The Rented Brain State

You are told the only freedom is freedom from the mind. Then life hands you a mind that was shaped before you could even speak. Genes. Early stress. Family patterns. Nutrition. Sleep. Trauma. Money. Safety. Opportunity. Time.

So yes, freedom is real. And no, it is not evenly distributed.

Some people wake up with a nervous system that resets easily. Others wake up already flooded. Not because they are weak, but because their baseline is different. Growing up with low socioeconomic status is strongly linked to worse long term health and differences in cognitive and emotional development, through stress pathways and environment.

Even across a lifetime, lower social class is linked to higher risk of cognitive impairment.

Now zoom out.

We live in an era where the “high performers” can rent a different brain state.

Influencers sell “discipline” while quietly stacking advantages: trainers, chefs, recovery, private clinics, time, and a safety net. Some also chase hormonal and chemical edges. Testosterone therapy is a real medical treatment for clinically confirmed deficiency, but doctors and regulators have warned about misinformation and inappropriate demand driven by social media, including pressure on health systems.

Ketamine is also in the spotlight, partly because of high profile reporting and controversy around Elon Musk, with claims and denials reported in major outlets.

Whether it is TRT, ketamine, peptides, stimulants, microdosing, “biohacking”, the pattern is the same.

The game is being played on two levels:

Public story: hustle, mindset, grind, be like me.

Private infrastructure: money, access, medical support, pharmacology, and the ability to recover when it goes wrong.

So the common person is gaslit twice.

First, by being told the problem is mindset only.

Second, by being sold shortcuts they cannot safely afford, medically access, or recover from if things go bad.

This is the point where bitterness is tempting. But bitterness is another leash.

So what is the peaceful move, without being naive?

It is this: one foot in, one foot out.

One foot in: you learn the rules of the world so the world cannot easily crush you.

Money literacy. Skill building. Health basics. Negotiation. Saying no. Building leverage. Paying down chaos. Investing in stability. Choosing environments that calm your nervous system. Not because you worship the game, but because you refuse to be its victim.

One foot out: you do not let the game colonise your identity.

You stop measuring your worth by output, status, and attention. You stop letting other people’s chemically enhanced “peak state” become your standard. You return to something quieter and more honest.

“You have power over your mind, not outside events.” Marcus Aurelius.

“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” Krishnamurti.

“Between stimulus and response there is a space.” Viktor Frankl.

That “space” is the only freedom worth chasing. But here is the reality check again.

You do not widen that space by pretending you have equal conditions.

You widen it by working with the conditions you have.

If you were dealt a hard hand, your path is not “be positive.”

Your path is training. Slowly. Repeatedly. Like building muscle.

Practical peace, not fantasy peace:

Sleep and routine before enlightenment. A tired brain cannot “transcend” anything.

Reduce inputs that hijack you. Doom scrolling is a drug delivery system.

Build a small daily practice that proves you are not your thoughts. Sit, breathe, notice, return.

Build a small daily action that proves you are not powerless. One task, finished.

Choose your circle. Nervous systems sync.

Stop worshipping the winners. Many are sprinting on chemistry, privilege, or both. And many are paying a price you do not see.

Can we achieve freedom from the mind without the good hand?

Not perfectly. Not permanently. Not equally.

But we can achieve something real: a growing capacity to witness the mind without obeying it, and a growing ability to play the world’s game without giving it our soul.

That is the balanced path.

One foot in.

One foot out.

A calm heart.

A clear eye.

No self deception.

It is not that this is wrong or right. The real question is simpler. What is the more joyful choice, the more healthy choice?

If someone does not understand finance, it is normal that they give up that space in the mind. They trust a system. They trust the structures we build for tax free accumulation, pensions, ISAs, whatever exists to help ordinary people not get crushed by time and inflation. There is no shame in that. Nobody can master everything. We outsource what we cannot hold.

And if one day we can have chips in the brain, or medicine that calms the inner chaos, why not? Relief is not evil. Support is not weakness. A calmer nervous system can be the difference between surviving and actually living.

But here is how it goes wrong.

It goes wrong when relief becomes power.

When tools become control.

When enhancement becomes status.

When the calm mind becomes a weapon against the “uncalm” mind.

When we start using access, knowledge, and technology to dominate, not to heal.

That is the turning point. Greed enters quietly. It says, I deserve more. I am better. I should decide. I should own. I should control. And then we forget the basic truth.

This is one organism.

A society is not a collection of separate winners. It is a shared nervous system. If we build systems only for the few, the whole body gets sick. If we build tools only for advantage, the tool becomes a cage. If we try to control each other, we create fear. Fear spreads. Fear makes people cruel. And the cycle repeats.

So the ending is not a moral lecture. It is a reality check with peace.

Use the systems that help you. Learn what you can. Outsource what you must. Take the support that calms your mind. Use technology, use medicine, use structure, if it helps you live better.

Just do not forget what makes it safe.

Compassion and Wisdom.

And the remembrance that your gain is not separate from the whole.

Because the moment we forget we are one organism, everything we build, even the tools meant to heal, will eventually be used to harm.

The ego ends. You do not continue as a personal “I”. But what you do continues through everyone else. So build what heals, not what controls. Because we are one organism, and every selfish win becomes a shared wound.

So live like a good ancestor. Build what reduces suffering, share what you can, and do not turn power into control, because we are one organism and the damage spreads.

There is no afterlife. There is only life.

So do not postpone love. Do not delay courage. Do not waste today on control and greed.

This is it. Make it count.

Faster Than My Mind

Woop woop
Yeah
Woop woop

I am moving faster than my mind
Thoughts fall back, they run behind
City lights, I blink, they slide
I am already on the other side
Missed the breakfast, missed the plate
Running late but feelin great
Coffee on my lips, too hot, too quick
Still I sip, still I kick

No time for the doubt to speak
No time for the fear to leak
I am gone before it starts
Woop woop, I am all heart

Moving faster than my mind
Thoughts are behind, left on read, left to find
Coffee on my lips, woop woop
I do not stop, I do not snooze
Moving faster than my mind
Breakfast missed but I feel alive
Woop woop, woop woop
I am flying past the room

Shoes on wrong, still hit the door
Laugh it off, then hit the floor
Elevator mirror, messy hair
Do not care, I am not there
Mind says wait, I say nah
Feet say go, and there I are
Noise behind me, let it fade
I am the run I never prayed

No time for the doubt to speak
No time for the fear to leak
I am gone before it starts
Woop woop, I am all heart

If I slow down, I feel the storm
All the stories, all the forms
So I run, I run, I run
Till the thinking comes undone
But somewhere deep, a softer truth
I do not need to chase the proof
Breathe one time, just one small stop
Let the mind catch up, then drop

Moving faster than my mind
Thoughts are behind, I leave them in a line
Coffee on my lips, woop woop
Still I choose what I do
Moving faster than my mind
But I breathe, I breathe, I feel alive
Woop woop, woop woop
Now I run, but I am true

Woop woop
Coffee on my lips
Woop woop
Thoughts behind, I dip