Will an increase in consciousness among people lead to a global explosion of awareness?

The printing press was discovered by certain individuals in different places at about the same time. Will the same happen to consciousness? As more people become conscious, will there be an explosion in the world? Is consciousness contagious?

Yes. It is contagious, and it is going to happen exactly in the same way; a few individuals will explore it and then it will become a wildfire. There is no way to prevent it. It is a well-known fact, not only about printing presses but about other discoveries.... The printing press was discovered in different countries unrelated to each other, almost at the same time. It is a strange phenomenon. How does it happen? Something invisible seems to be passing around. Albert Einstein was asked, "If you had not discovered the theory of relativity, what do you think -- would it ever been discovered or not?" Albert Einstein laughed. He said, "At the most, just within two years somebody else would have discovered it." And he said, "I am saying two years at the LONGEST." It could have been only two weeks, because human consciousness had come to a…

Question: BELOVED OSHO, EACH NEW ERA OF THE LAST FEW CENTURIES HAS AFTER A SLOW START EMERGED VERY SUDDENLY -- THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND THE ERA OF COMMUNICATIONS ARE TWO OBVIOUS EXAMPLES. BEING WITH YOU I ALWAYS HAVE THE FEELING THAT WE ARE SITTING AROUND A WARM COSY FIRESIDE, AT THE FEET OF THE MAN WHO INVENTED FIRE, WHILE ALL AROUND ARE THE HOWLS OF AGONY AT THE ICY WORLD EVERYBODY ELSE IS ENDURING. AS MAN SCRAMBLES TO EXAMINE EVERY NOOK AND CRANNY OF THE WORLD ABOUT HIM, FROM THE DEEPEST OCEAN TO THE FARTHEST STAR, THE ABSENCE OF ANYBODY LOOKING INTO MAN HIMSELF IS BECOMING SO PERVERSE THAT THE SILENCE IS DEAFENING. AND THE SUSPENSE OF WAITING FOR THE PENNY TO DROP IS SIMPLY BREATHTAKING.

As a person reaches to collective superconscious, he raises waves around the whole world. And the person who reaches to the cosmic superconscious, you can call it enlightenment, illumination, godliness; this height immediately affects the whole consciousness of humanity. Of course, the humanity is so big that everybody does not become enlightened. But perhaps everybody starts moving towards superconscious, and those who are seeking and searching may start moving towards collective superconscious. When I say two hundred enlightened people are enough to raise the whole world consciousness as a sudden and radical change -- that their consciousnesses suddenly start going higher, of which they were not aware; things they have not seen, they have not dreamed, clarities that were not available to them; and their stupidities, conditionings, they stop carrying any longer. They drop them immediately.

So that means, Osho, you suggest direct communication and direct perception?

Yes—this is exactly what I am saying: each of us needs a direct experience of our own life. And those who have such an experience should also meet others personally, face to face, and communicate it. Even that—two individuals standing before one another and sharing their vision—is no light matter; it is so complex that if it becomes clear even to a single person, that is a great deal. For it to become clear to the crowd is very difficult. The crowd does not even think. So the point is direct communication and direct perception. Become directly present to yourself; let yourself be directly seen by yourself. And whoever comes to see should try to help those near him or her to see as well—through one’s very presence, one’s conduct, one’s speech, one’s thought, one’s life. Fire can spread; as one lamp lights another, so the flame can move on.…

Beloved Osho, how do you intend to raise the consciousness of the entire planet? Do we have enough time? Do we have a chance?

I am a lazy man, I cannot do that. If I have to catch hold of my ear I will catch it directly, rather than moving my hand around my head and then catching hold of my ear -- that looks ludicrous. But Ramateertha made a great impression by this. People are foolish; if you try to see what things people get impressed with you will be surprised. That will show you what kind of humanity exists on the earth. They were very much impressed by Ramateertha: "Here is a man who is egoless." He was not egoless. There is enough proof in his life to show that he was not egoless. When for the first time in India I said that, there was great anger amongst Hindus because they always believed that Ramateertha was one of the greatest souls born in this century. He was respected around the world,…