 We're constantly under attack. You could say our minds are Being being fished. We're like fish that they you know the baits coming out at us the hooks are coming out at us Everybody it seems is trying to affect how we think we have Advertising telling us, you know, what we what we should want What we really want even if we just thought about it and we have We have news we have politics we have these different views of the world this war of ideas and We're the battleground in our minds are the battleground. We're being fought over and There's so many different projects to affect how we think Because it sounds like a grand conspiracy, but I mean this is I Don't suggest that it's some kind of like organized program in a complete way, but clearly we're being affected by advertising we're being affected by political campaigning and We're also influenced by different narratives of different interpretations of the world so Even though it might be a bit dramatic to say we're under attack I think it's pretty clear that we we have this situation And which our minds we're just going out there in the world just open to manipulation and Somehow we have to get through The world this way we need our mental self-defense we need to find ways to Keep control of our own thoughts and try to find the best way to to look at the world And of course in addition to all the mainstream stuff, of course also alternative points of view that They're trying to get us to that that's propaganda to you know the alternative points of you Oh, we'll cut through the propaganda and give you the truth. Well, that's just another form of Persuasion is really the word trying to Persuade us a certain way and How do we get through the world without just being yanked back and forth By every message that comes into us We have a greater vulnerability. I think because of how much our Lives are behind screens how much we're living in this kind of Virtual fantasy world. I mean when our interaction with the world is through pixels we were so open to illusion to being deceived by Some kind of fanciful manipulation of reality whether it is a complete fabrication of fantasy or just a good editing job to package life in a way that Nudges us in a particular direction so the more we get involved in Screen world we the more vulnerable we are and Also, I think the more that we are living in worlds of Abstract concepts Then the more we are vulnerable to this influence if we put too much emphasis on particular words and particular concepts at Some kind of abstract level we there's more room for us to Kind of have our views Warped away from reality and sort of nudged into whatever direction We are being persuaded in so you can see this in You know with advertising we get concepts like happiness and satisfaction and with politics you have concepts like freedom and justice and so these kind of very high abstract terms they leave us open to Warping exactly what they mean in some way because they're so abstract that they're they're flexible So with all this The answer to me seems to be that we need to keep things simple keep things grounded in reality simple reality That is our mental defense we Have we can be manipulated in so many ways when it comes to illusions when it comes to abstract ideas But when it comes to simple physical reality it's a lot harder if I'm hungry and Somebody tries to tell me I'm not hungry It's they're gonna have a hard time if I am Taking care of my physical environment if there's something wrong with my physical environment If there's like a bad smell, you know coming in coming into my nose, then you know There's no kind of abstract reasoning and argument. It's gonna be difficult to Change my way of thinking you might get the you know some abstract idea about hunger and an abstract idea about a smell but these actual physical sensations are More difficult to warp and so we are stronger. We're more able to stay grounded in reality and We're less vulnerable to illusions if we stay grounded in simple physical reality And that's where I find it comes nature simply the simple things in life Eating sleeping you're going for a walk in the forest Where we actually sense the world directly and this whole world of ideas and screen illusions and abstract concepts That's all an extra layer and that's that's that's great too. We can interact with that world But if we stay grounded in the simple physical sensations I Wonder if that can help to be stronger And keep our perspective on the world more clear So I'd be curious to hear what you think about this. Is it actually a useful strategy or Are these abstract ideas still essential and we have to work with them as well or can we Really live our lives With this simple grounding in physical nature. What do you think?