To be wary of both delusion and disillusion. Ground yourself in facts. Understand the background and context if you can. And then, to keep on a simple path forward, one step after next. The best next step and good cheer in your heart. Nothing else matters.
One of my lifelong pursuit is to see the world better and clearer, to see it and know it well. Some of the biggest debates in the world can be disentangled if they can be put in context. Some context shaping books which help include things which draw from facts to paint a picture. And basis that factual picture present their thesis or proposal. Devoid of the factual picture, it is sometimes very difficult to have an independent view and one is open to influence depending on the strength of the argument’s persuasion. Just by grounding in facts, it is like eye cleansing. By having the time and place solidly understood, one can then follow the trail of words better.
It remains a pursuit, this solid grounding in the atlas and map, the geographical, the physical, say, the numbers of each country, not just the big ones, but the by-the-way ones, the nuanced ones, the next layer of appreciation. It takes time, this building of understanding, a lot of open eyes across books, reports but to see the world clearly, with clean eyes. Narrative is fun too, but the next layer of history, sometimes numbers trace it better than words. Seeing the world as a globe of countries, and seeing in those countries the different lives lived, allowing all your lived experiences, readings to inform that view… and seeing there the telescoping time. And seeing all the changes that have come to be. It attunes you to a dynamic, growing world rather than a static reality. It makes you see that the world has changed and grown a lot and has capacities to resolve its problems… it brings back faith, if it be lost.
We see relatively. And though the narrative can be powerful to understand the personal, but for an average person, the relative world that exists at their time in universe needs to be seen clearly. This interest is to be satisfied by a mixed study of narrative (of the orders not recorded by history, of the everyday), of geography, of history, and of the numbers and data collected over time which help define the shape of the world, trade, the large currents that humans can only gasp at, and be carried by. Just to see the world a little better and a little clearer.
Having the context sorted, the background understood, one is likely to do better justice to any argument. And going into the personal domain – if life is how we respond to the world, our responses are much more grounded and sorted, and at the end of the day more harmonious and satisfying if the world is seen and known well.
It is an ideal pursuit, a mountain, if you will. Understanding is an arduous path. And sometimes, holding all the facts together can be difficult. But to keep at it.
Drawing from the above argument itself, there is an ideal level of understanding, and there is the reality. One works one's way from where one is to perhaps where one should ideally be. So in that context, it is good to know both Plato's ideal state and what exists today in the world, and how the world has shaped itself, and where it is going, and then, perhaps what can be done to nudge it towards the ideal. You get the flow...
A note to self - when you are lost, look for facts. Ground yourself. Begin where you are. And orient yourself forward while comprehending and internalising the past. And figure out the next best step or two, and act on them.