Two-Stage Self-Liberation
Free yourself from the situation, then free yourself from fear, to think clearly.
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 80%
Jansen frames free thinking as a two-stage liberation. First you free yourself from the situation by recognizing it is not a sentient being that cares about your reactions; you write it down, place it in front of you, and extract yourself from the equation. Second, you free yourself from fear, which he grounds in Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings and the resolute acceptance of death. Confronting the fear of no longer existing dissolves the biggest fear, and he notes fear only shrinks as you approach it. Only once free from both can you be present and grow your thoughts.
Origin
Drawing on his own recovery and on Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings, Jansen developed a method for freeing the mind from inherited beliefs and fear so that anyone, even with a nine-to-five job, can be a genuine free thinker.
Core principles
- 01A situation is not a sentient being; it does not care how you feel about it.
- 02Writing the situation down and externalizing it lets you extract yourself from the equation.
- 03Freedom from fear requires confronting the ultimate fear: no longer existing.
- 04Fear shrinks the closer and more often you approach it.
How to run it
- 1
Externalize the situation
Physically write down the situation you are in and set it in front of you so it becomes an object you observe, not an identity you inhabit.
Pro tip Remember the situation is indifferent; it does not care if you scream at it.
- 2
Extract yourself from the equation
Separate your reaction from the facts, and from beliefs installed by family, schooling, culture, and religion.
Watch out This takes practice and time; expect it to feel awkward at first.
- 3
Confront mortality to release fear
Accept, as Musashi's warrior does, the resolute acceptance of death; facing the fear of no longer existing disarms the deepest fear.
Watch out The mortality framing is deliberately dark; approach it thoughtfully.
- 4
Approach fears repeatedly
Expose yourself to fears again and again; each approach makes them smaller.
Pro tip Fear is the one thing that gets smaller the closer you get to it.
In the wild
Told he would never walk, read, or write again, Jansen externalized the situation and refused to accept the prognosis as his reality, telling the doctors he would choose his own.
→ He went on to climb Kilimanjaro and Mont Blanc, surf, ski, write books, and read 1500 words per minute.
Common mistakes
Treating the situation as if it cares
Screaming at or resenting a circumstance changes nothing because a situation is not sentient. Externalize it instead of arguing with it.
Avoiding the fear
Fear grows in avoidance and shrinks in approach. Repeated exposure, grounded in accepting mortality, is what frees you.
Is it for you?
Best for
People stuck in reactive, fear-driven or inherited thinking who want objectivity and free thought.
Not ideal for
Those in acute crisis who need support rather than confrontation with mortality; the mortality framing can feel dark.
From the transcript
“A situation is not a sentient being, it does not care if you're upset... free yourself from the situation.”
“Fear is pretty much the only thing which gets smaller and smaller every time you get closer and closer to it.”
From the episode
Peter Jansen: Biohacking Your Brain and Body
Peter Jansen