In the previous section we became accustomed to the term and how it can be used; now we must analyse the phenomenon to which it refers more carefully. We want to know the nature of the mindfuck, what its constituent components are. I suggest it belongs to the same family of concepts as lying and bullshitting, which is not to say that they are identical, but that they resemble each other in signifi– cant respects. Our first task, then, is to locate the concept of mindfucking in relation to these other concepts: how is it similar and how is it different? (I shall here be considering the negative kind.) The chief respect in which they resemble each other is that they all involve deception in some way, or at the very least lack of transparency; they are not honest. The value that guides them is not truthfulness, or the desire to achieve truth. The lie is the easiest of the three to understand; its deception is the most straightforward. It deceives about two things: how the world objectively stands, and how things stand in the liar's own mind. If I tell you a lie to the effect that your spouse is unfaithful, I mislead you about two matters: the state of fidelity of your spouse, and what I believe about this matter. I lead you to believe that things are other than they really are in the world, and I lead you to believe that my own beliefs are other than they are.