The Perils of Shallow Thinking in a Complex World—Breaking Free from the Illusion of Instant Understanding We don’t just take mental shortcuts—we pass judgment and act upon them, mistaking biases for truth, assumptions for knowledge, and gut reactions for wisdom. This leads to missed opportunities, broken relationships, career stagnation, and large-scale societal dysfunction. This article reveals the illusion of instant understanding, exposing how intellectual laziness distorts reali...

Leadership, Collapse, and the Price of Holding It All Together This article examines the tragedy of unsustainable systems, where leadership becomes an act of self-sacrifice, with a few carrying the burden while others remain passive. It critiques the myth of the miracle-working leader, expected to hold everything together, only to be blamed when collapse is inevitable. It explores the failure of modulation—the illusion that restructuring, new processes, or morale-boosting can save a system ...

How Expressing Human Emotion Got You Branded Aggressive in a World Obsessed with Politeness, the Blurred Line Between Assertiveness and Aggression, and the Ontological Cost of Playing Nice In an age where even a flicker of justified frustration can get you labelled as "aggressive," we’ve quietly rebranded professionalism as emotional repression. This article explores the dangerously blurred line between assertiveness and aggression — and how tone-policing, social conditioning and cultural...

On the Collapse of Truth-Telling into Acting, and the Return to Authentic Participation in Reality The Lie in Being Honest — The Arrogance of Being “Real” explores how modern culture has mistaken authenticity for unfiltered expression, emotional exhibitionism and impulsive truth-dumping. In this sharp, darkly humorous and philosophically grounded critique, Ashkan Tashvir dismantles the widespread illusion that saying whatever one feels—whenever one feels it—is a virtue. Drawing o...

Why Playing Nice Is Killing Your Integrity, Dulling Your Impact, and Keeping You Addicted to the Performance of Goodness—Because Real Virtue Isn’t Always Polite, and You Know It This isn’t a polite think-piece about ethics. It’s a loaded punch to the gut of your moral posturing. In a world obsessed with being seen as “appropriate,” this article exposes the performance of goodness we’ve come to mistake for virtue—and calls it out for what it really is: fear, obedience, and cura...

The Inner Architecture and Ontological Blueprint of a Sacred Fire Reclaimed This is not another piece romanticising passion or reducing intensity to a personality quirk. The Gravity of Intensity is a visceral, poetic, and piercing journey into the essence of what it means to live—truly live—from the core of your Being. It’s a love letter to those who’ve been called “too much,” “too deep,” “too intense”—those who burn quietly but undeniably. In a world addicted to neutra...

What Pulls You and What Calls You — The Subtle Art of Ontological Discernment In a world where “being yourself” is celebrated as the highest virtue — and often confused with impulsivity, oversharing, or curated emotional chaos — how do we live in a way that’s authentic without being reckless, expressive without being performative, and free without being feral? This article invites you into the heart of a deeper ontological paradox: how to unleash the fullness of your unique Bei...

A Piercing Little Gift for Anyone Addicted to Poetic Pain and the Illusion of Growth This isn’t a gentle essay about self-discovery — it’s a ruthless interrogation of the emotional theatre we mistake for transformation. In a world where personal development has been hijacked by aesthetic vulnerability, curated breakdowns, and poetic self-deception, sentimentalism has become the invisible enemy. This article exposes how we romanticise our pain, narrate our healing instead of living it, a...

A Reflection on Loss, Legacy, the Sacred Ontology of Grief, the Fulfilment of a Life, and the Content That Endures This is not just an article. It is an encounter. A reflection. A reckoning with grief—not as a moment of sorrow, but as an ontological event. "Grief, the Mirror of Being" is a deeply human meditation on what it means to lose someone who mattered, not only to your heart, but to your Becoming. This piece was written in honour of John Lowe, my beloved friend, reviewer, collabor...

The Co-Creation of Thought, the Fraud of Pretending Otherwise, and the Lingering Guilt of the Originality Myth Tired of the guilt trips, gatekeeping, and performative purity spirals around using AI? This article doesn’t just defend thoughtful AI use—it dismantles the lazy moral panic surrounding it. “AI Wrote This and Other Lazy Lies We Tell Ourselves” is a manifesto for writers, coaches, creators, and leaders who refuse to outsource their soul—or their responsibility. It critiq...

From Sentiment to Substance: Exposing the Myth of Selfhood and Why Becoming Requires Tension, Discernment, and Contribution We’ve been sold a seductive myth: that authenticity is about “finding yourself”—as if your real self is a hidden gem, buried under life’s distractions, waiting to be unearthed through journaling, travel, or just the right retreat. But real authenticity isn’t a treasure hunt—it’s a confrontation. It’s not about uncovering a fixed, inner essence. It’s a...

Why Your Conversations Keep Imploding Even When You Both Swear You're Ready This isn’t your average guide to communication. The Recursive Loop of Misunderstanding dives headfirst into the brutal reality of why your well-meaning conversations with your partner keep spiralling into chaos, even when you both swear you're ready. It exposes the psychological treadmill where vulnerability becomes ammunition, meaning gets twisted, and trust collapses under the weight of misaligned perceptions. ...