Foundations

Every structure needs a base, and these essays are the bedrock of the posts that follow and I started doing series with themes.

These first essays explore the values that make civilization possible--justice, empathy, self-awareness, and the freedom that binds them together.

All the other series rise from these principles.

I'm Posting on Facebook Today After Many Years Away - The moment I broke my silence and began speaking again about the world we share.

Moral Inversion -- Lately, I've Been Wrestling with Something I Can't Shake - Good and evil should be obvious, yet millions embrace cruelty as virtue; this post asks why.

Sometimes I Wonder How We Lost Sight of the Basics - Why simple kindness and fairness have become controversial, and why they never should have.

Finding Your Roots - How history reveals who we are, and why future generations will judge our choices the same way we judge the past.

Justice for All Children - Real justice means protecting the innocent as fiercely as we punish the guilty.

What Is Hell - Hell may not be fire; it may be the eternal company of those we've harmed.

Self-Awareness and the Mind - Why the ability to examine our own thinking is the first step toward freedom.

Critical Thinking and Reality - How keeping an accurate model of the world in our minds is the antidote to deception.

Cognitive Dissonance - A lot of people are struggling to force their minds to accept an alternative reality.

Freedom and Responsibility - Why freedom without conscience collapses into chaos.