Acharya Prashant critiques the popular notion of "Be Positive," explaining that it often means remaining hopeful to extract more from the world. He questions what this hope is for, asking if it is for truth, liberation, or true love, or simply the hope that someone will awaken you from your false dreams. He states that the common understanding of positivity is to not lose heart, not give up, and believe that your desires will be fulfilled. However, this encouragement never questions the nature of these desires. The speaker argues that this is because the underlying desire is to consume the entire world, which is an impossible and problematic goal. Because this desire for total consumption cannot be fulfilled, people constantly need to be pumped with positivity. The very need for so much "positive vitamin" indicates that what people want is not happening, precisely because it is not worth wanting and cannot be fulfilled. If such desires were to be fulfilled, it would be detrimental to both the individual and the world. The speaker suggests that what the world truly needs is to "be negative." This means realizing that what you want is not worth wanting, and therefore, you should stop wanting it. He calls this "negation," a process of being negative not only towards your desires but also towards your foolish self, which, not knowing itself, keeps wanting random things. The speaker asserts that this "culture of positivity" has ruined the world over the last 50 to 100 years by promoting consumerism. When everyone is told to "be positive" about their desires, which are primarily for consumption, the result is the destruction of the planet. Forests and countless species have been sacrificed at the altar of our positivity. He urges people to question what a "positive" person is actually positive about, suggesting their intentions are often vile. The prevailing mantra has become to relentlessly pursue whatever you want, without ever questioning the desire itself.
