Privilege Your Mind
Marcus Aurelius and a viral insight from an off-the-grid "Amish" dude
Negative information will make you sick. Titus Morris is a man who lives off the grid in the Appalachian region and has been interviewed a few times on Peter Santenello’s huge YouTube channel. He looks Amish and lives near one of their communities, but is not a member himself. These conversations have reached millions.
If you double-tap the video below, you’ll hear Peter and Titus getting into the Ukraine-Russia war. Titus is aware of it, and that’s about all.
Shouldn’t we all strive to be “informed”?
Titus doesn’t think so. Turns out, I don’t either. I’ll explain.
“Never regard something as doing you good if it makes you betray a trust, or lose your sense of shame, or makes you show hatred, suspicion, ill will or hypocrisy……If you can privilege your own mind, your guiding spirit, and your reverence for its powers, that should keep you clear of the dramatics, of wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Marcus was telling us something here about the limits of the human mind. It’s powerful, but not invincible. You have to treat it delicately and with “reverence”. No one would argue that it’s bad for your mental health and well-being to get online and watch real-world videos of death and mayhem. It’s out there. Cops shooting people. War footage in the Middle East. Beheadings and all manner of evil. Pumping that into your mind every day would take a toll. It would interrupt your thoughts at the dinner table. You’d be listening to a colleague speak, but your mind would be on those videos. Thoughts are intrusive.
Your mind can be filled with whatever you put into it. Scripture…violence….anime…..philosophy….pornography….news of the day…..
But what it can’t be filled with is everything. We make choices daily.
Why would you feed your mind the negative?
“There comes a point when you hear all this negative information (Ukraine-Russia) and you can’t do anything at all to stop it. So why constantly feed yourself the negative? It’s like a junk food diet,” says Titus to Peter.
Titus lives off the grid. He needs to cultivate food. He needs to make sure he has water to drink. Titus needs to maintain his carriage so he can travel as needed. What good does it do him to know the details of Russia’s war on Ukraine? Does it make a material difference to him to know who Trump’s list of VP picks are? Why would Titus care if President Biden is in France and visiting Normandy Beach for the D-Day Anniversary?
Everything you consume has a cost. When you say yes to one thing, you’re always saying no to another.
You can be “informed” about political minutiae or you can be informed about whether or not your wife, husband, or child had a good day……
Does it foster ill will?
Aurelius said that it’s not doing you any good if the thing fosters ill will or suspicion. What does your news diet foster? I know what mine causes….stress and suspicion. News coverage is less about being informed, and more about being plugged in. It’s a 24/7 TV drama. There are conspiracies, betrayals, and lots of talk about fringe radical groups. I’ve felt it….you start to think radicals are everywhere. They aren’t. It’s a shadow cast on the wall by producers selling ad time.
I like
’s take on this.
As you continue forward this week, consider how the information you consume benefits you. Just a few lines before the passage above, Marcus Aurelius nods to “rational self-interest” by saying “Best is what benefits me”.
And he is correct. Order your life and carve out time for the things that directly benefit you and those you love. Read articles relevant to your daily life. Spend more time talking to your loved ones and less time talking to strangers online.
Be informed….about particular things you’ve chosen for a reason.
“Privilege your mind”