Acharya Prashant explains that the distribution of resources and labor must be based on the strength of an individual's consciousness rather than chance or physical existence. He argues that resources should not be commanded by those with small minds, as they may use wealth to cause destruction. Even if someone acquires riches by chance, they do not deserve to keep them if they lack the internal stature to handle them responsibly. He emphasizes that while the process for assessing merit may be difficult to determine, the principle of distributing authority based on mental stature remains valid and necessary for a right society. To illustrate this principle, Acharya Prashant discusses Plato's Republic and the concept of the philosopher king. Plato, moved by the democratic execution of Socrates, proposed a rigorous system of education and testing to identify those fit for authority. In this system, individuals are progressively filtered through decades of training and testing until only those with the highest internal stature remain. The ultimate leader, the philosopher king, is someone so rigorously trained that they find no pleasure in possession or autocratic power. This ensures that authority and resources are entrusted only to those who have no desire to exploit them for personal gain.
