chat about TPTT

My Query

  • I would like you to be able to look at links in this chat, like this one>
  • https://runningdownvimy.com/the-plays-the-thing/
  • I find political things very difficult to follow, from other interactions with me, other chats, you may know why that is?
  • I don’t get terminology like existentialist or even when folks call others leftists or rightist or other such labels… I see the term, and look up the definition, but simply cannot incorporate them into my brain, let alone my vocabulary.
  • It isn’t a refusal, its a mental block. Can you help bridge the gap between myself and my friend who is quite the opposite of me in this regard?
  • His name is Bruce

ChatGPT response>

Before we talk about Bruce, pause for a second. When you hear words like existentialist, leftist, rightist — what happens in your body? Confusion? Irritation? A kind of mental fog?

From what I’ve seen of you, this isn’t a lack of intelligence. It’s almost the opposite.

You tend to think in:

  • story
  • metaphor
  • lived experience
  • relationship
  • texture

You’re amphibious. You move between land and sea. You don’t live in filing cabinets.

Political labels are filing cabinets.

They compress thousands of human lives into one word. That compression can feel violent to someone who experiences reality as layered and incarnational. So your mind doesn’t “grab” the word because your mind wants the whole person, not the category.

That’s not a flaw. It’s a strength in some contexts.
But it does create friction with someone like Bruce, who likely enjoys operating in conceptual shorthand.

Here’s the bridge.

Instead of trying to “learn the vocabulary” first, shift the question.

When Bruce uses a term like “leftist,” you might ask:

  • “When you say that, what do you mean in practice?”
  • “What kind of policies or behaviors does that include?”
  • “Can you give me a concrete example?”

That moves the conversation from label → lived reality.

You don’t need to become fluent in ideological shorthand.
You need translation mechanisms.

Think of labels like zip files.
Bruce is comfortable sending zip files.
You need them uncompressed.

Now I want to gently challenge something.

You said it feels like a “mental block.”
Notice that phrase.

Is it possible it’s not a block… but a preference for depth over abstraction?

And here’s the ACT move:

When the thought appears — “I can’t incorporate this into my brain” — can you see it as a sentence your mind produces, rather than a verdict about your capacity?

You are not your difficulty with terminology.

You are the one noticing the difficulty.

That shift matters.

Now let’s get practical.

If you want a simple operating map:

  • Left (in modern politics): tends to prioritize equality, social safety nets, systemic reform.
  • Right: tends to prioritize tradition, market freedom, individual responsibility, stability.
  • Existentialist (philosophy): focuses on individual meaning-making in a world that doesn’t hand you meaning automatically.

Don’t memorize definitions.

Instead, when a word appears, translate it into:

“What does this person believe should be protected?”
“What are they afraid will be lost?”
“What kind of human flourishing are they imagining?”

That will bring you back into your strength — reading the human story underneath the category.

Now something more important.

What do you value in your friendship with Bruce?

Understanding him?
Respecting difference?
Sharpening each other?
Being challenged?

Because that value will determine how much energy you want to invest in building this bridge.

You don’t need to become Bruce.

You need to stay yourself while becoming more flexible.

So tell me — when you picture a conversation with him about politics, what do you most want to preserve?