Osho's treatment of fear runs against every instinct of self-help: he neither condemns it nor offers courage as its cure. Fear, he taught, is the shadow of the ego — a bridge between two non-existents, the 'I' and its death. Analyzed to its root it always turns out to be fear of life unlived, not of death; and faced totally, allowed to tremble through the body without resistance, it burns itself out.
The four passages below carry that teaching in his own words, each linked to the complete discourse it comes from.
“Separation is a reminder of the darkness we fear, a shadow of death that follows the taste of eternal presence; embrace it as a training to recreate the silence and totality within yourself.”
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks on fear — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, why am I still so scared of exposing myself?
Now what have you to lose, Gita? You have nothing to lose and you have everything to gain. You are fortunate that in the last phase of your life you have come in contact with this energy-field. You are fortunate that in the evening of your life a door is opening, and the person who comes back home even in the evening should not be thought lost. That is a proverb in India: Even in the evening when the sun is setting, if somebody comes back home he is not thought to be lost. He has arrived, finally he has arrived. Life has gone down the drain; now don't miss this last phase. And the last is the most important phase, because it will bring death. And if you can die as truth you will not be born again. If you can die with all the falsities dropped, with all…Read the full discourse →
Why do I feel fear when somebody comes close to me?
You may not even have heard about the other two. Even the first is a rarity. Very few people attain to the real physical orgasm, they have forgotten about it. They think that ejaculation is orgasm. So many men believe that they have orgasm and because women don't ejaculate, not at least visibly, eighty per cent of women think that they don't have any orgasm. But ejaculation is not orgasm. It is a very local release, a sexual release -- it is not orgasm. A release is a negative phenomenon -- you simply lose energy -- and orgasm is a totally different thing. It is a dance of energy, not a release. It is an ecstatic state of energy. The energy becomes a flow. And it is all over the body; it is not sexual, it is physical. Each cell and each fibre of your body throbs with new joy.…Read the full discourse →
Beloved Osho, when I come to your darshan, I feel a fear, as if of death. But with your presence, fear disappears and I feel life. Osho, what is happening?
The ancient seers have a very strange statement. I have asked shankaracharyas -- because they are technically the representatives of those ancient seers -- but none of them has been able to explain even a simple statement. The statement is that "The master is nothing but death." But it is only a half statement; the remaining half is that the master is a resurrection too. Coming to me, you feel the fear of death. That is absolutely as it should be. I am going to be a death to you. My whole function is to kill you because whatever you are is not your reality. It has to be destroyed, dismantled, burned. So just like a phoenix bird -- out of the tire which is burning your old personality, a new being is born. Hence, the master is also life. That's why when you are here you feel life. And…Read the full discourse →
Beloved Osho, sometimes I realize how much I am afraid of the unknown. I have experienced moments of total trust and moments of bliss. What are the tricks of the mind to avoid these beautiful experiences again and again?
But a man of blissfulness has his tremendous freedom -- it comes with it. A man of love cannot be enslaved. Freedom, love, joy create the real individual you are. They are the qualities you are made of. And the society tries to hide that individual, repress that individual -- and creates a phony individual which it can manipulate. But nothing is perfect in the world. The society does everything, but still there are loopholes. There are moments when your real nature asserts. Soon the mind catches hold of you, convinces you that it was illusory: "You are just imagining. It never happened -- I am the reality." So you have to be conscious of this strategy. The mind is not yours, it is your enemy. Don't listen to it. Whatever it says goes against you. Listen to something that comes not from the mind -- that's why it looks…Read the full discourse →
Read 8 more passages on fear
Osho, I am very afraid to drink the nectar you are offering. What could be the reason? Why am I afraid? And what should I do?
Look carefully: what you have attained in life—is it poison or nectar? If it is nectar, my blessings—then don’t trouble yourself here. If it is poison, the journey can begin. The one who has seen poison as poison has already completed half the work; half the journey toward nectar is done. To see darkness as darkness is the first step toward seeing light as light. If “I am ignorant” becomes visible, the first ray of knowledge has dawned. If “I do not know” is known, the beginning has happened. The pilgrimage has begun. The first step is taken. And only the first step is difficult. The second is easy, for it is like the first. The third is easy, again like the first. Then all steps are easy. You say: “What you are offering is nectar, but I am afraid to drink.” For you it is not yet nectar. What…Read the full discourse →
Osho, I get frightened whenever I try to do anything new. How can I be free of this fear?
Had the sky not pulled me, I would have been a burden upon the earth. Being drawn by the sky gave me, for the first time, the capacity to come to earth; now I am no burden. Had the sky not pulled me, I would have been a burden upon the earth. By falling I proved that I had risen to my utmost strength. Today it is not weakness—my might is great at your feet— I have not fallen from weakness; by my strength I had risen to the sky. The strength was spent, the limit reached. Now that I have fallen, it is not from weakness but as the culmination of the flight of power. This state of surrender is the final outcome of ego. This is the supreme paradox. One who understands it has nothing left to understand in life. Like a swan pierced with arrows, I have…Read the full discourse →
Why do I seem to feel more afraid of life than of death?
DEATH IS UNKNOWN. You cannot be really afraid of that with which you are not at all acquainted. Fear is a relationship -- you have to know something to be afraid of it. Nobody really is afraid of death. And whenever somebody says 'I am afraid of death' he is simply saying that he is afraid to lose life. Death is absolutely unknown. So everybody is afraid of life -- it is life that is the problem, not death. It is life that gives you anguish and nights without sleep. And what is the fear of life? There are many fears but they can be reduced to a few basic fears. One is that life is slipping by and you have not lived yet. That's the panic, basic panic -- that life is going out of your hands, every moment you have less and less life. And you have not…Read the full discourse →
Osho, what is fear made of? It is always there behind a corner, but when I turn to face it, it is only a shadow. If it is non-substantial, how does it manage to have such a power over me?
Fear is the shadow of 'I', and because the 'I' is always alert somewhere deep down that "I will have to disappear in death".... The basic fear is of death; all other fears only reflect the basic one. And the beauty is that death is as nonexistential as ego, and between these two non-existentials -- the ego and death -- the bridge is fear. Fear is very impotent, it has no power. You say, "If IT IS NON-SUBSTANTIAL, THEN HOW DOES IT MANAGE TO HAVE SUCH A POWER OVER ME?" YOU want to believe in it -- that's its power. You are not ready to take a plunge into your inner depth and to face your inner emptiness -- that is its power. Otherwise it is impotent, utterly impotent. Nothing is ever born out of fear. Love gives birth, love is creative; fear is impotent. Mr. and Mrs. Smith were…Read the full discourse →
When moments of fear come, what to do?
Why should you ask to do anything? When there is fear -- be afraid! Why create a duality? When moments of fear come -- be fearful, tremble with fear, allow fear to take possession. Why this constant enquiry: WHAT TO DO? Can't you allow life in any way to take possession of you? When love takes possession, what to do? Be loving! Don't do anything, allow love to take possession of you. When fear comes -- tremble, like a leaf in a strong wind. And it will be beautiful. When it has gone you will feel so serene and calm, as when a strong storm passes by everything is left calm and quiet after it. Why be always fighting something? Fear comes -- it is natural, absolutely natural. To think of a man who is without fear is impossible, because he will be dead. Then somebody will be honking the…Read the full discourse →
Question: BELOVED MASTER, I AM MORE AFRAID OF LIVING THAN OF DYING. IS IT POSSIBLE? Yogananda, it must be possible if it is happening to you! Do you think you are managing the impossible? In fact, it is a very common phenomenon, nothing extraordinary about it -- very normal. Nobody is more afraid of dying than of living. The fear of death is nothing compared to the fear of life. That's why thousands of people around the earth commit suicide, and many more think many times in their lives of committing suicide. Many try but are prevented; many try but try halfheartedly. But very few people try to live. The number of people who try to live life is much less than those who try to commit suicide or actually commit suicide. The man who lives life becomes a buddha. How many buddhas do you have?Read the full discourse →
Osho, ever since I took initiation from you, I have also begun to feel afraid of you. Earlier this fear was not in me, though I have been afraid all my life. I also know that the love and freedom I have found in your presence I never found even around my parents. And if, even in the shade of a master as utterly love-filled as you, I do not become free of fear, then where else will I? How is this freedom from fear possible?
Take this as a touchstone: if the reason for which you went to the master is the very reason he accepts and works upon, he too is standing in darkness. You have come to me because of fear—I know. But it is not my task to lessen your fear; it is to awaken abhaya. You did not come for abhaya. You came for nirbhayata, a little courage to fight—you would be satisfied with that. You are easily satisfied; your discontent is not very deep. A drowning man is content with a straw. You are looking for a straw; I know that no one is saved by a straw. Perhaps because of the straw you will drown—whoever takes a straw for a boat stops looking for a real boat. Whoever mistakes a false shore will find the true shore very far. Whatever reason you have come with is not my concern.…Read the full discourse →
Beloved Osho, are the feelings that we have when we are separated from you related to the fear of death?
Amrito, they are. Being with me, you have tasted something of life. Being with me, you have felt the poetry, the dance, the music of existence. Alone, you are still not able to keep the same state of mind -- you fall back to your old chattering mind. You forget the peace, the beauty, the dance, the song. Separated from me, you certainly feel a kind of death. If to be with me you feel a kind of life -- a life that you would like to live for twenty-four hours a day -- then naturally when you are separated you are afraid. It is a feeling of death on the one hand; on the other hand, you are also afraid of your own death -- because you have seen with me that life can become an experience of the eternal. I have given you the name Amrito: it means…Read the full discourse →
“Embrace your fear fully; tremble and witness it, for in that mindful observation, you will uncover a stillness that transcends the storm.”
Understanding Osho's Vision of Fear
The threads that run through his discourses on fear.
The Shadow of the 'I'
What is fear made of? Osho traces it to its source: an ego that knows, deep down, that it must dissolve.
Fear is the shadow of 'I', and because the 'I' is always alert somewhere deep down that "I will have to disappear in death".... The basic fear is of death; all other fears only reflect the basic one. And the beauty is that death is as nonexistential as ego, and between these two non-existentials -- the ego and death -- the bridge is fear. Fear is very impotent, it has no power.The Guest, Chapter 6 →
It Is Life You Fear, Not Death
Osho dismantles the most universal fear by pointing out that nobody can fear what they have never met — the panic is about life slipping away unlived.
DEATH IS UNKNOWN. You cannot be really afraid of that with which you are not at all acquainted. Fear is a relationship -- you have to know something to be afraid of it. Nobody really is afraid of death. And whenever somebody says 'I am afraid of death' he is simply saying that he is afraid to lose life. Death is absolutely unknown. So everybody is afraid of life -- it is life that is the problem, not death.This Very Body the Buddha, Chapter 4 →
When Fear Comes, Be Afraid
Asked what to do in moments of fear, Osho refused the premise of the question — doing is the duality, trembling totally is the way through.
Why should you ask to do anything? When there is fear -- be afraid! Why create a duality? When moments of fear come -- be fearful, tremble with fear, allow fear to take possession. Why this constant enquiry: WHAT TO DO? Can't you allow life in any way to take possession of you? When love takes possession, what to do? Be loving! Don't do anything, allow love to take possession of you. When fear comes -- tremble, like a leaf in a strong wind. And it will be beautiful. When it has gone you will feel so serene and calm, as when a strong storm passes by everything is left calm and quiet after it.Tao: The Three Treasures Vol 4, Chapter 4 →
The Fear of Living
Told 'I am more afraid of living than of dying', Osho answered that this is not an anomaly but the normal human condition — and named its only cure.
Nobody is more afraid of dying than of living. The fear of death is nothing compared to the fear of life. That's why thousands of people around the earth commit suicide, and many more think many times in their lives of committing suicide. Many try but are prevented; many try but try halfheartedly. But very few people try to live. The number of people who try to live life is much less than those who try to commit suicide or actually commit suicide. The man who lives life becomes a buddha.The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha Vol 11, Chapter 2 →
“Most people fear living more than dying, for life requires the courage to be oneself, while death is merely the end of the struggle. Only the fearless, the authentic, awaken to the beauty of existence.”
Questions Osho Answered on Fear
80 questions in the library — the most sought-after:
Just watch your feelings without running toward pleasure or away from pain, and fear will fade.
Yes—being away feels like the light of life went off, so the dark scares you, until you learn to switch on that light inside by yourself.
Fear comes from not knowing who you really are; when you stop clinging to a shaky pretend self and look inside with awareness, the scare fades like a shadow.
Let yourself be scared and shake, but keep watching it like a movie; it passes, and you find a quiet place inside that isn’t scared.
You’re scared of others because you’re scared of yourself; people are mirrors, so be kind to yourself first.
You can’t chase fear away; just start loving—be kind, share, and open your heart—and the fear fades like darkness when you switch on a light.
You’re scared of life because you aren’t really living it—waiting for perfect conditions—so enjoy what is now and the fear fades.
Feeling more scared after starting is normal; the make-believe safety is being removed so you can discover the part of you that can’t die.
“Embrace your inner emptiness, for when accepted, it transforms from a source of fear into the depth of life, allowing true intimacy to blossom.”
Frequently Asked
Neither fight it nor flee it — feel it totally. Let the trembling happen without commentary, watch it as energy rather than as verdict, and it passes like a storm, leaving unusual calm. Suppressed fear becomes chronic anxiety; experienced fear completes itself and ends.
The ego's intuition of its own death. Every specific fear — of loss, exposure, failure, the unknown — reflects the basic one, and the basic one is a shadow, because the 'I' it protects is itself a fiction. Seen through in meditation, fear loses its foundation.
Yes — and he was precise: fearlessness is not courage. Courage still trembles and acts anyway; it is fear defied, not dissolved. Abhaya, true fearlessness, arises only when the ego whose shadow fear is has gone — it is the fragrance of egolessness, not a virtue that can be practiced.