Personal Development
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The Corporate Hallucination: Why We Fear the Mirror, Not the Machine
Photo by Daniel Lincoln on Unsplash The week I taught my AI to admit when it doesn’t know something rather than responding with a well-crafted lie, my manager called to… Read more.
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Escapism: Portals, Prisons, and the Places Between
Photo by Tj Holowaychuk on Unsplash Author’s Note For the past few months, my life has followed a tight, looping rhythm: wake, work, eat with my wife, work again, escape… Read more.
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The Quiet Weight: On Warriors and Pretenders
Photo by Koshu Kunii on Unsplash They marched as if the streets belonged to them. Boots in rhythm, black armor gleaming beneath the brittle light of a city that had… Read more.
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Responsibility Without Permission
Photo by Siddhant Kumar on Unsplash Author’s Note This piece was born from watching someone I love do something difficult and quietly brave. My wife never set out to lead… Read more.
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The Virtue of Rest
Photo by Carla Santiago on Unsplash High in the ash branches of Yggdrasil, Odin hung himself. Not by the hand of enemies, nor by the fall of fortune, but by… Read more.
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The Lives of Men
Photo by Lukas Rychvalsky on Unsplash Author’s Note Most of my writing looks outward — at culture, systems, leadership, and the broader arcs that shape how we live. This piece,… Read more.
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The Comfort of Lies
Photo by Christina Langford-Miller on Unsplash Author’s Note This isn’t a light read, and it wasn’t a light one to write. I didn’t set out to write about Plato. I… Read more.
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In Whose Service?
Photo by Kristina Flour on Unsplash Author’s Note This began as a question about an old god, and turned into something harder to leave behind. Silence is never just absence.… Read more.
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Return to Form
Photo by Leslie Jones on Unsplash Author’s Note This piece is not like most of what I share. It is longer, heavier, and closer to the root—the place where discipline… Read more.
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What Remains in the Jar: On Hope
If you’re reading this at masqueradeandmadness.com… Photo by Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash Author’s Note This piece is not a rejection of hope. It’s a rejection of how it’s been used.… Read more.
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The Mirror and the Self: On Wholeness, Not Perfection
If you’re reading this on masqueradeandmadness.com … Photo by Михаил Секацкий on Unsplash Author’s Note: I have spent most of my life circling mirrors of one kind or another. The… Read more.
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The Shape of Virtue
If you’re reading this on masqueradeandmadness.com… Photo by EVGENIY KONEV on Unsplash Author’s Note: This essay closes the Virtues series. The earlier entries named and explored the pillars—integrity, honesty, momentum,… Read more.
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The Space Between Knowing and Not: On Humility
Photo by Rod Long on Unsplash Author’s Note This piece continues the Virtues series—but for a while, I didn’t think I’d write it. Not because humility isn’t important, but because… Read more.
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Restraint – The Discipline of Not Using Power
Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash Author’s Note This piece continues the Virtues series, but it’s also something more personal. Restraint isn’t just a philosophy I admire—it’s a value I… Read more.
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The Weight That Waits: On Compassion
Photo by Randy Rizo on Unsplash Author’s Note: If integrity is the spine, and honesty the fire, and momentum the stride—then compassion is the hand that doesn’t let go when… Read more.
