Why does the ego exist despite having no reason to be?

Osho, there is no reason for the ego to be, and yet why is there ego?

Chuang Tzu was passing by a cemetery. It was evening; darkness was falling. His foot struck a skull lying there. He immediately knelt and folded his hands. His disciples were startled. Chuang Tzu was an enlightened man. What is he doing—has he gone mad? But the disciples stood silently, watching. He offered a long prayer. He said to the skull, Forgive me! You are not an ordinary skull, because I know for certain this is a cemetery of the great. Here only kings, high priests, mahatmas are buried. You must be the skull of some great saint or king. It is sheer coincidence that today you have no skin on the outside and the drum of ego is not beating within; otherwise I would have been in trouble. It is sheer coincidence that I have been spared. Life saved and a fortune made… If the drum of ego were beating…

Beloved Osho, why is there an ego? It seems so absolutely meaningless, and not necessary at all -- non-existent actually. Do you know?

I do not know, because I don't have any ego. To know it one has to have it. I have looked within myself, searched within myself; I have not found it anywhere. And your question is strange. You say, "The ego is non-existent." Then why are you asking questions about things which don't exist? No, it is not non-existent for you, hence the question. Don't try to deceive yourself. You say, "It is meaningless, it serves no purpose." That is not right. It serves great purpose. The purpose of the ego is to give you a false self -- because the society, the religion, the country, the race in which you are born, does not want you to know your real self. That is dangerous, because the person who finds his real self is a rebel -- and all the religions teach obedience. What was the fault of Adam and…

Osho, according to what you say and what all enlightened ones say, the ego has no existence—and yet you tell us to witness the ego! Please kindly help us understand this baffling riddle.

To live through that moment is tapascharya, spiritual austerity. It is a great austerity when you have absolutely no sense of who you are. When all the palaces built by your concepts have collapsed, when you stand in dense darkness, in emptiness, with not a single ray of light about who you are—the Christian mystics have aptly named this the Dark Night of the Soul. And only after this dark night does the dawn come. Whoever is afraid to pass through it never reaches the morning. So first the false notions have to be dropped, false identifications abandoned. A time will come when you will forget who you are; it will be a state like madness. If you are courageous and pass through this, then another time will come when the morning sun rises; for the first time you will know who you are. When it is revealed to you…

Osho, what is the fundamental anguish of human life?

There is only one anguish: that a human being cannot become what he was born to be. There is only one anguish: that the seed remains a seed and does not bloom like a flower; that it cannot scatter its fragrance to the infinite winds; cannot converse with the moon and stars; cannot offer its colors to the sky; cannot be expressed. If the poem within the poet cannot be revealed—anguish. If the painter cannot paint—anguish. If the dancer cannot dance—if chains lie on his feet—anguish. Anguish means only this: that what we are meant to be—our innate nature and destiny—does not come to fruition, and we are forced to be something else. Then anguish is born. Then melancholy gathers over life. And all those countless people you see burdened with sorrow, living in a kind of hell—the reason is only this: each has come carrying the seed of becoming…

Osho, attachment arises from the illusion called ego; please clarify more clearly the origin of ego.

The weak pray; they look religious. The truly religious has such trust—but for that trust, great strength is needed. “Fine, it is in His hand; He knows. If the sword is His, and if He must cut my neck, let Him—it must be for some good.” Only the strong surrender; the egoist is always weak. You will say, “Wrong—egoists look strong.” A psychological truth: Adler found that the more inferior a man feels, the more egoistic he becomes. One who has real power has no need of ego; his power shows—no announcement required. The sun does not announce its coming; it comes and all know—flowers open, birds sing, people wake, trees stir, winds blow, waves rise. A fake sun would bring a band to announce itself because its mere presence would announce nothing. Our ego hides inner weakness; it arranges externals. It knows it is weak; in itself, nothing will…