Acharya Prashant addresses the question, "What is the highest?" He explains that the answer, as is usual in spiritual discourse, begins with negation (via negativa). The speaker states that the highest is not Prana (life force), nor the sense organs, nor the mind, thoughts, feelings, or actions. This negation implies that anything perceptible or experienceable through the senses cannot be the highest. Therefore, all sensory perceptions and experiences should be kept in their place and not given undue importance. Similarly, since thought is not the ultimate, anything that can be conceived of by thought cannot be the ultimate. This understanding should bring humility and reduce dependency on and identification with thought. The speaker elaborates that since Prana, the internal mechanism we call life, is not the highest, it means there is something more valuable than life itself, for which life can be forsaken. The value of life is not the ultimate goal. Likewise, action is not the highest, meaning anything that can be obtained through action or doership will remain of secondary value. This should prevent one from being conceited about their actions and deeds, as they can only take one so far. After this extensive negation, the speaker acknowledges the disciple's need for a positive affirmation and states that Brahman, the untouched, the Witness, is the highest. He further explains that at the center of all thought, doership, perception, and experience is the ego, the 'I-feeling'. The process of negation is a lesson in humility for the ego, which is fundamentally flawed and seeks fulfillment through external attainments. This pursuit is a futile cycle because the ego, instead of recognizing its own flawed nature, blames its methods and intensifies its efforts, thus becoming more entrenched in its ways. The ego operates on the belief that things in the world carry intrinsic value, but they do not. It is the individual, the valuing agency, who projects value onto them. Since this agency (the mind) is always changing, the values it assigns are also unstable. Therefore, spirituality is not about adding to one's knowledge but about rigorously and impartially testing and debunking the knowledge one already holds. The real challenge is to unburden oneself of false beliefs and knowledge, which is the essence of renunciation.