Osho's perspective on Psychology
When Osho Spoke About Psychology
Passages from the discourses where this theme comes alive.
Osho, is psychology not sufficient for the transformation of man? After the birth of psychology, what need remains for religion?
Naresh! Psychology is not even interested in transformation. Psychology is interested in adjustment. It wants you to be adjusted to the crowd—so that you don’t slip out of it, don’t fall apart, don’t become isolated, but remain a part of the herd. Its entire strategy ensures you never become an individual, only an organ of society. The moment someone starts drifting from the social stream, shows signs of privacy, of individuality, we rush him to a psychologist: “Adjust him. Bring him back. He’s beginning to stray; he’s started to make his own footpath—put him back on the highway!” Psychology is not at all interested in transformation. Transformation means revolution. And the first revolution is freedom from society—becoming an individual. The first revolution is to be centered in the self. The first revolution is to drop the herd mentality. Ordinarily man is like sheep: wherever the flock goes, he goes. Ask…
Osho, the psychologist Sigmund Freud spoke of the death-drive, Thanatos. Yesterday you spoke of jiveshana, Eros. Do you call Freud’s notion a spiritual aberration of the modern age? Kindly explain.
The third discovery is India’s. It is this: we are neither life nor death; these two are our legs. Duality appears such only when we fail to see the third. If the third becomes visible… synthesis. Understand it so: the notion of Eros, the life-drive, is the thesis. Then Thanatos, the death-drive, is the antithesis. If only the two remain, there will only be conflict; resolution becomes difficult. Had Freud lived a little longer—he did not—or in some next birth searched further, the synthesis, the dialogue, might have happened too: the final harmony, when he would have grasped the witness. He was on the right path; the destination was still incomplete, but the way was not wrong. The goal had not yet arrived; the journey was unfinished, but the direction was right. From life he had reached death; now only one move remained: to transcend both life and death. Astavakra…
Question: BELOVED MASTER, WHAT ARE THE ABC'S OF PSYCHOLOGY? The A of psychology: neurotics build air castles. The B of psychology: psychotics live in them. The C of psychology: psychiatrists collect the rent. The last question:
Can't psychoanalysis help people to know themselves? Is religion really necessary?
Sugeet, psychoanalysis can help a little bit, it can prepare the ground, but it cannot be a substitute for religion. In the West it is becoming a substitute for religion, and that is going to destroy something immensely beautiful. Religion is a totally different phenomenon from psychoanalysis. Religion is not analysis at all, religion is meditation. It is not thinking, it is not analysis. Psychoanalysis is concerned with the mind and helping the mind to become adjusted to society, to whatsoever is thought to be normal. It may be, it may not be. Usually the average is thought to be the normal, but the average is not necessarily the normal. The word normal comes from 'norm'; norm means the law. Normal is one who lives according to the law, the ultimate law, the ultimate norm. A Buddha is normal, a Jesus is normal, a Zarathustra is normal, a Bodhidharma is…
"Being is not separate from becoming; they are two sides of the same flowing river of life. Trust in your natural movement, and you will find that there is no gap to bridge."
"Embrace both life and death, for in their dance lies the key to true awareness and the discovery of your eternal nature."
Is psychology sufficient for the transformation of man, and what need remains for religion?
definition"Psychology can help you fit into the crowd, but true transformation requires the awakening of your individual being, a journey only religion can guide you through."
"The average person does not exist; each individual is a unique universe, and to generalize is to miss the profound diversity of human experience."
What are the ABC's of psychology?
definition"Neurotics build air castles, psychotics live in them, and psychiatrists collect the rent; we are all players in the grand theater of our own mind-made fantasies."
"True evolution lies in transcending the mechanical man to become an integrated seeker, where body, heart, and head harmoniously unite in the quest for the fully realized self."
"When you embrace a teaching fully, it transforms into a living guidance; but the moment the ego intervenes, you forfeit the path and return to despair."
"Western psychology focuses on pathology, while Eastern psychology celebrates the journey toward health and awakening, inviting us to embody our inner wholeness through love rather than judgment."
"True freedom arises not from endless analysis or authority, but from the clarity of your own seeing."
"The public psyche is a prisoner of labels and boundaries, but true liberation comes from recognizing our shared humanity beyond all divisions."
"Psychologists should not become the new priests; they are meant to be skilled friends who help us navigate the mind without assuming authority."
"The true essence of realization cannot be translated without distortion; it thrives in the silence of direct experience, unmediated by the intellect."
What is the significance of Jung's idea that men need two types of women in male psychology?
definition"When love matures into a spiritual friendship, the need for duality dissolves, revealing that the true essence of relationships lies in depth and consciousness, not in the superficiality of roles."
What is the uniqueness of the third psychology and is there a psychotherapy of transcendence?
definition"The third psychology transcends the mind, cutting the roots of neurosis through the simple act of witnessing, offering freedom beyond time and death."
What is the usefulness of psychology?
definition"Psychology can only offer the illusion of change; true transformation arises not from analysis, but from the awakening of awareness in the present moment."
"Stop trying to fix the mind with the mind; real transformation comes from transcending thought and embracing the state of no-mind."
"The true study of Buddhas begins within you, for every being is essentially a Buddha waiting to be awakened."
"Modern psychology, shackled by materialism, overlooks the soul's depth, dismissing the very essence of being that it should seek to understand."
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