Journal – Trance Blackman

Here you’ll find my philosophical meanderings in the form of articles, essays, and occasional poetry. My interests and curiosities are broad, but the central focus remains the pursuit of what is authentic, real, and true.

Lux et veritas

Journal Entries / meaning (20 Posts)

Showing posts tagged “meaning”. Clear filter

What Matters Most

02 June 2026 ~ 3 minute read

We have limited time and attention. The modern world is exceptionally good at capturing both. Whether we pursue mastery, general competence, family, travel, career, self-sufficiency, or something else entirely, every choice carries an opportunity cost. The challenge is not choosing the “right” path, but choosing consciously rather than being swept along by inherited expectations, cultural narratives, or manufactured priorities.

Friction, Form, and the Unfinished Self

23 May 2026 ~ 4 minute read

There are moments when other people’s lives don’t feel like comparisons so much as quiet mirrors. Not in the sense of judgment, but in the way they reveal what has been built, what has been avoided, and what still lingers unresolved. The mind tries to sort it all into clean categories of discipline, circumstance, or character, but life rarely cooperates with that kind of clarity. What remains instead is a more uncomfortable honesty about direction, effort, and the stories we tell ourselves to make both feel justified.

The Committee of One: The Internal Obstruction

03 February 2026 ~ 5 minute read

Most of the obstacles in my life weren’t external. They were procedural. Internal. A one-person committee skilled at delay, deflection, and convincing arguments for doing nothing. This is a note from inside that room, and a reminder that the only way out is movement.

The Illusion of Stability: How Civilizations Collapse

24 February 2025 (rev. 28 February 2025) ~ 9 minute read

For centuries, human societies have cycled through the rise and fall of civilizations, often crumbling not from external threats but due to internal decay. Despite…

A Century of “Progress”

26 January 2025 (rev. 31 January 2025) ~ 12 minute read

I had a short “chat” with ChatGPT while walking through the woods on a cold, sunny winter day. GPT is fairly agreeable, as you’ll read, but we explored some thought-provoking ideas and philosophical insights that may be of interest to you, the reader, so I thought it worth sharing here in the journal. It required some minor editing for grammar and mistranslations from my voice-to-text efforts. Otherwise, this is the essence of it.

Fitting In

17 December 2024 ~ 5 minute read

I never understood the urge to belong to something that didn’t matter — to chase trends, fit in, or mold myself into someone else’s idea of acceptable. Even as a kid, it seemed clear: most of what passed for “normal” was just noise, distracting us from who we could actually become.