psychology
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Built Not to Burn
Photo by Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash You never forget the sound if you’re unlucky enough to hear it. A sharp mechanical click, a rising hiss, the feeling of the air… 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 Medusa Doctrine: Walking with Fear
Photo by Vadim Bogulov on Unsplash Author’s Note Most people, in public settings, see me as confident—logical (perhaps too much), and methodical. Even my wife talks about my presence in… Read more.
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Beauty in the Ruins: The Quiet Allure of a World Falling Apart
Photo by Cédric Dhaenens on Unsplash The rain was soft that morning—the kind that never announces itself but quietly persuades you that everything is alive with motion. I ducked beneath… Read more.
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Zero Day: Human Exploits
Picture this: It’s 2016. A new quiz appears on Facebook. It looks harmless — a fun distraction. “Which Hogwarts House Are You?” “What’s Your Spirit Animal?” Millions click. Millions share.… Read more.
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The Social Network; Human Networking Protocols
Cover image by Taylor Vick on Unsplash Author’s Note The first three articles in this series explored the architecture of the self—from cultural conditioning, to the deep instincts beneath thought, to the curated… Read more.
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Identity Stack: The Mirror Layer
Author’s Note The first essay in this series explored our cultural programming—how beliefs and behaviors are installed through repetition and reward. The second traced those subroutines back to the kernel—the… Read more.
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Kernel Panic: The Myth of Me
Author’s Note The first entry in Human Subsystems mapped the terrain from the 30,000 ft perspective: the hidden scripts of culture, the myth of autonomy, the mechanics of fear and… Read more.
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Subroutines of the Soul
Author’s Note Every culture builds systems—beliefs, rituals, rules, and roles designed to create order out of chaos. We inherit them long before we understand them. We learn how to belong,… Read more.
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Understanding: The Gap Between Awareness and Acceptance
Author’s Note “Conditional acceptance is not acceptance. It’s conditioning.” That’s the once-witty, now bitter reminder I offered to a trans friend struggling with the dissonance of “supportive” allies—people who celebrated… Read more.
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Tools of Survival: The Ethics of Psychic Triage
Author’s Note Wrap the strap around the limb a couple inches closer to the heart. Pull hard on the strap. Insert the windlass and twist. Keep twisting until the spurts… Read more.
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Excision: The Cuts that Heal
Author’s Note This essay is part of the Tools series—an exploration of the instruments, spoken and unspoken, that shape our lives. Some are wielded in public: power, policy, media. Others… Read more.
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Ruler of Normalcy: The Baseline of Acceptance
Author’s Note This article continues our exploration of humanity’s tools—only this time, we’re not reaching for hammers, code, or a mirror. We’re reaching for the ruler. Not the literal kind,… Read more.
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Bindings at the Threshold: Anchors of Choice
Author’s Note This essay continues my exploration of humanity’s tools, which began with Children of Hephaestus. That piece explored the external instruments we craft—hammers, networks, algorithms—and the way they amplify… Read more.
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Smoke and Mirrors: Implements of Control
The first fracture is always gentle enough to ignore. Your partner “forgets” your birthday but bristles when you mention it. A back‑handed joke lands, hard, then ricochets into “Lighten up—it was… Read more.
