Foolishness is about maintaining the rotten ego while still expecting a great life; but it does not make profits because it can't. In cleverness, you are still rotten, but you have managed to appear otherwise to others; so you start making profits, but they do not suffice for inner fulfillment. In innocence, you can make profits but don’t care to, because you have realized that the very problem that made you relate to the world in a profit-seeking way is gone.
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Questioner: My question is regarding innocence and foolishness. How can we differentiate — like, this is innocence, and this is foolishness? How do we recognize that I’m not being innocent, but rather foolish? And how can we correct ourselves when we realize this?
Acharya Prashant: Foolishness is when you are foolish and yet want great things to happen to you. Innocence is when you are wise and you do not care about the things that will happen to you. The mark of the foolish person is that he will want to remain foolish! Else, he couldn't have been foolish at this point, no? Foolishness is its own punishment. If a person has continued to remain foolish, it means he wants to be foolish; else, the first dose of punishment would have sufficed, and he would have no longer remained foolish.
The foolish person is determined to remain foolish and yet wants lovely experiences for herself.
