Permitting passage of the mind

“If a person gave away your body to some passerby, you’d be furious. Yet you hand over your mind to anyone who comes along, soothed may abuse you, leaving it disturbed and troubled — have you no shame in that?” — Epictetus Enchiridion, 28

If you use social media, this may be happening to you.

Not because social media is bad, it’s not; it’s how society communicates.

If communication is a vessel that passes from mind to mind, then we should be more choosy about the vessels that we permit to pass our ports:

The online entrepreneur who tells you what you should be earning, shaming those either earlier in their journeys or pursuing different journeys. Notice how the less fortunate often hang on their words, while the more fortunate don’t permit passage.

The investor who tells you what great opportunities they acted upon, shaming those who did not. Notice how many then make reckless plays, trying to reproduce a savvy that may have been luck. Notice how the more successful don’t permit passage.

The politically charged who tell you precisely why they’re right and everyone else is wrong, baiting you into an unhealthy conversation. Notice how many armchair-politicians engage. Notice how the real ones don’t permit passage.

There’s a lot of noise out there.

It’s like half-eaten fast-food found on the side of the street, for the mind.

Don’t eat it.