On prophets and disciples: the case of Osho

In times of crisis, prophets tend to emerge in different realms including that of religion. This paper undertakes a Jungian analysis of the phenomenon presented between spiritual leader Osho and his disciples in the 1970s and 1980s, as an example of the risks entailed in the type of group process where leader and followers inadvertently identify with the collective archetypes of prophet and follower. Psychosocial situations that predispose the appearance of prophets are analysed, and cases of collective suicides in recent decades are recalled. The paper also highlights the intervention of another psychological phenomenon: the conflict between the ethics of individuals versus that of groups, since large groups produce a decrease in responsibility and individual ethics.