The Fight for the Empire Between Your Ears

Every day, in between the cracks of our reality, superstitious thinking creeps into our lives. Like a virus of the mind. An idea that becomes infectious, that can ultimately lead to death. If you're asking what this has to do with you, I can bet you're already a victim to one of these.

Pseudoscience sells. The advertisements all around us tell us. Look at the health and beauty industry — much of it relies on packaging and marketing. Anything that has a claim like "supports the immune system" must be healthy, right?

Rhetoric is not new to everyday language. Socrates warned of this in ancient Greece. In school, we teach identifying logical fallacies in psychology classes for a reason — because they work.

The algorithms of social media have already predicted what you are going to want. The decline of critical thinking has left people vulnerable to online predators for the picking. It is a perfect storm.

The odds are stacked against you. That is the bad news. The good news is that we know the counterattack. It is called self-defense for your brain. The Stoics used to say the most important empire to occupy is the one between your ears.

For we are not speaking of some small skirmish. This is for control of the whole kingdom. Someone is always trying to invade your empire. This is how you take it back.

Let's turn the tide and the tables, and get back in the fight.

Who taught you how to think?

How Science Changed My Life

Belief is a strong feeling in something that often cannot be explained. However, being the inquisitive minded person that I am, often that is not good enough for me. Faith is a word that I rarely use, but that was not always the case. As a young person, I was taught certain things that were “gospel”, so-to-speak. I did not question those particular things, nor was I in any position to do so. But, as I grew into a more confident and well equipped individual through school, I made it a point not to sway in that initial inquisitive nature. Being an artist gave me the reason to embrace and harness this quality in myself. I knew this was a unique trait that not everyone shared and even if it made me an outcast to whatever social click, somehow I knew this was a special ability that would lead to great things and possibly even greater understandings.

The Trial and Truth of Socrates

The city of Athens was one of the greatest ancient civilizations in history. One of the most influential men to be produced by Athens was a philosopher named Socrates. During the course of his life he became arguably one of the greatest minds who ever lived. Socrates was viewed in a number of ways. One was as a great philosopher and teacher. Another was as an antagonistic pest and the anti-democratic character of Athens. Although he was loved by many he was also widely hated. The effects of his teachings, beliefs, and relationships would ultimately lead him to a trial for his life. To quote the author of The Trial of Socrates by I.F. Stone,

“No other trial, except that of Jesus, has left so vivid an impression on the imagination of Western man as that of Socrates” (3).

In a city known for its’ culture, arts, and democratic freedoms, it’s hard to imagine how a person like Socrates could fall into such a predicament. Again the common reoccurring theme is present, it is through deeper understanding that we may come to find logic or reason where it previously did not appear. Or in other words, when the context of Socrates’ background is examined, it is easier to see how the people of Athens came to the conclusion that they did.