Formation begins with attention
Formation Library → Seeing Clearly
Before a person can choose wisely or act responsibly, they must learn to see what is actually happening... not what is promised, exaggerated, normalized, or concealed. This first movement of formation is not action, but perception.
Seeing Clearly contains essays and reflections written to help readers recognize distortion without surrendering judgment, dignity, or reverence.
Many of these texts were originally written under the working name The Devil at Work. This language is used deliberately and carefully, not to provoke fear or moral outrage, but to name the subtle ways truth is bent, divided, or replaced by narratives that feel reasonable, inevitable, or “just the way things are.”
These essays examine:
false promises that quietly shape behavior
systems that reward fragmentation and compliance
cultural and organizational narratives that erode human dignity
leadership patterns that normalize disconnection and irresponsibility
They are diagnostic in nature. Their purpose is not to fix everything, but to make distortion visible.
These writings are not attacks or commentary. They are not meant to recruit agreement or outrage. These writings are acts of discernment.
Seeing clearly requires restraint. Distortion loses much of its power once it is named accurately, without exaggeration or panic. These texts are written to sharpen perception, not to inflame reaction.
The essays are grouped into clusters based on the type of distortion they describe, not by topic, date, or industry. Begin where something catches your attention, you do not need to read everything or start at the beginning.
Seeing Clearly is the beginning of formation, not the end. Naming distortion creates the interior space necessary for coherence, discernment, and responsibility to emerge later. Those movements are addressed elsewhere in the Formation Library, but they cannot be rushed or imposed. For now, this section asks only one thing of the reader: pay attention.
Not all truth appears at once… some things become visible only after we stop looking away.
The following essays explore different forms of distortion at work in modern life. They may be read in any order.
When the self is flattened, performed, or lost
Purpose: Helps readers recognize how modern life confuses identity with productivity, status, or performance.
When responsibility is replaced by image, control, or entitlement
Purpose: Names how leadership becomes theatrical, self-appointed, or unaccountable.
When words lose weight and stories replace truth
Purpose: Helps readers see how language, slogans, and “good intentions” are used to bypass discernment.
When connection is simulated and commitment erodes
Purpose: Names how modern systems fracture loyalty, friendship, and embodied presence.
When tools quietly become masters
Purpose: Helps readers see how technology reshapes agency, cognition, and embodiment.
When formation is interrupted or avoided
Purpose: Names how people get stuck between awareness and responsibility.