How can I use AI tools without losing the ability to think deeply myself?

This is the question Patanjali would recognize immediately. He understood that the mind becomes what it practices. When you outsource thinking entirely to AI, you're training your mind toward passivity—not toward mastery. The practice is this: use AI as a sparring partner, not a replacement. Ask it to generate options, then *you* do the harder work of discernment. Let it handle information retrieval so your attention can go toward synthesis and judgment. Notice when you're tempted to accept its answer without interrogation. That moment is where your real learning happens. The sutras teach that understanding comes through direct perception, inference, and testimony—not through passive reception. AI is excellent testimony. But testimony alone isn't knowledge. You have to test it against your own experience and reasoning. The practical move: for every insight AI gives you, spend time asking why it matters *to you*, where it might fail, what it misses. This isn't paranoia—it's the difference between using a tool and being used by one. Your capacity for deep thought isn't threatened by AI. It's threatened by the habit of not using it.