...where the Two become the One
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. ~Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV) Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad […] Read more »
Moving from religious conformity to internalized wisdom Humanity’s search for meaning has long been channeled through the great edifices of organized religion. These systems offer structure, community, and a framework for morality, promising a guiding light in a complex world. Yet, for countless individuals, that promised light can feel more like a cage. When institutions demand adherence to rigid, unchallengeable doctrines, they cease to be tools for liberation and instead […] Read more »
Certainty or Truth? Recovering the Logos from Sola Scriptura Sola Scriptura is a core Protestant doctrine asserting that the Bible alone is the ultimate, infallible authority for Christian faith, doctrine, and practice, superseding traditions or other sources unless aligned with Scripture, while emphasizing its sufficiency and clarity for deriving truths through study and the Holy Spirit’s guidance. The belief that Jesus is the Logos—translated as “Word” rather than “Logic”—reinforces this […] Read more »
Human consciousness often clings to a zoomed-in state, fixated on personal narratives, viewpoints, and structures that provide an illusion of control. This hyper-focused perspective stems from a primal need for safety, where individuals anchor themselves to familiar stories and rigid frameworks to navigate life’s uncertainties. By staying zoomed-in, people believe they can manage their environment, relationships, and outcomes. However, this narrow focus creates a self-imposed “control Matrix”—a mental construct reinforced […] Read more »
A victim mindset is a cognitive pattern where individuals consistently perceive themselves as powerless targets of external circumstances, blaming others or events for their difficulties. This mindset resists personal responsibility and change, often clinging to a narrative of helplessness to avoid confronting uncomfortable truths. Socratic humility is the intellectual virtue of recognizing and embracing the limits of one’s knowledge, fostering openness to learning and growth. It counters arrogance by encouraging a […] Read more »
Deductive rigidity refers to the strict application of fixed premises to reach conclusions, often stifling inquiry by treating those premises as unchallengeable, leading to inflexible and potentially flawed outcomes. In contrast, abductive reasoning offers flexibility by inferring the best explanation from observed facts, adapting to new evidence and context to align further with truth. The maxim “You can be dead sure and dead wrong” exposes a fundamental flaw in human cognition: the tendency to […] Read more »
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 »
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 with deductive reasoning, and refined or discarded in […] Read more »