietzsche, and feel quite relaxed, it appears as if I have a connection with a spirit which is alive and I talk to him. He is not dead but a living friend and it doesn't sound absurd at all that all the great spirits are in deep communication with one another whether they are dead or alive. But with you, all names and words disappear and I feel bright and enlightened. I love this state of being with you like this. What is your secret?
Ramakrishna said, "That is a way of saying things which cannot be said. You said, `God does not exist.' And I say you are the proof that God exists; otherwise, from where such beautiful intelligence?" Now, how to argue with such a man? After ten minutes, Keshav Chandra was at the feet of Ramakrishna -- "Just forgive me, I had no idea of a man who is not in the mind but in the being. You have made it clear to me. You are not a man of logic, you are a man of love -- but love is far higher, logic is mundane. Please accept me as one of your disciples." Nietzsche is a great logician, a great philosopher, but he knows nothing of reality. All that he says is mind -- guesses, inferences. Assumptions supported by argument may befool people but they cannot befool a man who knows.…
Beloved Osho, your thinking frequently reminds me of nietzsche's realism; yet he didn't believe that man was intrinsically good or bad. Would you please comment.
A medical student is taking a test, and one of the questions is, "Name the three best advantages of mother's milk." The student immediately writes, "1. It has all the healthful nutrients needed to sustain a baby. 2. It is inside the mother's body, and therefore protected from germs and infections." But the student can't think of the third answer. He tries hard, and finally he writes,"3. It comes in such nice containers." What else to do? He did his best, thinking about the third best quality. Thinking has always been leading people, societies, cultures, into very ridiculous conclusions. Thinking has not proved a blessing to humanity, while meditation has proved a tremendous ecstasy, and the ultimate experience of deathlessness. I am all for meditation. Nietzsche was very much against Jesus and against Gautam Buddha too. Although he had no idea, at least about Gautam Buddha, his antagonism was based…