Imagine this.
One day, your brain is taken away. Not physically. But your sense of “who you are” disappears. You don’t know why you do what you do. You don’t know what drives your actions. Sounds impossible, right? You probably think, “That would never happen to me. I know what I’m doing.” But do you?
Let me tell you a strange story. There is a parasite called the liver fluke. It starts inside a snail. Then somehow, ants eat the infected slime. That’s when everything changes. The parasite enters the ant’s body and moves into its brain. From that moment, the ant is no longer fully in control. During the day, the ant behaves normally. It works, moves, and lives like any other ant. But at dusk, something different happens. The parasite takes over. It forces the ant to climb up a blade of grass and lock its jaw in place. The ant just hangs there, waiting. Why? Because grazing animals like cows eat grass at that time. The ant is sacrificed so the parasite can enter the cow and continue its life cycle. The ant thinks it is just doing what it always does. But it is not. It has been taken.
Now come back to us. Ask yourself something simple: Why did you check your phone today? Email. Facebook. Instagram. TikTok. etc… How many times? And more importantly, Did you choose to do it? Or did it just happen?
We often believe we are in control. We think our actions are intentional. We think we are making decisions. But how often do we act without thinking? A small trigger. A notification. A habit. And suddenly, we are scrolling again.
I recently read Survival of the Sickest by Sharon Moalem. It explains how many of our behaviors and biological reactions come from systems we don’t fully understand. That idea stayed with me. Because maybe we are not as different from that ant as we think. Not biologically controlled by parasites. But influenced. Conditioned. Pulled by patterns we never questioned.
So maybe the real question is not, “Am I in control?” But, “How much of my life is actually conscious?”
The ant does not know it has been taken. That is what makes it powerful.
So again, ask yourself, When you reach for your phone… is that really you?
If you want to know the answer, maybe it’s time to investigate.
TK
