How do you engage in something without getting consumed by it? By staying above it. How do you stay above it? By seeing through it. How do you see through it? By recognizing its illusions, patterns and being able to predict its course. This happens through experience. When you can recognize a particular drama or how a story ends from the get go. So, you are more likely to get impacted or consumed by new experiences and lessons rather than old ones, because with old ones, you are much more likely to be able to predict their course.