Osho,
I can relate to the taste of good German chocolate, but what about the taste of enlightenment?

Mind has an incurable disease: the name of the disease is duality. It does not matter what the mind is focused on, it immediately creates a division – in the knower and in the known, in the observer and in the observed, in the subject and in the object; in short, between I and thou.

One of the most prominent thinkers of the twentieth century was Martin Buber, and his contribution is of great importance. His whole philosophy he has condensed into a book called I And Thou. And he has given the philosophy the name, “dialogue.”

As far as the mind is concerned, what he is saying is true and relevant. But mind is not the ultimate judge of existence. I had written a letter to Martin Buber when he was alive. I was very young, but I pointed out to him that a real dialogue is not between I and thou, the real dialogue begins when the I and the thou start merging and melting. The dialogue can even be silent, but its basic requirement is that the division should not be there. He did not reply. I wrote him again and I told him, “Your not replying to me shows that you yourself are not convinced of what you are saying.”

You are asking, what is the taste of enlightenment? There is no taste, because you are alone. At the most, in language we can say there is a certain sensitivity, a fragrance, but it is not separate from you. It is you yourself. The taste and the taster need to be separate, and in enlightenment the only barrier is separation.

Just the other day I received, from the same insane Catholic man from the staff of Time magazine, another question: “You teach love, you teach compassion; then why did the people of Oregon in America become enemies to you?” I don’t ordinarily reply to people if I see that they are basically insane, and the question shows insanity absolutely clearly. If he were intelligent enough, first he should have asked, “Jesus has also preached love, has preached compassion, has preached forgiveness – then why was he crucified by the Jews?” If his question were relevant and had not come from a Catholic prejudice, he would have seen the contradiction. And certainly the people of Oregon have not crucified me yet.