Questioner: Sir, what is clarity?
Acharya Prashant: Clarity is two things together: One, it is the absence of readymade concepts based on which one lives, one reacts, one sees the world, and parallelly, simultaneously, on the other hand, it is the ability to respond greatly. So, on the one hand, you do not have any ammunition with you, you do not have anything pre-made with you. When life comes to you with a situation, as it always does, you really have no dependence on experience and concepts from the past. You really have no dependence on memory or imitation.
On the other hand, even though you have no ammunition with which to face life, you have a vigorous capacity to respond.
When you have no ammunition with which to face life, then you have a lot of love with which to greet life.
So, this clarity is an emptiness in one way, emptiness in the sense that you are empty of all rubbish, and on the other hand, this emptiness is a great fullness. These two, hence, must be called two but understood as one.
I started by saying that clarity is two things. These two must necessarily be called two but understood as one. On one hand, clarity means the absence of dependency on concepts, experience, and memory. So, it is then clarity in the negative sense. Negative in the sense of negation, that clarity is not this, clarity is the absence of something. On the other hand, clarity is something very positive. It is negative and positive together. These two must be understood as one. It is something very positive because it enables you to have a full response towards life. So, it is a nothingness that is capable of everything. It is a very
