A while ago, I posted an analysis of the cognitive warfare happening between India and Pakistan.
This article had some impressive reach. But weirdly, I received one message.
Just one.
The person answered my article emotionally and added:
"I live it."
Three simple words.
Yet these words erect an immediate cognitive wall - a psychological frontier impossible to traverse with logic alone.
I've heard these words before.
I've felt these words before.
I've even said them myself...
Having lived in Israel and having traveled in the West Bank often - I intimately understand the emotional gravity and cognitive distortions entrenched in sensitive geopolitical conflicts.
There's something VISCERAL in it.
Feelings of injustice, rage, grief... that tears through logic and settles in your gut.
The rational gives way to the emotional, and the strategic discussion shifts to personal hurt.
This cognitive fracture is exploited, perpetuated, and weaponized, keeping entire populations locked in cycles of tension, resentment, and trauma.
To say "I live it" is to say implicitly:
"You do not understand. You cannot understand."
And the paradox is... I agree and I feel deeply empathic for this kind of answer.
So I decided to talk to this person, and give it full access to the article, so they could read my whole argument and understand my reasoning. After I shared the full article here it was the person said:
I disamorced the emotion with kindness, empathy but also a solid articulation of my reasoning.
Reader
You receive strategic essays, mental models, and insights to train your perception and sharpen your thinking.
Grey Zone+
You transform. You access the full ecosystem:
– 7 online programs (perception, influence, negotiation, etc.)
– Strategic tools, frameworks & resources
– Private access to deeper content
– A space for lucid minds ready to think and act differently
A la carte! You need one specific course? You can enroll independently, anytime.
Most people who haven't lived these experiences can not comprehend the depth of those words: "I live it".
But understanding does not only come from living the exact same story.
It can emerge from experiencing the same intensity of emotions, the same psychological mechanisms, in different contexts.
I've lived what she lives now, just differently.
I recognize the cognitive traps because I was once ensnared within them.
And even now, in certain contexts, those traps still threaten to close around me.
These cognitive traps are built around:
- Identity. Conflicts become personal insults rather than political issues.
- Absolute narratives. Black-and-white thinking replaces nuanced... "grey" views, deepening divisions.
- Emotions. Logic and reason are overwhelmed by immediate emotional reactions.
To break free from these traps, we must first become consciously aware of them.
The goal isn't to eliminate emotion. It's to recognize when our cognitive and emotional biases are being triggered.
When someone says: "I live it," they express a genuine truth. Their truth. It's real, it's raw, we should NEVER discredit it. We should listen to it.
Yet, paradoxically, this very truth can blind us, making dialogue nearly impossible.
Breaking through this barrier requires courage, self-awareness, and strategic cognitive discipline, and that's what I teach.
The ultimate question isn't whether we "live it," but whether we can also consciously "step outside of it" long enough to recognize how we are being mentally and emotionally trapped.
Only then can true, strategic, lasting dialogue begin.
Stay lucid,
Oriane