What is simplicity?

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

Question: Sir, I have a few questions related to simplicity as follows:

A. What is simplicity? B. How is simplicity related to courage? C. How is simplicity related to intelligence? D. How is it related to love?

Acharya Prashant: In your previous mail, you said,

1. Simplicity is freedom from conditioning. 2. Simplicity is nothing.

Both these statements are the same.

We are actually nothing- just a clean, empty, void, pure and untouched.

Then the clean emptiness is spoiled. We are filled with ideas and concepts and worries and all kinds of conditioning. Now we are ‘filled’, not light and empty.

Simplicity is the ‘nothingness’ state of mind. Nothing fills you. Nothing makes you heavy. No identity is dominating the mind. Clean pure emptiness.

It requires great courage to be simple.

You asked, ‘How is simplicity related to courage?’

What is fear? How is it related to conditioning? How is simplicity related to conditioning? So, how is simplicity related to fearlessness?

Let me repeat the short story.