Chapter 7: Take the Green Pill: The Livefully.net Philosophy
Key Insights
- There is a universe. (We can call it outer world, external world, objective world, real world, reality)
- You currently exist in this universe. In other words you are an object in this world.
- Just like any other object in this world you have your own nature.
- You perceive this universe subjectively through your own lens of being a human being.
- You may not realize this because it is all you have ever known.
- Everything you perceive is actually not the "real" world but a construct in your brain
- The caveat is that this construct is a by product of billions of years of evolution so in many ways it is very relevant, accurate and useful towards your survival and nature
- However, it is important to understand that it is in fact a construct in your brain a bit like "The Matrix" or your matrix and it comes with certain biases and limitations. It is better described as a reflection of reality not the real complete reality.
- Science in fact allows us to measure and learn from the "universe" using instruments which can act like external senses and allow us to see that there is so much more that we do not perceive. As one example there are billions of neutrinos that you don't see that pass through every centimeter of our body each second
- Reality or the universe has a nature to it. It has causality. Cause and effect.
- You were not born with choice or free will. You do not choose where you are born geographically, to whom you were born to, what time period you were born in or the genetics you have - ALL of which determine a profound amount about your life
- For a large part of your life you did not have choice or control. You did not choose the fact that you cried or shat your pants as a baby. You do not choose that you will sleep for a third of your life, think about food and sex for another third. Yet at some point you are magically to have "Free Will" and "Choice."
- You were not born with choice or free will. You do not choose where you are born geographically, to whom you were born to, what time period you were born in or the genetics you have - ALL of which determine a profound amount about your life
- In fact it is a necessary prerequisite of "choice" and a NEED to have fundamental laws and causality otherwise everytime you "choose" something something different would happen.
- Human beings are 2.5 Billion years in the making adaptation machines with the ability to model and predict the future
- It is only through understanding the nature of the universe around you and your nature that you can use it to make change, exercise and expand your choices
Everyone should have their own philosophy.
One of the beautiful things in life is that if one person can articulate their life perspective and IF it resonates, it is very easy to spread and resonate to others. Much like neurons in the brain firing when inspiration strikes so as a society ideas go viral.
At Livefully.net we lean towards science, experience, evidence, critical thinking, logic, reason, reality but we also value intuition and the creative imagination of the human mind as vital components to our experience and understanding of ourselves and the world. Beyond some of the tools of understanding listed above we take a perspective that THERE IS a subjective experience as well that we all have and to some extent (as we are all human similar DNA) even share.
As I've written before the very gift, the key to dealing with suffering and one of the most wonderful parts of the journey that is life is taking a conscious effort to developing and articulating your own philosophy (or understanding of life). It is this very process of reflection that also happens to be one of the most powerful tools for managing your own inner states, your own moral compass and for determining proper action. We do this through thinking, conversation, writing, reading, creating, motion, discussing with yourself, with others as well as through living life. Change requires neuroplasticity and all of the above working together helps.
I recommend you take the best components and adapt them to your perspective. Remember words are just pointers to the ideas, ideas are reflections of reality.
"The written (Way) Dao, is not the eternal Dao." -The Tao Te Ching
Do not get bogged down with the words.
Livefully.net Philosophy
We at Livefully.net first take nothing to be 100% absolute. 99% is good enough to build a foundation and the highest value of truth we will assign to anything. It is important to stay open-minded and evolve your understanding of life. Through age I have seen my own 'absolute' perspectives change overtime and this lesson has taught me to keep an open mind. Through humanity's development we have seen our core understanding of the world around us continue to shift. From thinking we are at the center of the universe, to understanding we orbit a sun, to understanding our sun orbits a giant black hole in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. To understanding there are trillions of galaxies and more suns then grains of sand on all of the world's beaches combined.
At Livefully.net we strive to be honest with ourselves and others.
For all intensive purposes I can not prove to you that you are not in the Matrix, or a brain in a vat, or an experiment where upon a quantum computer AI is simulating worlds in order to solve a problem in another dimension and we are simply one of the constructs in the simulation.
We will anchor to this world, this experience, this reality as we know and experience it. Still open minded.
"I think therefore I am." (here)
The Great Simplifying Distinction: Life
In philosophy there are a lot of places you can start and it can get rather confusing. I prefer to begin with a simple distinction.
(1) There are living things and there are dead (innate) things. Living things by their very nature care about their state, dead innate things don't. Our focus moving forward will hence be on the living things.
(Note: One could argue something like an electron, or electricity by its very nature wants to move here or there based on it's circumstances and the universe is conscious on every level. Open to it? Yes. 1%. For the purposes of this modeling we will not include that as dubbed 'living.')
So back to simplifying things:
Living things care by their very nature, inanimate things don't care by their very nature. We lean towards action that will be beneficial towards the things that are alive.
(Note: For those that do not believe in God. Right there above (1) you have a foundation for a moral compass, for meaning in your existence. A dog or child left in a heated car matters, you matter, a piece of plastic does not by its very nature.)
I think it is important to make a key distinction here. Context matters, the frame of reference matters. Scientific tools, mathematical relationships are ESSENTIAL in helping us survive, understand, create and mold the world around us.
However, I believe there is a subjective experience - and for instance the dealing with yourself has its own "Inner Physics." Just as we have different mathematical equations and frameworks that predict what will happen on an quantum (very very very small) scale that then lead to atoms, molecules, chemistry/biology and observable phenomena that can be described by classical physics (such as throwing a ball etc.). The key here is not to make the mistake of mixing frameworks and to realize that although something makes sense in one frame of reference the exact opposite may make sense in another frame of reference such as dealing with yourself, people etc.
On Science, Causality, Free Will, Choice and Determinism
Determinism: Let's define this for those that may be unfamiliar. Simply put a deterministic model of the world will always produce the same output from a given starting condition or initial state. In other words cause and effect or causality, something that is fundamental to everything you see around you.
"Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper."
-Albert Einstein
Cause and effect and understanding it's nature makes everything you see around you possible. If we did not have cause and effect on the observable level of our day to day lives nothing would be possible. Your computer or smartphone would not work! Your car wouldn't start. Your house would collapse on itself. The Moon would fly away, every time you stepped through a door you would wind up somewhere else, your lights would not turn on, your television or AR goggles would malfunction. We depend on causality to mold the world around us on so many levels. Just as a scientist discovers a property, and engineer develops a product, an entrepreneur builds and sells you that product all of it is based on certain consistent laws. We live in a universe that has such consistent laws - if we did not every time you threw a basketball at a hoop or tried to hit a tennis ball you would miss or hit it so hard it would fly to Jupiter!
What's interesting is the the foregone conclusion from this is that we have no "free will."
For in theory if we had the exact state of the world at any point along with the laws of the natural world as described by precise mathematical relationships in the form of physics we could predict the outcome and poof no free will, it's all predetermined.
No Free Will!? This may seem completely counter intuitive to your experience. In fact this very notion is potentially depressing or debilitating when processed by the human subjective experience of consciousness. It is depowering.
I have been thinking about this very ...call it problem... for 20 years now. Let me share with you what I have uncovered and it might surprise you.
(we will get to God and reconciling this just bear with me)
You may say that is ludicrous. Of course I have free will and choice. I can choose to stop reading this now! I can choose to break up with my destructive partner, I can choose to go for a walk now, I can do push ups or go read a book, call a friend or watch a TikTok. I am in control of my life! To many accomplished individuals self accountability is the very bedrock of how they live their lives.
Reconciling causality, free will, choice and even nationalistically beloved principles such as American self determination is key - for we should never shy away from conclusions and ideas that may be uncomfortable but where all signs and evidence points to them being true.
The one caveat is that sometimes - be it in our age as a human being or age as a species or age as a developing AI we may not have all of the necessary experience to solve the problem at that point. So if you are young (and we all relatively are, it just depends on relative to what) and experiencing an existential crisis - it's ok to shelve it for 20 years or 200 or 2000 or 20,000 because that extra experience and insight gathered will help to put things into proper context - and you may one day realize it was not such a big deal.
Back to Determinism. Don't believe it? Think about it this way:
As a human being you will spend roughly one third of your life sleeping, one third thinking or pursuing food, sex and about one third on everything else that might be a biproduct of what time period you were born in, what circumstances, what you learned to believe was true, what you need to do to get food and sex, who your parents are, what your genetics are, what your environment is etc etc.
Did you choose who you were born to? No.
Do you choose to be obese, depressed, anxious? No.
How many people do we know that can not control their addictions? Cigarettes? Alcohol? Depression? Sex? Food?
Do you have control when you snap at your friend or partner or yourself?
When you are born - do you have any choice about the fact that you scream, cry, laugh and shit your pants? The answer is NO!
More recent studies have used brain scanning technology to predict with some accuracy whether a subject would press a button with their left or right hand up to 10 seconds before the subject became aware of having made that choice.
And if you are truly honest with yourself you will admit that causality is everywhere around you - even in people, even in you. (HOWEVER!!!......keeep reading)
What's interesting is that if we did not have causality, if we did not have a universe with very specific fundamental laws, you COULD NOT have choice. Because every time you would do something - something different would happen. You would step through your front door and appear on Mars. You would turn your car on and it would explode. Your biology would change and you would melt or cease to be able to process oxygen. In order for us to have a world we can live in we need the universe to have fundamental laws (that may change over time) and causality. Otherwise the world would literally fall apart into a goo of particles and elements with no LIFE.
I tell you all this as it is only through understanding, following your own body's and natures laws and going with the flow that you will find your freedom and change.
Let's look at it from another perfectly valid scientifically verifiable perspective. Human beings are the by product of 2.5 Billion years of evolution and we are literally survival adaptation machines. We hold in our minds a super power that allows our brain to interface through our senses and body to the external world, get feedback learn and create a model of what is outside in our minds. If attenuated properly this allows us to literally predict the future and make decisions, choices adapting our behavior.
The Good News!
The good news. If you learn the guidelines of your nature, the nature of the physical world, the nature of money, relationships you can put yourself in an upward spiral where it will be almost inevitable for you to grow, progress and enjoy the process and journey.
Your Inner World
It is an interesting bit of nuance to point out that what you see, experience, hear and perceive is actually not quite reality the real or full reality- but rather a projection of it in your brain tailored by $2.5 Billion years of evolution as an adaptation to help you survive. The accuracy of the projection is relative. Relative to what? We know this as the human senses eyes, ears, touch etc. only perceive a portion of what is happening and that portion is then made sense of by your brain creating both a real time running snapshot by your brain but also fed into your mind where an internal representation of reality also resides.
We can use scientific instruments now to see a whole world that is not perceived by our innate human abilities. There are in fact loads of particles flying through and by you, an electromagnetic field in and around your body among other things. On the flip side your brain perceives things that may not be in the real world. For instance if you lose a limb and experience phantom pain because your brain still has a sort of mapping of your body that is no longer present.
The tricky part is that your perception of the world as it was tailored by human evolution can sometimes be deceiving of what the "real" reality is.
Add to this that what you do in your minds eye has a substantial impact on to you and your well being. This can simply be illustrated when you watch folks in a movie theater. It's rather comical should an alien race ever come and see us. You have primates sitting and eating watching a 3 dimensional projection in the visible light spectrum being projected on a 2 dimensional surface of other primates who make fake out scenarios.
You are a universe onto yourself.
Each one of us is an entire ecosystem composed of trillions of cells and microorganisms that are living and sometimes working together. In each cell we actually have mitochondria which are our energy factories. According to the endosymbiotic theory, a key concept in evolutionary biology, mitochondria were once independent organisms — similar to bacteria — that were engulfed by a primitive type of cell. Instead of being digested or destroyed, these organisms ended up forming a symbiotic relationship with their host cell. Over time, they became an integral part of the cell, evolving into the mitochondria we see today.
Science Sidebar! The evidence for this theory comes from several sources. One of the most compelling pieces of evidence is the fact that mitochondria have their own DNA, separate from the nuclear DNA of the cell. This mitochondrial DNA is more similar to bacterial DNA than it is to our DNA, supporting the idea that mitochondria originated from bacteria.
Additionally, like bacteria, mitochondria replicate through a process similar to binary fission — independently of the replication of the cell in which they reside. One of the most compelling pieces of evidence is the fact that mitochondria have their own DNA, separate from the nuclear DNA of the cell. This mitochondrial DNA is more similar to bacterial DNA, supporting the idea that mitochondria originated from bacteria.
Additionally, like bacteria, mitochondria replicate through a process similar to binary fission — independently of the replication of the cell in which they reside. Given these are our energy factories this nuance will be very important and covered in the HEALTH section as we talk about way to biologically stimulate them to replicate.
On God and Human Identity: Rectifying Science and Religion
This can be a rather controversial topic, but I don't think it has to be and I don't want to make it one - however it would be disingenuous to not discuss it.
Being that the readers of this site will be of all different religious and non-religious faiths I can not disconnect the conversation on human identity from the God conversation so do read the next 2 sections to get the full picture.
“There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not starting and not going all the way.” -Buddha
What Does it Mean to Be Human?
We at Livefully.net believe that people are individuals and human. (Obviously!) But what does it mean to be human? Metaphorically speaking human beings perhaps have their own internal subjective perception and sense of suffering and bliss, right and wrong and heaven and hell.
When I evaluate another human being I evaluate them just as so and precisely. They are not a COP, or CEO, or WHITEMAN or BLACKMAN or ASIANWOMAN or INDIANWOMAN or AFRICAN or EUROPEAN or CHRISTIAN or MUSLIM or BUDDHIST or TRANS or whatever etc. At the fundamental core they are a human being first.
To simplify - I extrapolate and explain the potential all human beings fall into as an overlap between a human animal and a greater consciousness being. I believe this stems from our evolution from a more primal mammalian animal form and the development of our brain to be able to perceive and understand incredible things like the scope of our massive known universe to the depth of quarks, atoms, molecules, cells that make up the universe that is our body and self. We literally are in the midst of evolving both on an individual life timeframe along with as a species as a greater timeframe.
Each and everyone of us has the capacity for good and evil and we should be aware of this. Each one of us has the capacity to turn into a tyrant or a Nazi and we have to be aware of this. There are pathways in the human brain I will refer to as MODEs that trigger a number of different paradigms that have been developed over millennia to help us survive. Pathways like: us vs them, scapegoating, authority obedience, trust vs mistrust, loss aversion, in group vs out group, information bias, fight or flight, organizing in social hierarchies, present bias, empathy vs apathy, fear and scarcity, anxiety, being competitive, cognitive dissonance even optimism vs pessimism.
To be clear I am not saying each of these are good or bad - they at some point have been useful to our survival or they would not be there. What we must do is be careful to make sure we guide ourselves to apply the appropriate paradigm to the appropriate situation and that we are NOT manipulated by others or circumstance to fall into a fake narrative.
Often these natural tendencies to fall into preset semi instinctive or preprogramed behaviors that trigger specific hormonal or chemical releases are the very things that prevent us from achieving the life changing results we may need to transform ourselves. Part of Livefully.net's mission is to help guide you and to both understand and for lack of a better word Hack your nature to achieve practical results with the goal of well being.
How you perceive something in your minds eye will determine your physiological and emotional reaction to it. What you vividly imagine can be more powerful to you then what happens in the real world. Much of meaning comes from the inside - influenced by the outside. Can you become the primary narrator and creator to your meaning or are you a reactive slave to what happens to you? Can you become the primary programmer of your mind? Can the conscious part of your brain that is aware of this present moment become the primary influential integrator of your circumstances.
Cognitive dissonance or the feeling of two conflicting beliefs or emotions regarding a circumstance is literally different parts of your brain seeing something from different angles. Your higher intellectual might perceive something one way while your inner survivalist ego might perceive the same thing a different way. A third part of your brain can help integrate both understandings into a cohesive whole. It's a beautiful feeling writing this. I finally feel like I am not a slave of my own mental causality.
As Mrs. Ayn Rand so eloquently said:
"As a human being, you have no choice about the fact that you need a philosophy. Your only choice is whether you define your philosophy by a conscious, rational, disciplined process of thought and scrupulously logical deliberation - or let your subconscious accumulate a junk heap of unwarranted conclusions, false generalizations, undefined contradictions, undigested slogans, unidentified wishes, doubts and fears, thrown together by chance, but integrated by your subconscious into a kind of mongrel philosophy fused into a single, solid weight: self-doubt. Like a ball and chain in the place where your mind's wings should have grown." -Ayn Rand
A Second Life
I mentioned before - you have no choice about whether you are born, who you are born to, where you are born, what time period you were born in, the fact that you cry and crap your pants as a baby BUT at some point.......at some point we can point to individuals that defy human nature and obvious human animal behavior. They overcome exceptional odds, incalculable pain and defy every instinct they have. Be it individuals like Navy Seals who overcome suffering and the instinct to quit. To folks like Ghandi who starve themselves for a meaningful cause. Or even historical figures like Jesus Christ who was reputedly suffered for our sins and sacrificed himself for the greater of humanity. Fact or fiction it doesn't really matter to me its a hell of an inspirational story.
I do believe that although we are all born some of us never really live or awaken to what I can only describe as higher levels of integration of your brain with yourself. An almost higher consciousness. To achieve a point where they themselves become the primary influential factor in their lives, in how they feel, in how they respond, in how they direct themselves. This is true suffering. Growth in comparison is bliss. I hope Mateo and Isabella you write and articulate your existence to overcome this. But remember it is your life. If you choose to ignore this and write your own interpretation I fully support this. I could be wrong. There could be other ways to interpret the world.
On God
For the religious folk:
For those that believe - they would say we were made in God's image and God is within us. In my best objective assessment there is what I would call an outer reality and an inner reality. I can not prove the existence of a greater being in the outer reality. However, I believe there may be something innately that we experience internally akin to feeling of something is right or wrong, good or evil - even potentially meaning and purpose in life. I think this is true of all people regardless if they consider themselves religious or not. I suspect this is likely a byproduct of evolution.
Full disclosure I can conceive the potential of a greater being existing in the "real" world, but I do not count on it nor do I rely on the doctrines of any of the major religious texts to lead my life. I take each idea presented to me and evaluate it based on its own merits. There are various concepts in the great religious texts that I do agree with and find inspiration from but I do not follow them dogmatically and reject other concepts I feel are outdated or limited in an accurate understanding of the world and its nuance. I live my life as best as I can given my circumstances. I consider myself a person that strives to live up to my own moral compass which has been forged by a breadth of personal physiological suffering and makes me appreciate and respect all life. The bedrock for my morality is simply recognizing that there are living things that by their very nature care about their livelihood and that there are innate things that don't. I do believe I have the right to put a higher weight on my own life then others, yet I would under certain circumstances sacrifice my life for my values, beliefs and certain cases for others.
Don't get me wrong - I was devoutly religious until my teens. I had a profound relationship with God in my mind and the world around me made sense and was in harmony. I gained hope and well being from it. When I could not reconcile some of the logical discrepancies in the outer reality I was forced to accept that I did not believe in any of the God(s) as described by the major faiths and hence my belief in God died. This was incredibly painful. Akin to losing your first love. Knowing everything you had ever believed up to that point was literally shattered. And so what was the world? The search that ensued led me to many meaningful conclusions and full circle as I write this.
I dare say there is a chance that there exists a MODE our brain kicks into where we talk to a different part of our brain - perhaps that part of our brain is perceived as God to us in self perception. Often times religious folks will say that they were inspired by God - to me that is explained by one part of the brain creating something and the interplay between different parts. But there is power there. If what you perceived vividly in your mind can have significant impact on your very biology - what would it mean if in your inner world you spoke to a being that was all knowing, all powerful and you asked for help and guidance from it. Under the right circumstances your brain would muster all of it's creative faculties and utilize it's creative imagination to potentially produce a profound answer for you. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily. It might be a powerful survival tool. Perhaps a powerful creation tool. Perhaps an innate part of our mind, brain and inner psyche.
Only here and now as I write and reflect near 30 years later do I realize perhaps I shed connection with a part of myself....the part I called God and that part may or may not exist in the real world but it may exist in us as an innate way of dealing with the harshness of the world, as an innate way to get courage, strength or inspiration. So in that context I don't mind if folks believe in God and I think it's a personal relationship. One reason I don't like organized religion poking their nose into it.
Sidebar Musings: Maybe there is no God in the world. Maybe there is. Maybe we evolve to be God one day and we start this whole bitter sweet symphony again. Maybe at the inception of the universe when all of matter and space were in a small point there was some quantum entanglement that allows for the electromagnetic configuration of our brains to be connected to another realm and when we die our spirit remains in that. Right now I'd say probably not, but I'm open to it.
For me the world is right here. The influence I can make is right now. I will do in my power the best I can with the circumstances I can to make an impact. First in myself, then with those around me.
Now let's talk about Death!!! =D
Death: 3 Separate but True Perspectives
Do you know what it feels like to be dead?
Answer: Yes.
Ponder this. Were you alive before you were born? (Hint: trick question)
Answer: No! You did not exist.
What was it like?
Answer: The absence of being.
Was it bad?
Answer: My experience...or lack there of (=D) was it was not bad. It was well...nothing. If I had to say I'd say it was rather peaceful. But definitely not bad.
Objectively dying on the other hand. That may suck! Just my intuition. But death ... after I thought about it death I'm ok with. Not good, not bad just ok - I mean I spent at least a few billion years there and didn't seem to mind so I don't feel so uncomfortable going back. This actually brings me some solace.
Here's the kicker.
As a parallel truth were you not alive in the form of your parents and the chain of living things that came before?
Answer: Hmm. I suppose so. I mean I am literally a varied combination of both of my parents DNA. I just have amnesia or better yet 0 recollection of it all.
Just as the world existed before me, so it will exist after me and there in lies the kicker!
In the original words of Marcus Aurelius - later echoed by Russel Crow in The Gladiator playing Maximus: "What we do echoes in eternity."
As someone who has faced a lot of suffering this is where it gets interesting because at the end of the day even if your life finishes and you have eradicated forms of unnecessary suffering for yourself - suffering can continue. How you leave the state of the game when you die matters even though you will not be around to perceive it. Your impact makes a difference. It makes a difference to your life, it makes a difference to what you leave behind. Just as neurons fire in the brain, human beings resonate with each other, ideas go viral, so do we mirror each other's emotional states.
All it takes is one to stop the tide.
In a world where emotions are running rampant, people may cut you off, people are not integrated with themselves, they do not know how to self care, they may be short on resources, they may be sacrificing their health and well being and running on fumes - I aim to let the buck stop with me. I am not always capable. I get triggered like everyone else. But I try to be the dam that does not pass on the frustrated hatred to the next person. I may not succeed but I try.
Sidebar Musing: If you were to consider a living being in a metaphorically "perfect" state, close to all powerful etc. Not needing of food, energy or resources just in bliss. Would not that being have no reason to do anything? It would not need to move. It would not need anything because it would have everything. It is interesting that it would nearly resemble something that was akin to dead or inanimate.
Extrapolating Sense from an Objective Reality
During my later teens and search for meaning post losing God - I stumbled onto a Philosophy called Objectivism. It's been 20 years since I've read it so I will rather summarize my own interpretation and simplify it for you - I dub this Neo-Objectivism or Objectivism 2.0 =D
Basic Concepts
1. There are living things, and innate (not living) things. Living things care, innate things don't that is the nature of things.
2. You are a living thing and a universe unto yourself.
3. Once matured no one has more potential or capability of taking care of you better then you. (Past baby and adolescence phases) You sense and feel your body. You know when you are thirsty, hungry, feel good or bad etc. You feel the ramifications of good and bad decisions. No one else can take better care of you then you. You are best equipped to carry the burden and joy of your life. By not carrying your life you are making it harder on everybody else.
4. Learn to Self-Care. Be pro self. Be proactive. Every living thing on this planet does this. If they don't and they become broken in some way they die. Learn, grow, try, fail, learn, expand your understanding and sphere of influence. This does not mean you can't help others along the way but by you getting stronger and learning to carry your share you will one day be able to help others much more and you will not drag down the rest in the meantime.
I believe this urge to want to do good for the world and for others is another one of those innate MODEs that can flip on and this is GREAT - it helped us survive. But logically speaking it makes more sense to help yourself first - THEN once you've learned and mastered help others. Much like the flight attendants say put the mask on yourself first then put it on your children. Get your priorities straight. Helping others can be extremely rewarding
Sometimes I see people that haven't learned anything try to help others. This is counter intuitive. I'd say this is a bit akin to Jordan Peterson's - if you want to save the world clean your room first. It will come. Your experience and sphere of influence will continue to increase with time. I dreamed for a lifetime to help others but I needed time to bake and real life experience to be able to add value.
5. Cultivate your inner game and model of the world. More and more of us live in a world where survival is an afterthought. Where you don't have to think to survive. This leads to disconnection from the real world. The brain can come up with anything and it is never tested against reality. This eventually leads to bad action, which leads to suffering. Which starts the cycle over again.
