According to Osho, living here-now and acting spontaneously is not guided by the past—'experience'—but by present awareness. What society calls responsibility (duty) is conditioning; true responsibility is response-ability: the capacity to meet each moment like a mirror, reflecting and responding totally, then letting go. From presence arises the most intelligent, appropriate action—individual, fresh, and responsible in essence, not borrowed from scriptures, parents, or memory.
Don’t act from old habits or others’ rules; stay awake to what’s happening now, and you’ll naturally do the right thing.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved Osho, "living in the here and now, acting spontaneously," will I find that my actions will still be guided by experience and responsibility?
Only one thing is eternally true, and that is your consciousness. And if you can bring your consciousness to the present, you cannot go wrong. Whatever you do out of that consciousness is always going to be right, not according to any criterion, but just because it is coming out of a total awareness. Out of total awareness nobody has ever done anything wrong. According to me, right is what comes out of your spontaneity and out of your consciousness and out of your presence here and now. And what is not out of your spontaneity, consciousness and your being here and now is wrong. There is no other criterion than what I have just told you. All other criteria are dead. They may have been living at one time, but that time is past. Heraclitus is right, you cannot step in the same river twice. And he was stating…
... Good! This will be your name: Swami Deva Ashawa. Deva means divine and ashawa means wine. That's what I would like you to be -- a divine drunkard. And the possibility is there (laughter), so don't get scared! You are ready for many things, you just have to take courage. Your energy is very innocent and pure, but you have been avoiding. Now this becomes your first commitment, involvement. Now your bogie is hitched with my bogie (laughter). It is a sort of hitch-hiking, mm? And change to orange! [A sannyasin asks a question on behalf of Geetam Rajneesh Meditation Centre: They say that there's only one thing that's separating them from enlightenment. They want to know the difference between spontaneity and irresponsibility.] Mm, mm.... It is a significant question, and it has to be understood.
Osho, can you talk about responsibility and what it means for us? I feel its importance more and more, but I am also confused about it. Am I avoiding something?
What I am saying is that if they had experienced it at its peak, its grip over them would have been lost. Then their whole life they would not be looking at PLAYBOY magazines; there would be no need. And they would not be dreaming about sex, having sexual fantasies. They would not be reading third-rate novels and looking at Hollywood movies. All this is possible because they have been denied their birthright. In the aboriginal society they live together in the night. One rule only is told to them: "Don't be with one girl more than three days, because she is not your property, you are not her property. You have to become acquainted with all the girls, and she has to become acquainted with all the boys before you choose your life partner." Now, this seems to be absolutely sane. Before choosing a life partner you should be…
Beloved master, many of us who have been with you for some time are experiencing a deepening of silence, stillness and joy within. With a tremendous gratitude to you also comes a sense of responsibility to existence to preserve this gift of life and consciousness. To realize your vision of global transformation and the new man, it seems that meditation, love, commitment and action are all necessary. Sometimes it feels difficult to move into activity while still remaining silent and meditative. Would you speak to us about wu-wei, action from inaction?
I had a very deep, intimate contact with my father. He was a rare man -- because whatever I said would have irritated any father, but he always pondered over it, contemplated it. I said, "Listen, I don't have any responsibility for you. You never asked if you could give birth to me. That was the point when we could have made a contract: `This is going to be my responsibility...' You have brought me into existence without even asking me. It is your responsibility, not mine. If something goes wrong you will be responsible for it." He said, "I never looked at it from that angle; perhaps you are right -- what kind of contact and intimacy do you have with me?" I said, "I am response-able, not responsible. I will act out of my love for you, not because you are my father. And I will act in…
Osho, many beings in this creation live a natural, spontaneous life in accordance with nature, but the human race is living a base life. Will human life turn toward spontaneity or not? What is our duty?
It is both man’s misfortune and his good fortune that he is not spontaneous. Misfortune—because the peace and ease available to plants and birds is not available to man. Good fortune—because if he wishes, man can become a Buddha, a Krishna, a Christ. Plants and animals cannot become a Krishna, a Buddha, or a Christ. Man’s defining trait is his freedom. Man is entitled to choose the order of his life. A dog is born a dog and dies a dog. A rosebush is born a rose and dies a rose. No revolution occurs in its life. Life remains confined within a fixed mold. There is dependence. There is peace, yes, but it is the peace of slavery. There is naturalness too—no cunning, no hypocrisy; a rose is simply a rose. It never cheats by posing as champa, nor does it contrive to be a lotus. It is content with…