We were scared of the dark, didn’t know what happens after death, and when sick people acted oddly we called it ghosts—then rituals and stories kept the idea going.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved Osho, why is it that all over the world, throughout the ages, people have had such a great capacity to imagine ghosts?
And they said, "Now it is becoming too difficult! Such a respected brahmin, well versed in the ancient law -- and the ghosts are not afraid even of him. And this is not right" -- because when they removed the can, the teacher was smelling of kerosene because it was a fresh tin, I had just emptied it. They all smelled him, and they said, "This is strange! And why were you going there? And what happened to your lamp?" The lamp was dropped there; in such a critical moment to remember it.... Somebody said, "Go and bring his lamp," but nobody was ready to. So I told his student, "You can go. You know the mantra, `Hare Krishna, Hare Rama.'" He said, "That mantra is useless! Even my teacher could not... he was repeating the mantra, and just as he was repeating the mantra, the can came down with…
I don't believe in ghosts and yet I am afraid of them. When I am alone in the night, I feel that they are there and they want to speak to me...
IN FACT, YOU deny things which you are afraid of. Your denial simply shows your fear. You say, I DON'T BELIEVE IN GHOSTS. If you really don't believe in ghosts, then from where can the fear come? then why should you be afraid? for what? But your disbelief is nothing but a way of hiding your fear. Remember: your belief is out of fear, your disbelief is out of fear. If you live in fear, whatsoever happens to you is going to happen out of fear. I see religious people going to the temples and the mosques and the churches out of fear, and I see atheists denying God out of fear. If I look deeply I don't see any difference between the theist and the atheist. They are both the same -- reacting differently;, but the situation is the same, and the fear is the same. Their differences are…
Another friend has asked: the things we want to destroy -- such as the chains of blind faith or superstition -- find even more confirmation in your talks. It seems, according to what you are saying, that there is life after death, that there are gods and there are ghosts, that there is transmigration of the soul. In that case, it would be difficult to get rid of superstitions, won't they become even stronger?
The man said, "Yes, I certainly did. I was very puzzled. I came here to wait for somebody, and suddenly I felt that my body was about to fall asleep. I lost control and went to sleep. And then I felt strongly as if someone was telling me 'Get up, get up. Get up in seven minutes!' I can't figure any of this out." The man had no idea what had happened. Communication of thought without any medium has become a scientific truth, but an educated man would call it superstition. It is possible that a sick man in one town can be cured from a faraway town; it's not too difficult. It's also possible that a snakebite can be healed from a distance of thousands of miles; there's not much difficulty to it. But there are many different kinds of superstitions. And remember, the superstition of an educated man…
The delusion of things being in one's soul is an imposed phenomenon. Dropping it, one is oneself the perfect, non-dual and actionless brahma -- the absolute reality.
THE WORLD THAT APPEARS AS A DIFFERENT THING FROM THE SOUL IS ALMOST UNTRUE. WHERE IS THE DIVISION IN A PURE, FORMLESS AND ORGANLESS ENTITY? THE CONSCIOUS-SOUL IS FREE OF THE NOTIONS OF SEER, SEEING AND THE SEEN ETCETERA. IT IS IMMUNE AND UTTERLY FULL LIKE THE OCEAN AT THE TIME OF DELUGE. EVEN AS DARKNESS DISSOLVES IN LIGHT, THE CAUSE OF ILLUSION DISSOLVES IN THE UNPARALLELED ABSOLUTE REALITY WHICH IS WITHOUT ORGANS -- SO WHERE IS THE DIVISION IN IT? THE SUPREME REALITY IS ONE SINGULARITY; HOW CAN THERE BE DIVISION IN IT? THE STATE OF SUSHUPTI -- DREAMLESS DEEP SLEEP -- IS BLISSFUL; WHO HAS SEEN DIVISIONS IN IT? This word almost is precious and valuable in Indian philosophy. India has created a new category, a new level of thinking. In the philosophy of the whole world there are two categories of thought: of truth and of untruth.…
Beloved Osho, you spoke the other morning about rising through the different levels of consciousness and bringing light to their respective counterparts in the unconscious. Are special techniques needed for this, or will watchfulness of the mind, the body, and the emotions simply bring us through these different levels?
He said, "The woman you were talking about. I believe in ghosts; just this is enough. But no more than this! I have heard the sound, and I don't want to get into all that trouble that that other woman had" -- because the story had spread all over the city that that woman... She stopped coming to the house because she became so afraid. She had a constant fever for three or four days; even after she became conscious and went to her home she had a fever, the fear went so deep. And the old man said, "I don't want to get into that trouble. Just open the door and let me go to my home!" I said, "You are such a God-believing person. This is the time to test your God." He said, "I am not going to listen to you; you are a dangerous fellow. God?…