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For those who want to cut through their entanglements || Acharya Prashant, at NIT-Jamshedpur (2020)
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5 years ago
Philosophy of Negation
Attention
External Influences
Falseness
Entanglements
Lifestyle
Honesty
Freedom
Description

Acharya Prashant responds to a question about finding the best philosophy of life that causes the least entanglements. He states that in the questioner's situation, the best philosophy of life is the philosophy of negation. Since the questioner already sees that external influences determine one's definition of life, goals, path, and ultimately, lifestyle, causing problems, it should be easy to proceed via the way of negation. Addressing the concern about not having enough time to rectify all the wrongs, Acharya Prashant clarifies that one does not need time, but rather attention. He explains that time is only needed when pursuing a separate, dedicated activity. Attention, on the other hand, is parallel to life, much like the light that illuminates a room while one is working in it. One does not need separate time to illuminate the room; it happens concurrently. Similarly, one does not need dedicated time to ponder over life; one must be alert to what is really happening in the moment. This process is described as "live attention." It means being alert to what is truly happening even while engaged in daily activities. In that alertness, one catches falseness. You are in the best position to see what you are doing, the thought behind it, and the fundamental tendency giving rise to that thought. This is best appreciated in the live moment, where clarity can come in a flash. The way forward is to catch all that is external, false, and not beneficial by watching your moment-to-moment activity. To practice this, when acting, one should not be obsessed only with the object of action but also pay simultaneous attention to the actor, which is oneself. For example, when speaking to another person, one should not only listen to them but also, in that very moment, know where one's own words are coming from and observe one's own reactions. This reveals how the inner self is operating. Our nature is truth and purity, so once you detect falseness and corruption within yourself, it becomes easy to let that falseness go. Before it can be dropped, however, it must be called out and realized as false. This realization comes not from dedicated introspection but from a process of live attention, which requires pure honesty and a willingness to be free.