The Barrow

We're all assuredly familiar with the sunk cost fallacy, the erroneous idea that you must continue with something into which you have already invested. One example of this is what I call the “might as well” fallacy (if this has a proper name, I was unable to find it.)

I might as well finish this box of Junior Mints since there are only eight of them left.

This is an example from my own life not ten minutes ago. It's a trap. You can't undo the harmful or bad things you have already done, but that is not an excuse to do more of them. I threw away the remaining candy like the poison it is.

The point is, you can literally always make the choice to do better, regardless of your past weaknesses. You can spit it out, throw it away, get rid of it, quit, whatever. Just tell it no.

In light of the dark events engulfing the world, I wanted to share some ancient wisdom, starting with one of my favorite maxims from all of Old English poetry:

Wyrd biđ ful aræd.

I generally translate this as “fate is already written,” but there are more layers to it. It also means Fate (Weird) is also fully inescapable. We are woven into it. What comes will come, whether we like it or not.

The Supreme Lord said: While you speak words of wisdom, you are mourning for that which is not worthy of grief. The wise lament neither for the living nor for the dead.

This, from chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita, is another in which I find great comfort.(really all of the Gita, especially the first two chapters)

Lastly, one more accessible to modernites:

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

I really need to stop looking at comments on normie social media like Facebook. This has absolutely soured my perception of other humans. People are so angry about things that don't actually matter and everyone on all sides is such a hardline ideologue you can't even talk to them.

Who fucking cares how people dress? Who they have relationships with? Who they fuck? Why is there always so much toxic vitriol about this?

I suppose it can feel like this is a more productive channel for the righteous anger we all feel right now with the state of the world. However, it isn't. Bickering over the same culture-war bullshit as always, as if it were still 2017 (just dialed up to 11) will only serve to make us all miserable, lonely, atomized misanthropes.

This exasperates me to no end. I'm trying my best to not let it, but that is quite difficult.

Today is Tuesday. It is named for the English god of war, struggle, and victory, (and also somewhat paradoxically the law and peace) Tīw, whose name would render in Modern English as Tue.

Tuesday is a day to meditate on struggle and conflict, on virtue and the bravery to uphold it.

When it was time to bind The Wolf, he wouldn't agree to be bound without collateral that he would be shortly let out of his fetters. Tue was the only god brave enough to place his hand (his sword hand!) in the Wolf's mouth to assure him thus. Of course, Tue knew he would lose his hand the instant the Wolf discovered the gods did not plan to let him out. Tue was also perhaps the only god he would trust – having befriended the Wolf when he was but a puppy.

Another good story is that of Marcus Atilius Regulus, who, when allowed to return to Rome by his Carthaginian captors, returned to Carthage simply because he said he would. The Carthaginians repayed this honesty by having him ripped apart by dogs. He knew this type of fate awaited him, and yet, his word was his bond.

It is this type of wordbinding upon which the laws which bind humans together are built, as well. When these bonds are dissolved, so are our societies, our families, and our friendships.

Hail Tue

Today is Monday – the day of the Moon. It is a good day to meditate on unpleasantness and how it is necessary for anything to have any meaning. Day would mean nothing without Night. Happiness would mean nothing without pain. Friday would mean nothing without Monday.

Likewise, there are always small joys and threads of hope to guide and keep us, just like the Moon on a dark night.

Nature is dualistic; we cannot have the light without the dark. We cannot have the good without the bad.

Hail the Moon!

Hail, hail Sunne, now rising from below, Hail, hail Sunne, shine bright so we can grow.

Today is Sunday. Let us meditate on the Sun's life-giving rays as we regroup and prepare for the week ahead. Let us feel Her warmth deep in our souls as we ground ourselves and place our feet firmly on the ground so we can push off for the week to come.

Praise the Sun!

So far in 2026 I've been attempting to work on my discipline and focus. Obviously we're only two days into the year at this point, but I've been having a lot of success so far, and have been seeing good results. Let's hope I can keep this up. I know I don't have many readers, but I encourage you to meditate on these things this year as well. Nobody is too disciplined or focused.

Regular meditation and prayer is very helpful for this. Return to your thoughts several times throughout the day and you will find it much easier to maintain your course. If it makes it easier, set timers on your phone or some other timekeeping device.

The key to these two things is largely to stay present and to not allow your thoughts to get swept away into the din of daily life. Try to stay in your higher self, and periodically allow the lower self out to feed. The middle self, the part of you that links the two, should really only serve this utilitarian function. It shouldn't be where you spend the bulk of your time.

Stop. Breathe. Think. Keep the higher self in control any way you can.

Recently, of all things, a video by TJ Kirk provoked some interesting thoughts in me. He lamented that the zeitgeist of the late 20th and early 21st centuries of breaking down and deconstruction of every commonly-accepted idea, social norm and institution simply for deconstruction's sake has left us in an emptier world, devoid of much meaning or direction, and that the deconstruction of these things has not brought satisfaction or happiness to those who advocated for deconstruction (this includes myself.)

This brings a few ideas to the forefront of my mind. Firstly, that corrosive, entropic and deconstructivist attitudes are, on their own, unsustainable. These are not good end goals. Corrosive material can be used for the sake of construction, in an alchemical sense, but are not ideals in and of themselves. A medical example of this would be how lactic acid destroys muscle tissue so that the body may build it back stronger. A good social example is how progressive discourse is constantly in need of more and deeper things to rail against. This started with very real problems in society, and has now devolved into such nonsense as can be seen in any comments section full of postmodernists attacking anything that is beautiful, strong, transcendent or good, advocating instead for entirely hedonistic and self-destructive lifestyles.

Secondly, it shows that we are about to experience a re-galvanization or rebuilding of society along different lines, which will likely be a painful, tumultuous time filled with much death and suffering. As whatever new society is born, the subversive elements of the old society which served to break it down will likely be purged from it or otherwise repurposed. This will not be good for many of us, including myself, but it seems inevitable.

Thirdly, it brings me to something I've been thinking for quite some time: the existence, on its own, of counterculture is evidence of a very sick social organism. This has been true of our society for centuries, really. In healthy, traditional societies, there is no counterculture. There is only one cohesive culture. Members of a healthy society are able to relate to each other naturally and by default.

Those of us inside European culture must look millenia into the past for truly healthy societies. We should look to these distant ancestors to see what this may look like.

Happy 2026.

Another year is nearly over. It's strange to think 2025 will soon be just as behind us as every other prior year.

This is a good time to reflect on presence and the passage of time in general, which ties back into Auld Lang Syne.

I'm sure we're all familiar with this song, but few realize how beautiful this poem by Robert Burns really is. If you don't pay attention, you'd never know, given how cliché it has become.

Maybe take a minute to be extra present tonight, for [old long since]?

Recently, especially amidst the hubbub around the new Odyssey film, (we'll see how it turns out) I have been thinking about what psychologists call a “commitment device.”

First, some context: in the Odyssey, Odysseus must tie himself to the mast of his ship in order to keep himself from steering into the rocks, toward the Sirens' beautiful song.

The idea is that to avoid doing something harmful, sometimes you must all but physically restrain yourself. A promise, an oath, something that binds you to your principles (perhaps also a New Year's resolution...).

Make use of these however is best. Sometimes you need to.