Five topics to avoid

Ancient civilizations, those which exist uninterrupted for millennia, do so not by pure luck, rather, by design.

These great civilizations have learned throughout the centuries of war and development a few tricks to enhance their chances of survival.

This list of five topics is a helpful reminder to learn from great civilizations, in case you happen to live in a less-great one.

For the tl;dr (Internet slang for "too long; didn't read") type of folks the five topics to avoid are these: Politics, Race, Religion, Sex and Money.

If you have the patience, interest and time, then read on...

The main reason to avoid these five topics is that they are divisive. These topics usually evoke negative emotions in people, and chances are that you and your conversation partner do not share the same orientation towards them. It is more than likely that people discussing these topics will disagree, often violently, about these concepts. Your choices about these five subjects might probably profoundly differ from other people. You may think that you are right, and whoever disagrees with you is wrong. Yet, the truth is, that neither you or the other person is right or wrong: you just differ and have equally valid opinions. If you doubt that your "truth" is universal, just look at (documented) human history to realize that those much wiser ancestors of ours had debated these subjects and had not reached any conclusions, throughout those thousands of years of development. Chances are, neither will you come up with the "holy grail" if you stumble upon these topics either.

So, without further ado, here are the five topics to avoid to have a (much!) better life, to avoid friction with fellow humans during your short, meaningless existence anyway:

1. Politics. You may think that your political views are important: no, they are not. Capitalism versus socialism/communism, liberal vs conservative, democracy vs authoritarianism, blue vs red, etc, these are all non-important. You may have a non-neutral view about them, but it really does not matter. Keep your such preferences to yourself, and avoid airing them to others, and definitely avoid arguing about these concepts. You can practise politics as a profession if you like, just be aware that you will be opposed by the vast majority of people you come across during your lifetime, if you travel enough in the world. If you keep living in your "bubble", your non-neutral views may solidify and you may get more and more convinced about your "truth", but please remember that whatever you believe about your concepts, those are relative and toxic for other people who have equally valid points about politics from their perspectives. The best practice is keeping a neutral mind about politics and not partake in it in any shape and form, but if you do choose to get involved, at least have the decency not to involve others in your antics.

2. Race. Mankind, from an anthropological perspective, is divided into various races, sometimes visibly, sometimes invisibly. You were born into one of the many races. Your racial background is neither your pro or con, rather, it is a fairly neutral phenomenon. There are no "good" or "bad" races on this planet. They are all different, they may have some peculiarities, advantages in certain aspects (e.g. some are better adapted to being under the Sun than others, or the lack of skin pigments might be better under dark conditions). There are no "chosen races", so if you think that any of these races is superior to another, stop that madness already for your own sake -- and that of others. Thus, you cannot be "lucky" or "unlucky" to have been born into any of these racial groupings. Most importantly, no matter how you feel about your race (superior or inferior), you should definitely not be "proud" to be of such a race, because it is not your feat, rather, a random event in a galactic lottery, nothing else. You did not choose to be pushed out of a mother belonging to a certain race, so you should be humble about your "initial conditions", and you should equally be neutral about the racial composition of others. You should not envy them, nor you should despise them: you should be neutral about such issues. You should, however, try to make the best out of your "initial condition", such that you fit in the global community with the least frictions. So, avoid this topic at all costs. Do not notice racial issues, do not think about them, do not talk about them.

3. Religion. Your religious beliefs, irrespective of acquired from your family, education or country, or developed all by yourself during your mental development, are yours and yours only. Keep your convictions private: other people have other beliefs, probably slightly different from yours, and they have equal rights to keep them. Do not ever proselytize, do not spread your beliefs, do not argue about them with others. Keep it to yourself, and never engage in public or private discussions about any topics that are based on belief and not hard facts. Remember: there are no "good" or "bad" beliefs: they are not even mandatory, you could live without any beliefs and still be a perfectly decent human being. So, remember that your beliefs are optional and relative, and definitely avoid any topics involving them.

4. Sex. Certainly, sex is a powerful subject, mainly for thinking about it and practising it. Our species depends on sex simply to survive. Your survival may not directly depend on it, but our species homo sapiens sapiens, being one of the vertebrates and mammal family, can only survive (yeah, forget about those weird exceptions) if most humans have a healthy relationship and similarly healthy attractions to the opposite sex. It is normal to feel strongly about such concepts, because our societies are hardwired about the family, procreation, and the miracle of life all hinges on sex. However, we all have different ideas about what is the best about these topics, and mankind could never really come up with a "one and only" way around this subject. As a result, we all feel strongly and convinced that our way is the best, and others who disagree, are wrong. Sex is not only a divisive topic, but talking about it could also result in physical harm or joy, and those have long-lasting consequences. So, avoid the topic entirely to be safe.

5. Money. Our societies are revolving around this economic "blood": money. It is circulating, being accumulated, being dispersed, and form the "blood vessels" of most societies (except the ones that are trying to eliminate the use of money as a concept), thus it is most likely that you live in a society where money is used to measure value. As such, it is a controversial topic: you may have strong opinions about how to use money at best, or how much accumulated wealth should be permissible, or how to best handle money, how to save money, what is cheap or expensive, the banking system with or without interest, governments handling resources, etc. Money is a sensitive and touchy subject, whether you possess a lot or less of it. Just like with the other four topics, there is no good or bad idea that should be universal. A healthy mind should develop a neutral position about wealth and money: understanding that all human beings were born without money, will die without money, and how in between those two milestones they relate to this subject, might be indeed interesting to look at, but it is indeed irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Thus, the best strategy is to "mind your own business" (literally) and try not to dwell on this subject with others, no matter what.

I hope that when you understand these concepts, and recognize the pattern about how to avoid any topics that are explosive, harmful, or just plain impolite or "waste of time": then you will have a better life, and you will be able to spend time on topics that do not divide, that are evoking positive feelings and encourage co-operation, rather than competition. There are more such topics, not only these five, but these are the most common ones.

If you live in certain parts of the world, you may notice that the media around you (mainstream or social, does not matter), as well as the society as a whole, is hard-wired to talk exactly about these five divisive and toxic topics all the time. Your newspapers, your television, your radio, your social media bubbles and cesspools, are probably full of these five topics. If so: remember that these are harmful for your mental development. Do not only ditch the habit of being sucked into these suicidal vortices, but see who these entities behind these media are really, and avoid these puppeteers at all cost, too. Thus, stop participating in such communities where their daily activity is revolving around inciting hatred, provoking others, and dividing society along these five divisive lines. Thus avoid the so-called "news media" with their daily doses of hate-, fear- and warmongering, avoid the tabloids and "daily news" type of nonsense, avoid sexualized or monetized content anywhere (ads, billboards, commercials), avoid any groupings around one particular race or religion, etc.

Be aware of the evil nature of these things, and by being aware, steer your thinking, your concepts, your communication and your life into a neutral, more productive, less abrasive direction. Do it, and thank me later! Peace :)