Acharya Prashant addresses the question of why, despite wanting to improve, we are unable to do so. He begins by explaining that the word "wanting" is somewhat misleading because we do not clearly know what we want. He states that on the surface, no one would say they want bondage, captivity, sorrow, or suffering. However, there is a distinction between what we claim to want and what we secretly or unconsciously desire. He illustrates this with an example: at 11 PM, you consciously decide to wake up at 5 AM and set an alarm. This is your conscious desire. But when the alarm rings at 5 AM, you are the same person who silences it and wants to continue sleeping. This is your unconscious desire. The desire at 11 PM was a conscious one, while the desire at 5 AM is an unconscious one. These two conflicting desires coexist within us. The problem is that our consciousness is not deep enough to recognize the unconscious part of us that has contrary intentions. We are divided, with another "me" inside us whose intentions do not align with our conscious ones. We are like an iceberg, with only a small part (1/9th) of ourselves visible and conscious, while the larger part (8/9ths) remains submerged and unconscious. This unconscious part sabotages our conscious efforts. Acharya Prashant further explains that we don't know what we truly want because we have many conflicting desires at different levels. He uses a story by Kahlil Gibran about a mother and daughter who, while sleepwalking, express their deep-seated resentments towards each other, but upon waking, they show immense love and concern. This illustrates how we are unaware of our own deepest truths and lies. The most profound lie is the one we tell when we believe we are speaking the truth, because we are unaware of the deeper falsehood within. Our conscious self wants liberation, but our unconscious self, which is a living entity that doesn't want to die, demands bondage to survive. Unconsciousness and bondage go together, just as consciousness and liberation do. Our unconsciousness, to ensure its survival, demands that suffering and sorrow continue, as they are its companions. He concludes by explaining that enlightened beings like Buddha and Mahavira were not born special; they were supreme rebels. They saw the reality of their lives, felt the pain and suffering, and found it unacceptable. They had the courage to say "no" to their circumstances, even when they had all worldly comforts. We, on the other hand, lack this courage due to our greed for petty comforts. The difference between us and them is not of birth but of the decisions they made. They chose to see the reality of their lives and rebelled, while we choose to ignore it for trivial gains. The path to knowing oneself is to observe one's actions and see the reality of one's life, which reveals how much one is living in consciousness versus unconsciousness.