Acharya Prashant addresses the confusion between being a 'person' and being an 'individual'. He explains that a person's mind is divided and enslaved by thousands of external influences such as family, education, media, and religion. This internal division leads to stress, indecision, and a lack of true direction, as every choice is merely a resultant of these external forces. He warns that the most deceptive form of enslavement is when a person is convinced they are already free, comparing this to a prisoner who views their chains as ornaments and their jail as a palace. True individuality, he argues, is like a clear, indivisible circle (zero or infinity) that is free from such conditioning. He further clarifies that 'being yourself' is often misunderstood as following personal likes and dislikes, which are themselves products of external conditioning. Using the analogy of a caged bird that parrots the word 'freedom' but refuses to leave the cage, he illustrates how people often resist the very help that aims to liberate them. He explains that the texts provided in the program are not meant to impose new beliefs or 'isms' but are scientific tools for inquiring into the mind's functioning. Just as one follows the laws of physics or thermodynamics without feeling enslaved by the authors, one should approach the study of the mind as a factual and verifiable process of clearing internal rubbish to reach one's true nature.
