Questioner (Q): Why do we get so easily convinced by just anything? Few of my family members and friends follow things like energy healing and some fraudulent spiritual teachers just because they sound spiritually, scientifically, or logically convincing. I want to convince them that what they are doing is not right. How to prevent them from getting into such things and make them understand what is right? Why do people get so easily convinced by things like vibrations, energy, and many other superstitious, pseudo-scientific terms and concepts?
Acharya Prashant (AP): See, if we can understand why that happens, we will also know whether to convince, how to convince, when to convince, etc. First of all, let’s go into what that thing really is.
You see, we do not lead lives of Truth. I start from something that is very real, very close, very obvious, and very intimate to us. No theories, please. The first thing in spirituality is: Start from where you already are. Begin from what you already know. Begin from something that is beyond dispute. So, if we look at ourselves, if we look at our lives—and for sure we do exist, otherwise this conversation wouldn’t have been taking place. So, it is beyond dispute that you and I exist, and those who speak to you, the ones you are referring to, they too exist in our frame of reference.
How do we exist? When you look at the life of a common man, how does he exist? Does he lead a life of great sharpness, understanding, acuity, depth, insight? Do we really understand anything? Forget about whether we understand what real spirituality is about. Do we understand why we move in a certain way, why we work in a particular place, why we make a certain decision, why we enroll in a particular course, why we marry a particular person, even why we are fond of a particular color, or a particular trouser or T-shirt or something? We just move about in a haze. And we have become very accustomed to hazy vision and random movement, so much so that it stops bothering us after a point and we lose the very inclination to question it. The urge to know, the very curiosity, the spirit to question is just lost.
