Last night, I binged the new Netflix show “Apple Cider Vinegar.” It’s mainly about two “wellness” influencers, who both claim you can cure cancer with healthy eating, and without chemo or surgery. The thing is, one of them doesn’t actually have cancer.

The character who’s telling the truth, Milla, struck me because her story is basically the story of a lot of movies: The hero is told nothing can be done, they refuse to accept this, and find a way. The thing is, in this case, the hero is wrong.

It’s scary to see how much she believes she’s right though. I won’t get into it, but Ahh!

She reminded me a bit of myself, and how I used to think I could find a way to live without money — just eat peanut butter and apples, ride Greyhound buses, and stealth camp in forests in my little green tent. Simple thinking is seductive. The idea of going back to what’s “natural”, being “free.”

And it’s so hard to put those beliefs down, or at least complicate them, because when you believe, it’s like a religion that actually (for a while at least) makes your life better and gives you energy. Finally, you understand the world. You just need to live your vision. You’re a prophet. It’s so hard to walk away from that kind of faith.

But sometimes you need to lose an arm, or your whole body will die. (That’s a reference to “Apple Cider Vinegar,” by the way.)

This feels connected to conversations I’ve had with someone I know to be a kind person who means well, but whose beliefs seem completely bonkers and very dangerous to me. We don’t really talk much anymore, but she used to like to tell me about how much she was learning about the world through YouTube videos. She seemed to believe every conspiracy theory. And the way she talked — it was that “I finally understand” voice. She’d been enlightened and she wanted to enlighten me too. The YouTube videos were full of people telling her crazy things, but in a simple way that she could hold on to. As humans, that seems to be a natural thing— We want to have a solid grip on things, to feel safe, to understand. But real discoveries take time, and it can be so tempting to take shortcuts — especially when people are selling them so well.

I heard a podcast today in which a musician said that “magical thinking” is important. In art, everything is possible, and it’s good to lose yourself in that sometimes — all power, all possibility, no fear. But maybe it’s important to keep magical thinking to the realm of art. Maybe in real life, we can pursue it to a point. Sometimes, following our dreams expands what’s possible. We make great discoveries, create new things. But sometimes what feels true just isn’t, and if we keep ignoring the signs that we’re wrong in favor of our faith, we’re screwed.

 Lou Gervais

Vergennes