Maharaj: Intelligence is the door to freedom and alert attention is the mother of intelligence.

Visitor: How can I set right a tangle which is entirely below the level of my consciousness?

Nisargadatta: By being with yourself…by watching yourself in your daily life with alert interest, with the intention to understand rather than to judge, in full acceptance of whatever may emerge, because it is there, you encourage the deep to come to the surface and enrich your life and consciousness with its captive energies. This is the great work of awareness; it removes obstacles and releases energies by understanding the nature of life and mind. Intelligence is the door to freedom and alert attention is the mother of intelligence.

• Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That (1973)