Reflecting on the Message of Easter via a Transactional vs Non-Transactional Lens

Transactional Love is a conditional exchange where affection or care is offered with the expectation of receiving something in return, such as validation or reciprocation. It operates like a contract, driven by external motives and often tied to a sense of obligation or debt. Non-Transactional Love is given freely without expecting repayment, rooted in genuine care and intrinsic motivation. It prioritizes authentic connection and selflessness, unbound by calculations or external rewards. The […] Read more »

The Interplay of Deduction, Abduction, and the Metaphor of Jesus as the Inner King

Human reasoning shapes our worldviews, moral frameworks, and spiritual lives through two primary modes: deductive and abductive. Deductive reasoning starts with general premises and derives specific conclusions, offering structure and logical certainty. Abductive reasoning, by contrast, begins with observations and seeks the most plausible explanations, embracing creativity and intuition. The relationship between these modes determines whether a person’s worldview is liberating or restrictive. This article examines how deductive frameworks often […] Read more »

Creativity vs. Productivity: The Role of Reasoning in Creating and Producing Value

*Note: the examples in this article aren’t necessarily based in our experience with CPS and ex-partner, but they’re there to help understand and clarify the problems and patterns that I am exploring here. Ideation is the process of generating, developing, and refining new ideas or creative solutions to address needs or problems, often relying on imaginative thinking to envision possibilities. In personal relationships and family law, the interplay between creativity […] Read more »

Mistaking Depth for Narcissism: The Role of Shallowness and Cultural Bias

Has your depth ever been misunderstood to the point where you are personally shamed, judged, or attacked by shallow people? Getting misjudged, straw manned, and ridiculed by superficial and shallow people is a lot like children playing in a kiddie pool, where the children are judging a submarine navigating the depths of the ocean as if it was evil, mean, and scary due to its capacity and size. If such […] Read more »

The Illusion of Moral Authority: the Government’s Monopoly on Force

In contemporary society, many ideologues and agents of the state anchor their moral positions in the government’s framework of policies, procedures, and fiat laws, particularly within the family law system. This reliance on the state’s moral authority, however, is not grounded in consent but in force, coercion, and the implicit threat of violence—symbolized by “guns.” This article explores how this coercive foundation disincentivizes deep thought, reflection, and empathetic dialogue, especially […] Read more »

The Tragic Irony of CPS: A Case Study in Psychological Harm and Institutional Failure

NOTE: Certain facts and reasoning within this story, as well as names, were left out to protect the innocence of the children. These are my rational conclusions and judgments based upon our experiences from the past fifteen months or so with slander, libel, and the Dutch family law system. Is the pen, mightier than the sword? I guess we’ll find out as we move forward, and continue to use our […] Read more »

Breaking the Matrix: How Abductive Reasoning Unites Reality and Truth

Deductive reasoning, defined as starting with general premises assumed true and deriving specific conclusions—like “all dissenters disrupt order, so Jane, a dissenter, is disruptive”—often shapes how people perceive reality, mistaking their subjective lens for universal truth. This process can create a thought matrix, a rigid mental framework where premises from culture, authority, or personal experience dictate thought’s boundaries, defended dogmatically as reality itself. For example, someone shaped by childhood trauma […] Read more »

The Metaphysics of Narcissism: Stealing Innocence & the Emperor’s New Clothes

The Genesis account of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden provides a foundational narrative for understanding the loss of innocence, particularly in the moment when they sew fig leaves to cover themselves after eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 3:7). Before this act, their nakedness carried no shame (Genesis 2:25), suggesting that their innocence functioned as a natural garment, a state of unselfconscious […] Read more »

The Straw Man Fallacy: Reducing Depth to Shallowness

The straw man logical fallacy—where an argument or character is distorted into a weaker, oversimplified version to be easily attacked—serves as a potent tool for misrepresenting individuals of depth and complexity. A person of depth, marked by nuanced ideas, emotional richness, and intricate reasoning, becomes a target for those with agendas or those too biased or dimwitted to grasp such complexity. Whether driven by malice or ignorance, these critics erect […] Read more »

Shallowness, Depth, Truth, and the Purpose of Force

The angry mob, fueled by ignorance and prejudice, stormed the castle, their shallow understanding of the world reduced to simplistic labels and stereotypes, as they sought to destroy the monster, which they called “Depth” – a symbol of complexity and nuance that threatened to shatter their comfortable illusions. With each blow, they struck not at the monster’s heart, but at their own limitations, attempting to silence the whispers of doubt […] Read more »

Abductive Reasoning and the Pursuit of Truth Through Imperfection

Abductive reasoning is a form of logical inference that starts with observations and seeks the simplest, most likely explanation, embracing uncertainty and iteration. It thrives on generating and refining hypotheses, often leading to surprising yet plausible conclusions, as seen in Sherlock Holmes’ investigative approach. Abductive iteration is the cyclical process within abductive reasoning where initial imperfect hypotheses are proposed, tested against evidence, and refined or discarded in repeated loops. It […] Read more »

Hades and the Alchemy of Pain: Transforming Hurt into Depth

We live in a culture obsessed with positivity, productivity, and the relentless pursuit of “moving forward.” Yet, this constant push for superficial success often masks a deep-seated fear: the fear of feeling. The truth is, pain is an inevitable part of the human experience, and our attempts to escape it are ironically what keep us tethered to a life of shallowness. It’s time we re-evaluate our relationship with hurt, recognizing […] Read more »

The Matrix Trilogy as a Metaphor for the Trivium Method

The Matrix trilogy, comprising “The Matrix” (1999), “The Matrix Reloaded” (2003), and “The Matrix Revolutions” (2003), serves not only as an engaging science fiction narrative but also as a profound metaphor for the process of knowledge acquisition through the Trivium method. The Trivium, one of the foundational components of classical education, consists of three stages: grammar, logic, and rhetoric. These stages correspond directly to the trilogy’s progression from initial revelation […] Read more »

Connecting the Character Traits of Pride, Humility, and Dignity Together

Pride, humility, and dignity emerge as authentic virtues when they arise from an internal locus of identity, shaped by self-awareness and rational integrity. These internalized traits stand in sharp contrast to their externalized distortions—arrogance, pretentiousness, and a superficial mimicry of dignity—which depend on an external locus of control or identity for validation. Ayn Rand, the creator of Objectivism, extolled pride as a moral summit, while rejecting humility as a flaw. […] Read more »

The Metaphysical Weight of Labor: Property, Purpose, and the Apple Tree

The concept of labor as a means to claim property has long fascinated philosophers, from the practical insights of John Locke to the metaphysical depths of Aristotle. At its core lies an assumption: when someone invests their effort into something—like cultivating an apple tree—they gain a right to it, not just legally but in a deeper, almost cosmic sense. This right might carry a “metaphysical gravity” or “momentum,” a weight […] Read more »