“What is the easiest way to destroy a man without touching him?” asked Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (May 3, 1469 – June 21, 1527), the Florentine diplomat, author, philosopher and historian who lived during the Italian Renaissance. “Make him fight his own mind,” he said.

A student beside Machiavelli became curious. “How can thoughts destroy someone?” he asked.

Machiavelli smiled and told him: “Because the human mind is the only prison where the prisoner is also the guard.” The student stayed silent. Then Machiavelli continued: “Most people are not defeated by enemies. They are defeated by imaginations.“

Machiavelli picked up a chess piece and said: “If I want to control a man, I do not need chains. I simply make him doubt himself.” He further said: “Once a man starts overthinking, he questions every decision. He fears every future. He replays every mistake. And slowly, he becomes too afraid to act.“

The student asked: “But why does the mind do this?“

Machiavelli laughed softly. “Because the mind believes worry creates safety. It thinks that if it predicts danger, it can avoid pain. But in reality, overthinking only steals peace before pain even arrives,” he answered.

The student then asked: “So the danger is never outside?“

Machiavelli looked directly into his eyes. “No. The real enemy was inside him the entire time. A man can survive failure. A man can survive loss. But a man, who cannot escape his own thoughts, slowly destroys himself,” he told the student.

Machiavelli gave one final lesson. “Think enough to understand life. But never so much that you become trapped inside your own mind. Because overthinking does not solve the future, it only ruins the present,” he said to his student.

Source: Mind Wealth Secrets

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das