Tomiro
Jedi
I have noticed something similar to a small degree when spending prolonged time with certain groups of people, or unhealthy relationship dynamics. Even if I don't get completely drawn in, it can feel a bit like a brain fog, or some behaviour gets more normalized. Like my mind is trying to find a compromize, when in reality there might not be one. Only after being away for some time or with other people can I think and feel more clearly.It's very interesting, the linkage of acetylcholine to mental blocking.. It made me think of - there's a part in Darkness Over Tibet where Illion, after having been living in the underground city for some time, eating their food etc, feels an extreme sort of brain fog. Then when he leaves for a while, goes out into the rain (if I recall correctly), it's like he gets magnetically reset, all the negative influence of that place is washed away and he's suddenly himself again.
Has anyone ever noticed this effect in their lives? I have, a very mild version of it: One side of my family are all a bit mentally unhealthy IMO. Nothing really bad or anything, they're pretty normal... But the other side I'd say are very mentally healthy (and most happen to be tobacco smokers BTW! None of the other side are)... Unfortunately for me, it's the unhealthy side who I live near and see regularly. They're always playing mind games with each other, they are not very self aware, hardly ever light-hearted, very self serious.. After a time of being with them, I find that mood rubbing off on me. It can last for a long time afterwards. Then when I go and visit the other side of my family sometimes, it's like a huge breath of fresh air. My wife and I have notice it every time. Afterwards, we say to each other "ahhh so that's what normal people are like, I remember now!". And for a while, it seems to innoculate us against the murky vibes of the other side of the family - when we see them we are no longer drawn into their world, etc etc... If that makes sense.
C.S. Lewis wrote a similar thing in his novel That Hideous Strength, IIRC. I don't have the quote to hand, will try to find it later if I can find my copy of the book. Basically the protagonist is drawn into the negative influence of a very negative organisation (with roots in C.S. Lewis's version of, basically, 4D STS). Later when he extricates himself from it and is back amongst the positively oriented normal people - his wife and friends - it's like he suddenly wakes up and realises that he hasn't been himself.
This reminds me of what Lobaczewksi writes at the beginning of Political Ponerology, when he describes his state after sitting through a lecture with this new professor:
"We studied ourselves, since we felt something strange had taken over our minds and something valuable was leaking away irretrievably. The world of psychological reality and moral values seemed suspended as if if a chilly fog. Our human feeling and student solidarity lost their meaning, as did patriotism and our old established criteria."
They then networked with other students and realized that they felt the same, and spent some time together camping in the mountains to clear their minds. He describes how that and analyzing the psychopatic characteristics of the professor's personality gave them a sort of psychological immunity.