Steven Franssen

People without a strong sense of self have difficulty retaining their own opinions, reactions, and decision-making with respect to events in the world. They will follow the most certain person in the room. Certainty gives the insecure comfort because it lends the impression that things have been thought through, contingencies have been accounted for, and… Continue reading

Shallow relationships offer only shallow value. Most commonly, people seek out shallow relationships for a baseline level of comfort. This means that they have such little self-mastery that the predictability of idle chatter and distraction is preferable to the clashing voices in their own psyche. Watching movies, getting buzzed, or ogling at sports with so-and-so… Continue reading

Talented people with some measure of ability in accruing skill have the same proposition before them as anyone else: live in service of ideals higher than oneself or indulge in smallness for the sake of comfort. Most of the talented in this irreligious age choose the latter. They build up what amounts to stupid human… Continue reading