According to Osho, the Lilith-as-first-human account was buried by male chauvinism: men’s pride couldn’t accept woman preceding man, so they rewrote the myth to place Adam first and patched the logic with the absurd ‘rib’ story because man lacks a womb. He deems the original—woman first—natural and true, and rejects the patriarchal revision.
Men didn’t like the idea that a woman came first, so they changed the story and invented Adam’s rib.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Ancient jewish mythology places lilith as the first person on earth -- not adam. Why was this version lost? Would you tell us about it?
There is not a secret in it, just male chauvinism. It was difficult for man to think that a woman was made first and man followed. No -- it is against the pride. The original version said that Lilith was created first -- and it seems natural that woman should come first, because she carries the womb. A woman should come first. That seems natural, biological, true. But it is difficult for man to entertain the idea. He changed the story. He created another myth that Adam was created first. But then there was trouble -- because then how to produce Eve from Adam? So a rib was taken, because there was no womb. Now the whole story is foolish. With a woman it would remain simple. With man it was almost impossible. A rib was taken out and Eve was created. The first story is true. I agree with…
They were male chauvinists, so much so that they praised homosexuality more than heterosexuality. It will sound very strange because almost twenty-five centuries have passed since Socrates, but Socrates himself was in love with men, not women. Perhaps his wife Xanthippe created so much trouble for him that he over-reacted and forgot all about women, and started loving men. Perhaps there were other reasons. If some day I have to go into the psychoanalysis of Socrates, then I may uncover things which no one else would even think to uncover. But the male chauvinist says God created man, and just because man was alone, and needed company, God created Eve. This is not the original story. The original woman's name was not Eve, her name was Lilith. God created Lilith, but Lilith created, from the very first moment, the problem.
Beloved Osho, where did the devil come from when he appeared to adam and eve as a serpent?
Not only were ordinary women forced to confess and burned alive, once a woman accepted that she was a witch and has had a sexual relationship with the devil, then certainly she could not be allowed to remain alive even for a single moment. She was bringing the devil into human blood, she would pollute the whole of humanity: she had to be burned alive. And it was not ordinary women only -- even nuns, mother superiors, they managed, and forced them to confess. Anybody could raise the suspicion, just that was enough. Anybody, any man, could raise the suspicion to the pope, to the bishop, to the high priest, that this woman, this nun, seems to be a witch. That was enough for the investigation to begin. And there was a special court arranged by the pope, the Inquisition, with a big office and hundreds of people working for…
The hidden harmony is better than the obvious.
OPPOSITION BRINGS CONCORD. OUT OF DISCORD COMES THE FAIREST HARMONY. IT IS IN CHANGING THAT THINGS FIND REPOSE. PEOPLE DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW THAT WHICH IS AT VARIANCE WITH ITSELF, AGREES WITH ITSELF. THERE IS A HARMONY IN THE BENDING BACK, AS IN THE CASE OF THE BOW AND LYRE. THE NAME OF THE BOW IS LIFE, BUT ITS WORK IS DEATH. I was reading a pamphlet. They say, "Kill man! Murder every man! -- because if man lives, there can be no freedom for woman." But if you kill man, can you be there? The game needs both. Lilith disappeared, then the game could not continue, so God had to create a woman. That's why he tried one bone of man himself this time, because to bring a separate woman would again create trouble. So he took a rib out of Adam and created a woman. Hence, there is…
Beloved Osho, in your experience, is there any connection between the qualities of the invented self, and those of the real self? Is the ego like a shadow or a distortion of the authentic being; or is there a total discontinuity? Looking back, do you see any traces in the one you are now of the man you once were?
The ego is not a shadow of the self, because in even being a shadow it will have a certain reality, a certain connection with the real self. It is not a distortion of the real self either, because the self cannot be distorted; there is no possibility of that. The ego is simply false, a substitute created by society to give you a feeling that you have a center, that you have a self, that there is no need for any search -- you have already got it. To prevent you from reaching the real self, this is the most cunning device. It is completely made up -- from the very beginning, the child is being fed with things which will make its ego. They will appreciate you, they will say you are beautiful, you are good, you are nice -- but only when you don't assert your real…