In a shaving post a while back I was trying to recall the specifics of a science-fiction novel I read long ago. This morning the answer has been found, and I’ve updated that post:
(It reminds of a science-fiction short-story or novella or novel that I read decades ago, in which the protagonist, who was meditating by observing the stages water goes through as it comes to a boil, enters the mindset that the alien overlords want, whereupon he is harvested and incorporated into the network of humans the aliens have built. But although he was meditating, he is essential a wolf, not a sheep, and he awakens from the state in which the aliens put him, and leads the usual successful rebellion. I cannot remember enough to find the title, but the story was anthologized for sure, probably in New Tales of Space and Time, or one of Groff Conklin‘s anthologies.)
update: I just discovered Reddit’s r/tipofmytongue, and I used it to ask whether anyone knew the title. Three minutes later, I had the answer, thanks to user Feraffiphar. The novel is Wolfbane, by Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth, published in 1959. Available on Kindle for $1.
What a relief.
The context was my own meditative observation of the stages of loading a brush with shaving soap.