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Repetition is a way to hack the human mind

Photo by Jed Adan on Unsplash

Repetition is a way to hack the human mind.

Repetition as a tactic is used by cults to create a separation between thinking and feeling. In mid-adolescence, I remember a group of us started chanting “It just doesn’t matter” over and over again, and in the process became gleeful, laughing and silly. It was disassociation leading to euphoria, and constant repetition induces it. I still remember my mind seeming to sink into a deep awareness that, in fact, it just doesn’t matter. That this was a truth that was always there, and now I finally knew it and would change my life in new directions and glory. Of course, the feeling didn’t last. Life did matter, my concerns mattered, my studies mattered.

If I could gather a group of my middle-aged friends to chant “I’m a flabby tabby!” over and over again, no doubt we would also feel euphoria eventually, at least for a time. It’s human. The actual message is irrelevant to this feeling. It’s mechanics.

Propagandi…