Fear is the primary motivator of the normal human being || (2015)
Questioner: Is actual motivation, to do anything, beyond reason?
If we were very sure about death, there would be no motivation to do anything. Does it mean that motivation to do anything comes from somewhere beyond? Nobody is so sure that they are going to die, that is why they keep on moving.
Acharya Prashant: You look at every single movement that you make, is it not in order to preserve something, to hold on to something? Is it not driven by fear? What other fear do you have? Is there any other source of energy that a so-called normal human being has, except fear? Is there any other primary motivator, except fear? Fear – “I will lose something.”
Nothing drives us more strongly than the thought that – something is at stake, something is about to be lost. It is death casting its shadow in various forms. That is what drives us.
“Do this, or you lose this.”
“Do this, and you gain this.”
Except these two statements, is there anything else that can make you do anything?
“Do this to protect what you already have.” Or, “Do this, to gain a little more.”
All self-centered energy is essentially the energy of death. Death driving you, death motivating you, death making you dance to its own morbid tunes.
What is Death? The thought of, the self coming to an end. That is death, not really physical, because nobody has ever seen his own physical death. Death is the thought of, self coming to an end.
The thought that – thinking, identification, and the whole world that has been constructed by thought, would be no more. This is death. And see how strongly it drives you.
There is no other motivator of the normal human being, except fear.
