I see that I think, therefore I am

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Question (Q): Sir, you say in one of your quotes, “I see that I think, therefore I am.” Please explain.

Acharya Prashant (AP): I said this in response to that famous quote of Descartes that the West so admiringly seems to follow. Descartes has said, “I think, therefore I am.” So I needed to say, “I see that I think, therefore I am.”

When you say, “I think, therefore I am,” what you mean is that — “I am the mind. I am the thinking mind. I think, therefore I am.” But the moment you declare that — “I see that I think, therefore I am,” you have declared yourself to be the witness of the mind. Now you are saying that “My identity is not that of the mind, but of, the beyond mind.”

All the evils of western civilization are contained in this single maxim, “I think, therefore I am.” If I AM only when I think, then to BE, I will have to…keep thinking. And that is hell. You cannot be silent. You are only as long as you think. So to remain, it is necessitated, that the mind remains occupied in thinking. Whosoever has said this, paid no attention to what he was saying, and its repercussions.

But when you say, “I see that I think, therefore I am,” then you have seen yourself in a different dimension. Obviously…