“The delusion called death is a social phenomenon, it is not an individual phenomenon at all. This needs to be understood in a little detail.

“We see someone dying and we think the person has died. Since we have not died yet, have not passed through the experience of death yet, we have no right to think this way. It is very foolish on our part to conclude that the person has died. All we ought to say is, “The person does not seem to be the way we used to know him. To say anything more than this is dangerous, is going beyond our limits.”

“All one ought to say is, “Up to yesterday the man was talking, now he no longer talks. Before he used to walk, now he no longer walks. What I had understood as his life up to yesterday, exists no longer. The life he lived up to yesterday is not there anymore. If there is any life beyond this, then so be it; if there isn’t, then so be it.” But to say that the person has died is going a little too far, is going over the limit. One ought simply to say, “The man is no longer living.” What we used to know as his life exists no longer.”

“This much of a negative statement is fine: that what we knew as his life – his fighting, his loving, his eating, his drinking – is no more. But to say the man is dead is making too much of a positive assertion. In saying that the man has died, we are not saying that whatever it was that was present in the man is no longer there. Instead, we are asserting that something additional, something more, has happened to that presence.

“We are saying that a phenomenon called death has occurred. It would be fine if we only said that the things that were happening to this man before are no longer happening. Instead, we are saying, “No, a new phenomenon has taken place, something extra has happened: the man has died.” We are saying this – we who have not yet died, we who have not yet known death! We are standing all around, crowding the man and saying, “This man has died.”

“We, as a crowd, are deciding this, giving this verdict, without even asking the man. There has been no testimony from the man himself before giving such a verdict. A one-sided judgment is made in the court; the other party is not present in the process. That poor man is not there to say whether he has died or not died. His testimony has not been a part of the decision. And the decision has been made by those who have not yet died, who have not been through the experience.

“Do you understand what I mean" Death is a social delusion; it is not an individual’s delusion. The individual’s delusion is altogether different. The individual’s delusion is that he has lived life so sleepily, how can he stay wakeful at the time of death" How can a man who has been sleepy all day long, stay awake in the night" In the night he will fall into a deep sleep. Will one who was unable to see in the sunlight be able to see in the darkness of the night" Do you think that a man who could not see life wakefully while living his life will be able to watch death in order to know what it is" The moment life starts slipping from him he will fall into a deep coma.

“The fact of the matter is that it is we on the outside who think that the man has died. It is a social judgment and conclusion and it is incorrect. None of us is qualified to offer a testimony; none of us on the outside is a true witness of the event – because none of us has actually seen the man dying. So far, no one in the world has ever actually been seen dying. The truth of death occurring has never been witnessed. All we have been able to know is that until a given moment, a person was alive, and then he was no longer alive. That’s all. Beyond that there is a wall. So far, no one has ever witnessed the phenomenon of death.”
— Osho