Imaginary Enemies

In Pirates of the Caribbean, we sympathize with the Pirates when in reality they're the enemy. They plunder, rape, kill and do all sorts of other troublesome things. With a good enough story, our moral compass can sway which ever direction the author chooses.

The same thing is happening in real life...

The enemies are created by bad actors that have found their way into politics. They're the ones saying that Jews/Muslims/French/Russians/British... are bad people. They repeat the lies at such a grand scale, so often, that it becomes believable.

"...demonizing an dehumanizing a group can pave the way toward harming its members."

-Steven Pinker

There's always a possibility that a supposed enemy is actually evil but it's mostly a matter of perspective or gaining power; Divide to conquer is a tactic as old as civilization itself. We only ever hear one side of a story and for each fingers we point at someone, 3 more are pointing in our direction. Nazi soldiers believed themselves to be fighting for the greater good. Which side, good or evil, we're on always depends on who we're listening to but only the winning side gets to choose how they'll be remembered.

Forever "Cringe"

When I was a kid, I fabricated a story where my cousin Marc created a club for which I would go at night and all sorts of crazy things would be happening (alien encounters, development of secret weapons...) All of this was made up and pretty "cringe".

I would tell these stories to my friends and most wouldn't believe me (of course).

It's not uncommon for a kid to create stories but fast forward 20+ years and nobody remembers, or cares about, my cringy stories. While I may of gotten some weird looks from my schoolmates, these ended when I got home.
Nowadays, you have kids share these stories online for the entire world to see which opens the doors for bad actors to embarrass the author - online/at home/forever.

It's a lot more difficult to be a kid today than it use to be. Cringy stories are forever recorded into the annals of the Internet. The school bullies have made their way into the homes.
Parents have a responsibility to limit their child's online activities until such times as they get a better feel of what it means to be human and partake in a society with its good and bad actors.

There's Always Going to Be Someone Better

When in a relationship you can always find someone "better" if you keep looking. They're not necessary better, but they're new and exciting - just like a new car. Once the excitement is gone... onwards to the next relationship and the cycle continues until such time as the desire to do so is still there.

"The grass is greener where you water it."

-Neil Barringham

The choice of a partner is the most important decision that we can make. If we don't find someone that adds to our peace then our life will become miserable. While there's always a possibility that we're still looking because we feel like we've made the "wrong choice" it's also possible that we're just bored and looking for something new and exciting which doesn't, usually, end up with anything meaningful. 

You can't go back on these decisions.

There's always going to be someone better which is why that, at some point, we must decide to no longer pursue another mate if, of course, there's desire to build a long/lasting relationship.

The person who's comfortable being alone tends to think more clearly about his association as they don't want anyone that would disturb their peace too much. Once older, we're also prone to be more careful with our intimate association as our testosterone level (men) are lower which, again, is something that allows us to think more clearly about relationships.

Feeling Chemicals

Hate, love, happiness... we know how it "feels" because the feeling is tied to a chemical in the brain that, once activated, allows us to feel.

When someone says "I just want to be happy" what they actually mean is that they want the chemicals related to happiness to be within acceptable parameters within the brain. How these chemicals are activated may vary from person to person. Reading may make some people happy, for example, and make someone else miserable.

It's possible to activate these feelings through artificial means.

“...Part of the process of discovering your Life Purpose has to do with being in touch with your feelings. Your feelings are clue to what your life purpose is all about. By noticing how you feel about things, you’ll discover what you value and what you don’t. Things that don’t trigger much emotion probably aren’t tied to your purpose or the application of it - at least for now....”

-Chuck Goetschel

Our entire being is dependent on chemical reactions within the brain. It's through them that we design our life. We make decisions based on how we feel which means that a chemical imbalance, artificial or otherwise, could be the difference between a life of success or failure. We must be aware of these nuances with biological life and not make important decisions when our emotions are high. A calm, collected, demeanor is a much better time to make decisions than under the influence of an emotion running wild.

Training Our Brain

“He who does anything because it is the custom, makes no choice. He gains no practice either in discerning or in desiring what is best. The mental and moral, like the muscular powers, are improved only by being used. The faculties are called into no exercise by doing a thing merely because others do it, no more than by believing a thing only because others believe it. If the grounds of an opinion are not conclusive to the person's own reason, his reason cannot be strengthened, but is likely to be weakened by his adopting it: and if the inducements to an act are not such as are consentaneous to his own feelings and character (where affection, or the rights of others, are not concerned), it is so much done towards rendering his feelings and character inert and torpid, instead of active and energetic.”

-From “On Liberty” book by John Stuart Mill

In which environment are we supposed to be practicing our mental faculties?

We haven't really built a society where intellectualism is encouraged. School is about memorization, work is doing what we're told and the home is where we shut our brain and do as little thinking as possible.

"...a mind that feeds only on itself soon is undernourished, becoming weak and incapable of creative progressive thought. Stimulation from others is excellent mind food." 

- David J. Scwartz

For someone that reads on a regular basis, it can be difficult to find stimulation in the conversation with non-readers. As I mentioned before, there's a thinking distance phenomenon felt during discussions, with a non-reader, which is made increasingly evident the more books someone has read (since the distance is now greater). Stimulating discussion, to an intellectual, are sadly few and far in-between.

Again, the question is how are we suppose to practice our mental faculties?

While we may not be able to change our work situation, educational system or relations - we can choose how we spend our free time. If we expose ourselves to new experiences, or books, it should help with our mental abilities. Writing is likely the best thing we can do to develop our mental capabilities.

As John Stuart Mill said, the brain is a muscle that needs to be trained and it falls on us to insure that we give it proper training.