And it sticks. I mean, focus your attention in that little world of meanings and symbols long enough and you’ll tend to get stuck there.
But reality is infinitely larger than that little world. So to stay there, in that little world, to have your perspective altered like that all the time, is a bit unhealthy and insane.
But this is considered normal. Encouraged even.
Literally just imagining things in your head out of boredom does something similar, and that’s something that’s just gonna happen if you sit idle.
Brains need stimulation to develop and continue to function properly, as creatures with unusually powerful brains, humans benefit from, even need, quite a lot of such mental stimulation. There’s a reason we enjoy and put so much effort into entertaining ourselves, compared to most other animals. Working through imagined scenarios is no more unhealthy for us than exercising our muscles to keep them fit is.
Yes, reading is important and good. But here I am indicating a different aspect of it. Like many things in reality it has several aspects.