On achieving inner peace in a noisy world

Everyone has their own unique ideology and belief system, and each person’s range of activities and exposure to the outside world are highly limited. It is this uniqueness and limitation that forms our own "bubble" (often called “information cocoon”).

In an open society, people are exposed to information in a free-market-like competition of ideas. When this information conflicts with an individual’s "bubble," emotions are easily triggered. Few are willing to acknowledge this conflict and engage in deep, system-2 thinking to break down their existing cognitive frameworks and rebuild them.

In contrast, in a closed society, people are confronted with an information flow controlled by a single authority. The role of the media is typically to transmit information in alignment with the will of those in power. While personal "bubbles" still exist, they are directly connected to the power center, lacking independent reflection and criticism. Only a small minority can break free from this information flow and engage in independent thinking and counter-control, but such individuals are very rare. Without deep reflection, most people do not consider themselves as controlled subjects. Some people simply don't care.

Both societal models have their own problems:

• In an open society, exposure to a multicultural environment can easily trigger anger and conflict.

• In a closed society, a single-value-driven environment can lead to a bot-like mentality in individuals.

In both open and closed societies, the number of “contrarians” is very small:

• In an open society, contrarians are those who can remain calm, reflect, avoid emotional reactions, and find coherent and reasonable solutions.

• In a closed society, contrarians are those who can reverse-engineer the information flow and maintain independent thought.

A Better Strategy

In short, once you are confident that you have repaired your "bubble," i.e., once you have built enough psychological resilience, you can reduce your exposure to external information and enter a "reclusive" mode.

• In a closed society, when facing external interference, you can choose to enter a "low-energy mode" and refrain from excessive intervention.

• In an open society, when faced with noise and chaotic information, you can choose to temporarily ignore it, avoiding being overwhelmed by too much information.

The role of external information is more about helping you repair holes in your "bubble" or validate your hypotheses, rather than consuming time aimlessly or "binge-watching," which can lead to inner anxiety and unease.

Additionally, to maintain long-term psychological stability and a sense of purpose, you need to set clear goals and remain in a state of "cultivation" and "accumulation." Today’s accumulation should always be a little more than yesterday’s; tomorrow’s should be more than today’s; and so on. This process must continue long-term. Without a long-term goal and direction, it’s easy to lose focus and fall into confusion and despair.

So, to summarize, I believe the key to entering a calm and peaceful psychological state is, first, to build psychological resilience - to form a robust ‘bubble’, and second, to virtually "retreat" from the noise.