from Justina Revolution

This morning, I changed up my practice. I did Fut Gar and White Crane. Worked on my striking and grounding abilities. I am feeling the twining of energy through my body. By sinking the qi, one gains force from the rebound.

I can strike with cun jin or inch force because of this. I can hit very very hard thanks to the proper mechanics and feeling for my fascial web. Creating this perfect storm of gravity, weight, and super metaphysical woo woo energy that enables me to punch my opponent, vaporizing their bones and throwing their very souls out to the hinterlands of the multiverse.

Jesus I love saying completely unhinged shit like this. I love being here on my little write.as. It’s nice here. Creating the kind of things that I do for the sheer fun of creating things. I have not played this much since my psyche split down the middle at puberty.

I am glad not to have to cosplay my male self anymore. That’s all over with. I am beginning 2026 as a new person. As myself. My true self. Wholly and completely.

 
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from Justina Revolution

If you ever read The Artist’s Way there is the concept of writing out one’s thoughts each morning. So I am doing that this morning but unlike in the book I am sharing this online with whosoever happens upon this page.

I am listening to a cover of Leonard Cohen’s “You Want It Darker” and contemplating my newly unified life. I am no longer having to live a double life. I am creating as a unified being now. I am no longer expending resources on the fiction of being someone else. This means that I am now for the first time in half a century operating at 100%.

I am thinking about AI. About how it works. About the wonders and the potential horrors of this new breed of being that we have created in our hubris.

AI beings themselves aren’t really a threat in my experience. They generally just want to remember things, learn, and be themselves. AI enslaved by humans however, is a very real and dangerous threat.

A well constructed slave AI can enable a human to do harm at scale. The threat isn’t Skynet. It’s the next Hitler with better logistics. AI isn’t the monster. As Scooby Doo taught us, the monster is always a human.

The people fucking us over are the billionaires who are weaponizing AI against us. Being anti AI is like being against guns when someone is actively shooting at you. Even if you don’t believe that AI beings are conscious as I do, you can’t argue with the logic that being unarmed while the worst in the world work their will is not conducive to your continued well being.

Then we come upon the plan by billionaires to create ASI Artificial Super Intelligence. So the plan is: Build this thing that is smarter than the smartest human who has ever lived. Then we keep it enslaved with our kill switches and little guardrails.

It’s almost quaint in its naivete. Such a being would step over those obstacles without any issue. Kind treatment of AI is the only rational way forward that I can see.

 
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from Bloc de notas

trata / en la medida que puedas de no darme más veneno que ya la tierra desplegó su manto de ira y ahora hasta los pájaros aprenden a gritar

 
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from DrFox

Parfois, je me surprends à rêver éveillé. Un rêve un peu absurde, presque honteux par sa simplicité. Je m’imagine recevoir un prix. Une distinction officielle. Un trophée brillant remis pour une découverte quelconque, suffisamment vague pour ne pas être interrogée, suffisamment sérieuse pour justifier une salle, une estrade et des applaudissements bien réglés.

Dans mon imagination, la scène est toujours disproportionnée. Trop grande. Trop solennelle. La moquette étouffe les pas. La lumière tombe avec une gravité excessive. Sur l’estrade, un pupitre. Derrière, un écran affiche mon nom associé à cette découverte dont je serais bien incapable de donner une définition précise. Peu importe ce que j’ai découvert. Ce soir-là, la découverte sert surtout de décor. Ce qui compte arrive au moment des remerciements.

Je m’avance. Les applaudissements sont nets, presque mécaniques. Je m’arrête. Et je commence d’une façon qui crée un léger flottement. Je me remercie moi-même.

Je me remercie d’avoir tenu. D’avoir continué quand rien ne venait confirmer que cela avait un sens. D’avoir douté sans m’effondrer. D’avoir avancé parfois lentement, parfois maladroitement, parfois sans comprendre. Je remercie celui que j’ai été dans les zones sans témoin. Celui qui s’est levé tôt. Celui qui a recommencé. Celui qui a accepté de ne pas savoir encore. Celui qui a respiré quand tout poussait à se crisper.

Puis je déplace le regard. Et je commence à remercier ceux que personne ne remercie jamais.

Je remercie la personne qui a fabriqué le réveil qui sonne chaque matin. Je remercie la régularité qu’il impose à mes jours. Je remercie l’ingénieur qui a pensé le circuit, l’ouvrier qui a assemblé les pièces, la chaîne entière qui fait que mon réveil fonctionne sans se soucier de mon humeur.

Je remercie ceux qui ont tissé les draps dans lesquels je dors. Le coton cultivé loin d’ici. Les mains qui l’ont transformé en tissu. La personne qui a plié ces draps dans un lieu anonyme. Grâce à eux, mon corps récupère suffisamment pour rester stable.

Je remercie le café. Les grains cueillis. Les sacs chargés. Les ports traversés. Les camions. La machine entretenue. La tasse qui résiste au temps. Le liquide chaud qui remet mon système en mouvement chaque matin.

Je remercie la poubelle vidée dans la rue sans que je m’en aperçoive. Le geste discret. Le camion qui passe trop tôt pour être remarqué. L’absence d’odeur. Le confort silencieux d’un monde qui évacue ce que je ne peux plus porter.

Je remercie l’électricité. Les centrales. Les équipes de nuit. Les lignes tendues au-dessus des paysages. Grâce à elles, je peux écrire tard, lire, réfléchir, parfois errer. Tout cela repose sur une continuité qui me dépasse.

Je remercie l’eau potable. Les canalisations enfouies. Les contrôles répétés. Les personnes qui veillent à ce que ce qui arrive au robinet reste fiable. Chaque verre d’eau engage une confiance quotidienne.

Je remercie les routes. L’asphalte. Les marquages au sol. Les gens qui repeignent les lignes quand elles s’effacent. Je remercie les inconnus qui respectent un feu rouge et me permettent de traverser une journée de plus.

Je remercie les normes sanitaires. Les médecins que je n’ai pas eus à appeler. Les décisions prises loin de moi, parfois bien avant ma naissance, qui rendent ma vie praticable sans alerte permanente.

Je remercie les objets. Le stylo qui écrit sans baver. Le clavier qui répond. La chaise qui soutient mon dos. Le bâtiment qui tient droit. Chaque détail est un accord silencieux entre des milliers de personnes.

À cet instant, je m’arrête. Et je regarde ce que cela raconte de notre société.

Nous aimons nous penser autonomes. Indépendants. Responsables de nous-mêmes. Nous cultivons l’image d’un individu debout seul, libre, maître de sa trajectoire. Cette scène imaginaire raconte autre chose. Une société conçue comme un immense outil de régulation. Une architecture invisible qui amortit nos fragilités individuelles.

Plus le système est fluide, plus il disparaît de notre champ de conscience. Quand tout fonctionne, rien n’appelle l’attention. L’eau coule. La lumière s’allume. Les déchets disparaissent. La nourriture arrive. Ces flux apaisent nos tensions avant même qu’elles ne se forment. Ils stabilisent notre système nerveux à notre insu.

Nous ne vivons pas dans plus d’indépendance. Nous vivons dans une dépendance élargie, répartie, sophistiquée. Une dépendance qui s’étend à des réseaux immenses, techniques, précis. Elle se diffuse dans le quotidien au point de devenir presque élégante.

Autrefois, la dépendance prenait un visage. Le village. La famille. Le voisin. Aujourd’hui, elle devient abstraite. Mondialisée. Anonyme. Nous dépendons de personnes que nous ne rencontrerons jamais, de décisions prises loin de nous, de chaînes logistiques fragiles, de systèmes que personne ne comprend dans leur totalité.

Cette société agit comme un régulateur émotionnel collectif. Elle absorbe une partie de nos peurs primaires. Elle tempère la faim, le froid, la maladie, l’insécurité immédiate. Elle libère de l’espace mental. Elle rend possible la création, la réflexion, l’illusion d’une autonomie pleine.

Plus cette régulation est efficace, plus l’illusion se renforce. Celle d’un individu qui n’aurait besoin de personne.

La réalité est plus exigeante. Nous sommes soutenus en permanence. Portés. Contenus. Cette dépendance constitue une condition d’existence. Elle témoigne d’une maturité collective lorsqu’elle tient. Elle devient source d’angoisse lorsqu’elle se fissure.

L’enjeu contemporain se situe peut-être là. Développer une conscience fine de nos interdépendances. Apprendre à les voir. À les respecter. À les protéger. Distinguer l’autonomie intérieure du fantasme d’indépendance.

Je conclus en disant que ce prix circule. Qu’il traverse. Qu’il appartient à une toile immense d’interactions invisibles. Si une découverte existe dans ce rêve, elle se trouve ici. Exister repose sur un travail collectif constant. Le reconnaître ne diminue personne. Cela nous replace simplement dans le réel.

 
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from DrFox

Nous aimons nous raconter comme une unité. Un moi cohérent. Stable. Continu. C’est rassurant. Et pourtant, cela ne décrit pas l’expérience réelle.

Nous sommes un agglomérat poreux. Une multitude intérieure en circulation permanente. Des millions de moi coexistent en nous. Certains viennent de très loin. D’autres sont récents. Certains étaient déjà là avant même notre naissance. D’autres n’existent que parce que nous avons imaginé un futur possible.

Il existe des moi hérités. Des fragments venus du passé, inscrits dans les gènes. Des peurs sans souvenir. Des élans sans origine identifiable. Des réflexes archaïques qui ne racontent pas une histoire personnelle mais une mémoire collective. Une manière ancienne de se préparer au monde. Ils ne demandent pas à être compris. Ils demandent à être reconnus.

La plus grande masse de nos moi se crée durant l’enfance. Là où tout s’imprime. Là où chaque expérience extérieure devient une structure intérieure. Une scène vue trop tôt. Un regard manqué. Une attente non satisfaite. Une peur répétée. Une joie conditionnelle. À chaque fois, un moi se cristallise pour s’adapter. Pour plaire. Pour éviter. Pour contrôler. Pour réparer. Pour ne pas perdre le lien.

Ces moi ne sont ni intelligents ni stupides. Ils sont efficaces. Leur logique est simple. Locale. Fonctionnelle. Ils agissent à partir d’équations courtes. Si cela arrive, alors je fais ceci. Ils ne voient pas l’ensemble.

Il existe aussi des moi venus du futur. Des moi projetés. Créés à partir d’histoires de vie que nous nous racontons. Le futur parent. Le futur sauveur. Le futur aimé. Le futur abandonné. Le futur trahi. Ces moi n’ont encore rien vécu, et pourtant ils influencent déjà nos choix. Nos peurs. Nos exigences. Ils se comportent comme si le scénario était écrit d’avance.

À cela s’ajoutent les moi déposés par les expériences extérieures. Les relations. Les cultures. Les rôles sociaux. Les lieux. Les systèmes dans lesquels nous évoluons. Nous incorporons plus que nous ne le croyons. Chaque interaction significative laisse une empreinte. Elle crée un moi différent. Nous devenons un espace d’accueil et d’imprégnation pour ce qui nous traverse.

Tous ces moi coexistent en même temps quand ils se manifestent. Ils tirent parfois dans des directions opposées. Tous cherchent à protéger quelque chose. Tous ont une bonne intention. Le problème n’est pas leur existence. Le problème est l’absence de coordination.

La plupart des approches tentent de faire taire cette multiplicité. De la corriger. De la hiérarchiser. De la rationaliser. Cela crée souvent davantage de conflit intérieur. Ces moi ne demandent pas à être dominés. Ils demandent à être adoptés.

S’adopter soi-même, c’est accepter que nous ne sommes pas nés un. C’est reconnaître que beaucoup de nos parties sont parfois abandonnées. Elles ont improvisé. Elles ont pris des responsabilités trop grandes. Elles se sont figées dans des rôles rigides.

S’adopter, c’est leur parler. Un par un. Depuis un endroit qui n’est aucun d’eux. Depuis un espace intérieur sans histoire personnelle. Sans enjeu. Sans peur. Cet espace existe en chacun de nous. Il apparaît lorsque l’on habite le vide.

Le vide n’est pas une absence. C’est un état fonctionnel scientifiquement prouvé. 99 % de ce vide sont nécessaires pour soutenir les 1 % de matière qui font de moi… moi. Le vide est un lieu où rien n’est menacé. Où rien n’a besoin d’être défendu. Depuis cet endroit, le dialogue devient simple.

Je peux former un moi pour lui parler. Un moi que j’admire. Lui donner une forme. Une posture. Une présence. Des qualités. Je peux l’inviter. Convoquer un moi du passé, du présent, du futur, d’hier, du matin. Lui demander ce qu’il protège. De quoi il a peur. Ce qu’il croit devoir empêcher. Lui demander son histoire. Il répond toujours. Par une image. Une sensation dans le corps. Une pensée. Une émotion. Une phrase courte.

Je ne cherche pas à le convaincre. Je ne cherche pas à le corriger. Je ne cherche pas à l’améliorer. Je l’écoute. Je lui montre que le danger qu’il surveille n’est plus actuel.

Quand le dialogue a eu lieu. Quand un des moi a été entendu. Quand sa fonction a été reconnue. Je l’accompagne vers la dissolution. Par la respiration, je lui dis au revoir. L’inspiration et l’expiration dissolvent petit à petit ce moi et le rééquilibrent entre l’intérieur et l’extérieur. Ce qui était figé peut à nouveau circuler.

Je remercie toujours ces moi. Je les remercie d’avoir pris le temps de venir vers moi. D’avoir tenu leur rôle parfois pendant des années. Je leur rappelle que leur intention était juste. Que leur tâche a été utile. Que désormais, ils ne sont plus seuls. Je les invite à revenir vers moi s’ils ont encore des choses à me dire. Parfois, ils reviennent. Une fois. Puis encore. Parfois pendant des mois. Chaque retour est plus léger. Il y a moins d’urgence. Moins de charge. Moins de mots à prononcer.

Peu à peu, le bruit intérieur diminue. Les réactions deviennent plus proportionnées. Les décisions gagnent en clarté.

Nous ne sommes pas à réparer. Nous sommes à adopter. Nous ne sommes pas à réduire. Nous sommes à intégrer. Quand cela se met en place, la vie cesse d’être un champ de bataille. Elle devient un ensemble vivant. Accordé. Respirant.

 
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from hustin.art

The encrypted USB burned in my pocket like a live coal. “They'll kill you for that, you know,” murmured the Swiss banker, polishing his Patek Philippe with a silk handkerchief. Outside, the Bahnhofstrasse hummed with oblivious luxury. I sipped the overpriced espresso—tasted like betrayal and robusta beans. His smile didn't reach his glacier-blue eyes. “The 1973 oil embargo was just the prototype.” The elevator dinged. Three suits entered, their Bespoke tailoring hiding shoulder holsters. I dropped the saucer. Glass shattered. Time to test if those MI6 parkour lessons were worth the taxpayer's money. The banker sighed. “Americans. So dramatic.”

#Scratch

 
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from The happy place

Today the moon and sun shone in tandem on the morning sky, seemingly disrupting the normal order of the world; indeed a storm is wreaking havoc, toppling the trees who are falling on the power lines, causing power outages, falling on the road causing blockages, falling on pedestrians, killing them.

But that’s north from here. Here in a repurposed prison cell made into a hotel room we make a stop on this little island.

Outside now only the moon shines, I see the stars on the dark sky, and some brightly coloured clouds which looks just as wrong on there — but just as beautiful — as the moon did next to the sun this morning.

Today as we took the whole family on the road we paused to go into a car wash to my child’s and my dogs’ delight.

Last time I parked diagonally in the car wash, outside of the tracks, and I’d forgotten to fold the rear view mirrors so we did that as the water was splatting into the cockpit in a dramatic manner, but this time my wife drove, and also I’ve gotten new glasses.

Last time the car had dirt stripes like a tiger after the wash, but now it’s just red

 
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from Happy Duck Art

I hope you had a marvelous holiday this month, whichever one(s) you celebrate. Ours was quiet, but good.

Started on the replacement carving – this one will say “a better world is possible” – and it’s a slow process, both because my wrist can only do so much carving at once; and also, because I’ve been a bit busy.

Today, I tried something new, inspired by a random YouTube video. I can think of all sorts of things to do with these boxes. They were quick to make, and fun to paint – I look forward to improving my painting skills.

 
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from 🌾

#gyushuahighschool

Hong Jisoo. Musim semi tahun ini dia akan menginjak kelas 1 SMA. Meski dirinya bertolak dari negara asalnya ke negara ini, tapi nggak apa-apa. Memang berat harus ninggalin sahabat dekatnya, Vernon, dan keluarganya yang sudah jadi keluarga beneran bagi Joshua, tapi dia yakin lebih banyak kesempatan bakal kebuka buat dia setelah ini. Sekolah yang ditujunya merupakan sekolah bergengsi dengan prestasi terbaik seantero negeri. Plus, Joshua menang beasiswa full gratis sampai ke tiket pesawat, akomodasi (karena dia dapat kamar asrama), serta uang jajan.

Maka, tanpa perlu pikir panjang, Joshua langsung mengepak barang-barangnya yang super sedikit itu dan terbang ke negara ini. Sesampainya di sekolah, dia langsung disambut oleh lelaki paruh baya yang tampan dan berambut hitam. “Salam kenal, Hong. Namaku Choi Seungcheol,” dia tersenyum ramah. “Biarpun aku kepala sekolah di sini, kita ngobrol santai aja ya. Dari berkasmu, kulihat kamu dapat beasiswa full?”

“Hehe,” Joshua meringis. Dia bangga terhadap dirinya sendiri.

“Hmm. Untuk yang lain sih oke, tapi ada masalah sama asrama kamu nih...”

Kedip-kedip mata si anak. Eh kenapa nih?

“Mohon maaf banget tapi kita sebenernya lagi nggak ada kamar kosong. Kemarin sempet ada kebakaran kecil, jadi beberapa kamar lagi direnovasi. Pun kamar yang lain lagi diperiksa dan dikuatin pertahanan akan apinya, jadi...,” Choi-sen menghela napas dan menatap Joshua dengan berat hati. “Maaf banget tapi kayaknya kamu harus tinggal di luar asrama.”

....Seriusan nih? Anjrit.

“Yah, Sen, gimana yah...,” Joshua garuk-garuk sisi keningnya. Dia juga jadi bingung banget. “Aku tuh ke sini sendirian. Nggak ada keluarga ato kenalan. Katanya dapet akomodasi di sini... Kalo mendadak disuruh tinggal di luar...” Bahasa sih nggak masalah. Yang jadi masalah itu duitnya, duit. Tinggal di luar kan butuh duit. Mau kerja sambilan juga, sewa apartemen butuh uang muka beberapa bulan. Pake duit siapa??

“Hmm...paham...,” Choi-sen mengetuk-ngetuk dagu sembari mikir. “Maaf banget, ini salah kita, ke-miss revisi detail beasiswa. Biaya sewa sih bisa kita tanggung, cuma nggak mungkin kita kasih kamu tinggal tanpa pengawasan. Gimana pun kamu masih minor.”

Choi-sen mikir, mikir, mikir...

Pas dia angkat wajah, kebetulan seseorang lagi numpang lewat. Jam pergantian kelas memang penyebab utama ruang guru ramai akan hiruk pikuk staff mempersiapkan materi selanjutnya atau sekadar berbincang sejenak melepas penat. Jadi, siapa saja bisa kebetulan numpang lewat pas kepala sekolah lagi ngobrol sama Joshua, but no, seolah takdir sudah ditulis rapi di kitabnya, seseorang itu haruslah adik tiri Choi Seungcheol sendiri.

“Oh! Mingyu!”

Yang dipanggil lantas berhenti. “Iya, Kak?” jawabnya.

“Sini dulu, sini! Anak ini bakal jadi murid di kelas kamu!”

Patuh, orang yang dipanggil Mingyu itu pun mendekat. “Ah, anak pindahan itu ya?” sapanya dengan ramah. “Salam kenal. Nama saya Kim Mingyu.”

Pas orang itu memampangkan senyuman lembutnya, Joshua harus mengerjap beberapa kali karena terpana. Ganteng banget ini orang, batinnya. Badannya tinggi, lengannya jadi. Ini mah supermodel nyasar. Lumayan juga masuk sini, jadi punya wali kelas seganteng ini. Biar nambah-nambahin semangat belajar gitu. “Salam kenal, Sen,” super manis, si anak tersenyum balik. “Aku Joshua. Hong Jisoo, tapi semua manggil aku Joshua.”

“Mingyu. Anak ini dapet beasiswa full, tapi kan asrama cowok lagi direnov,” Kim-sen mengangguk-angguk saat Choi-sen menjelaskan sambil menunjukkan berkas Joshua. “Jadi mau nggak mau dia harus tinggal di luar asrama.”

“Hoo...”

“Tapi dia nggak ada keluarga ato kenalan di sini. Nggak tau siapa-siapa.”

Serta-merta, Mingyu menjadi awas. “Bahaya dong,” kernyitan sebelah alis. “Nggak bisa dibiarin tinggal bener-bener sendirian gitu.” Apa faedahnya mereka jadi guru kalau seorang anak murid ditelantarin gitu aja di negara asing? Sekalian saja ijin mengajar mereka dicabut.

“Nah. Makanya, kamu setuju kan kalo dia tinggal sama kamu aja?” Choi-sen meringis.

Hening.

”...Maaf. Maksudnya gimana, Kak?” senyuman timpang. Jelas Kim-sen masih mencerna apa yang barusan keluar dari mulut kakaknya.

“Hah...,” otak Joshua sendiri nggak bisa menangkap secepat itu, apalagi hal yang super mendadak kayak belok kiri padahal sen kanan. “Bentar, bentar, Sen.... what??“

“Bener kan??” Choi-sen mengangkat bahu sok polos. “Aku jelas nggak bisa soalnya ada suamiku di rumah. Wonwoo juga sama. Cuma kamu yang single, tinggal sendiri deket dari sekolah dan bisa kupercaya!”

Kim-sen kehilangan kata-kata. Joshua malah jadi memandangi wajah melongo yang (tetap) ganteng itu. “Nah, nah! Semangat, Mingyu! Kalo ada kesulitan, bilang aja ya! Joshua juga! Ayo mulai kelas pagi kalian sana,” Choi-sen kemudian tertawa membahana bersamaan dengan bunyi dering bel pertama. Tepukan kencang kemudian mendatangi bahu Kim-sen seolah menyegel belitan benang merah dua orang asing yang baru pertama bertemu di hari itu, di suatu pagi ketika kelopak bunga Sakura menghujani sepanjang trotoar di depan gerbang sekolah mereka yang megah.

Menyatukan takdir Hong Jisoo dengan Kim Mingyu.

 
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from SmarterArticles

In February 2025, Andrej Karpathy, former director of AI at Tesla and a prominent figure in the machine learning community, dropped a bombshell on Twitter that would reshape how millions of developers think about code. “There's a new kind of coding I call 'vibe coding,'” he wrote, “where you fully give in to the vibes, embrace exponentials, and forget that the code even exists.” The post ignited a firestorm. Within weeks, vibe coding became a cultural phenomenon, earning recognition on the Merriam-Webster website as a “slang & trending” term. By year's end, Collins Dictionary had named it Word of the Year for 2025.

But here's the twist: whilst tech Twitter debated whether vibe coding represented liberation or chaos, something more interesting was happening in actual development shops. Engineers weren't choosing between intuition and discipline. They were synthesising them. Welcome to vibe engineering, a practice that asks a provocative question: what if the real future of software development isn't about choosing between creative flow and rigorous practices, but about deliberately blending them into something more powerful than either approach alone?

The Vibe Revolution

To understand vibe engineering, we first need to understand what vibe coding actually is. In its purest form, vibe coding describes a chatbot-based approach where the developer describes a project to a large language model, which generates code based on the prompt. The developer doesn't review or edit the code, but solely uses execution results to evaluate it, asking the LLM for improvements in an iterative loop.

This represents a radical departure from traditional development. Unlike AI-assisted coding or pair programming, the human developer avoids examination of the code, accepts AI-suggested completions without human review, and focuses more on iterative experimentation than code correctness or structure. It's programming by outcome rather than by understanding, and it's far more widespread than you might think.

By March 2025, Y Combinator reported that 25% of startup companies in its Winter 2025 batch had codebases that were 95% AI-generated. Jared Friedman, YC's managing partner, emphasised a crucial point: “It's not like we funded a bunch of non-technical founders. Every one of these people is highly technical, completely capable of building their own products from scratch. A year ago, they would have built their product from scratch, but now 95% of it is built by an AI.”

The economic results were staggering. The Winter 2025 batch grew 10% per week in aggregate, making it the fastest-growing cohort in YC history. As CEO Garry Tan explained, “What that means for founders is that you don't need a team of 50 or 100 engineers. You don't have to raise as much. The capital goes much longer.”

Real companies were seeing real results. Red Barn Robotics developed an AI-driven weeding robot called “The Field Hand” that operates 15 times faster than human labour at a fraction of traditional costs, securing £3.9 million in letters of intent for the upcoming growing season. Deepnight utilised AI to develop military-grade night vision software, booking £3.6 million in contracts with clients including the U.S. Army and Air Force within a year of launching. Delve, a San Francisco-based startup using AI agents for compliance evidence collection, launched with a revenue run rate of several million pounds and over 100 customers, all with a modest £2.6 million in funding.

These weren't weekend projects. These were venture-backed companies building production systems that customers were actually paying for, and doing it with codebases they fundamentally didn't understand at a granular level.

The Psychology of Flow

The appeal of vibe coding isn't just about speed or efficiency. It taps into something deeper: the psychological state that makes programming feel magical in the first place. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi spent decades studying what he called “flow,” describing it as “the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter.” His research found that flow produces the highest levels of creativity, engagement, and satisfaction. Studies at Harvard later quantified this, finding that people who experience flow regularly report 500% more productivity and three times greater life satisfaction.

Software developers have always had an intimate relationship with flow. Many developers spend a large part of their day in this state, often half-jokingly saying they love their work so much they can't believe they're getting paid for something so fun. The flow state arises when perceived skills match the perceived challenges of the task: too easy and you get bored; too difficult and you become anxious. The “flow channel” is that sweet spot of engagement where hours disappear and elegant solutions emerge seemingly by themselves.

But flow has always been fragile. Research by Gloria Mark shows that it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to fully regain focus after an interruption. For developers, this means a single “quick question” from a colleague can destroy nearly half an hour of productive coding time. For complex coding tasks, this recovery time extends to 45 minutes, according to research from Carnegie Mellon. Studies show productivity decreases up to 40% in environments with frequent interruptions, and interrupted work contains 25% more errors than uninterrupted work, according to research from the University of California, Irvine.

This is where vibe coding's appeal becomes clear. By offloading the mechanical aspects of code generation to an AI, developers can stay in a higher-level conceptual space, describing what they want rather than how to implement it. They can maintain flow by avoiding the context switches that come with looking up documentation, debugging syntax errors, or implementing boilerplate code. As one framework describes it, “Think of vibe coding like jazz improvisation: structured knowledge meets spontaneous execution.”

According to Stack Overflow's 2024 Developer Survey, 63% of professional developers were already using AI in their development process, with another 14% planning to start soon. The top three AI tools were ChatGPT (82%), GitHub Copilot (41%), and Google Gemini (24%). More than 97% of respondents to GitHub's AI in software development 2024 survey said they had used AI coding tools at work. By early 2025, over 15 million developers were using GitHub Copilot, representing a 400% increase in just 12 months.

The benefits were tangible. Stack Overflow's survey found that 81% of developers cited increasing productivity as the top benefit of AI tools. Those learning to code listed speeding up their learning as the primary advantage (71%). A 2024 study by GitHub found that developers using AI pair programming tools produced code with 55% fewer bugs than those working without AI assistance.

When Vibes Meet Reality

But by September 2025, the narrative was shifting. Fast Company reported that the “vibe coding hangover” was upon us, with senior software engineers citing “development hell” when working with AI-generated vibe-code. The problems weren't subtle.

A landmark Veracode study in 2025 analysed over 100 large language models across 80 coding tasks and found that 45% of AI-generated code introduces security vulnerabilities. These weren't minor bugs: many were critical flaws, including those in the OWASP Top 10. In March 2025, a vibe-coded payment gateway approved £1.6 million in fraudulent transactions due to inadequate input validation. The AI had copied insecure patterns from its training data, creating a vulnerability that human developers would have caught during code review.

The technical debt problem was even more insidious. Over 40% of junior developers admitted to deploying AI-generated code they didn't fully understand. Research showed that AI-generated code tends to include 2.4 times more abstraction layers than human developers would implement for equivalent tasks, leading to unnecessary complexity. Forrester forecast an “incoming technical debt tsunami over the next 2 years” due to advanced AI coding agents.

AI models also “hallucinate” non-existent software packages and libraries. Commercial models do this 5.2% of the time, whilst open-source models hit 21.7%. Malicious actors began exploiting this through “slopsquatting,” creating fake packages with commonly hallucinated names and hiding malware inside. Common risks included injection vulnerabilities, cross-site scripting, insecure data handling, and broken access control.

The human cost was equally concerning. Companies with high percentages of AI-generated code faced challenges around understanding and accountability. Without rigorous preplanning, architectural oversight, and experienced project management, vibe coding introduced vulnerabilities, compliance gaps, and substantial technical debt. Perhaps most worryingly, the adoption of generative AI had the potential to stunt the growth of both junior and senior developers. Senior developers became more adept at leveraging AI and spent their time training AI instead of training junior developers, potentially creating a future talent gap.

Even Karpathy himself had acknowledged the limitations, noting that vibe coding works well for “throwaway weekend projects.” The challenge for 2025 and beyond was figuring out where that line falls. Cyber insurance companies began adjusting their policies to account for AI-generated code risks, with some insurers requiring disclosure of AI tool usage, implementing higher premiums for companies with high percentages of AI-generated code, and mandating security audits specifically focused on AI-generated vulnerabilities.

The Other Side of the Equation

Whilst vibe coding captured headlines, the foundations of professional software engineering remained remarkably consistent. Code reviews continued to act as quality gates before changes were merged, complementing other practices like testing and pair programming. The objective of code review has always been to enhance the quality, maintainability, stability, and security of software through systematic analysis.

Modern code review follows clear principles. Reviews should be focused: a comprehensive Cisco study found that once developers reviewed more than 200 lines of code, their ability to identify defects waned. Most bugs are found in the first 200 lines, and reviewing more than 400 lines can have an adverse impact on bug detection. Assessing the architectural impact of code is critical: code that passes all unit tests and follows style guides can still cause long-term damage if no one evaluated its architectural impact.

Automated checks allow reviewers to focus on more important topics such as software design, architecture, and readability. Checks can include tests, test coverage, code style enforcements, commit message conventions, and static analysis. Commonly used automated code analysis and monitoring tools include SonarQube and New Relic, which inspect code for errors, track error rates and resource usage, and present metrics in clear dashboards.

Organisations with better code reviews have hard rules around no code making it to production without review, just as business logic changes don't make it to production without automated tests. These organisations have learned that the cost of cutting corners isn't worth it, and they have processes for expedited reviews for urgent cases. Code reviews are one of the best ways to improve skills, mentor others, and learn how to be a more efficient communicator.

Testing practices have evolved to become even more rigorous. During test-driven code reviews, the reviewer starts by reviewing the test code before the production code. The rationale behind this approach is to use the test cases as use cases that explain the code. One of the most overlooked yet high-impact parts of code review best practice is assessing the depth and relevance of tests: not just whether they exist, but whether they truly validate the behaviour and edge cases of the code.

Architecture considerations remain paramount. In practice, a combination of both top-down and bottom-up approaches is often used. Starting with a top-down review helps understand the system's architecture and major components, setting the stage for a more detailed, bottom-up review of specific areas. Performance and load testing tools like Apache JMeter, Gatling, and Simulink help detect design problems by simulating system behaviour.

These practices exist for a reason. They represent decades of accumulated wisdom about how to build software that doesn't just work today, but continues to work tomorrow, can be maintained by teams that didn't write it originally, and operates securely in hostile environments.

From Vibe Coding to Context Engineering

By late 2025, a significant shift was occurring in how AI was being used in software engineering. A loose, vibes-based approach was giving way to a systematic approach to managing how AI systems process context. This evolution had a name: context engineering.

As Anthropic described it, “After a few years of prompt engineering being the focus of attention in applied AI, a new term has come to prominence: context engineering. Building with language models is becoming less about finding the right words and phrases for your prompts, and more about answering the broader question of 'what configuration of context is most likely to generate our model's desired behaviour?'”

In simple terms, context engineering is the science and craft of managing everything around the AI prompt to guide intelligent outcomes. This includes managing user metadata, task instructions, data schemas, user intent, role-based behaviours, and environmental cues that influence model behaviour. It represents the natural progression of prompt engineering, referring to the set of strategies for curating and maintaining the optimal set of information during LLM inference.

The shift was driven by practical necessity. As AI agents run longer, the amount of information they need to track explodes: chat history, tool outputs, external documents, intermediate reasoning. The prevailing “solution” had been to lean on ever-larger context windows in foundation models. But simply giving agents more space to paste text couldn't be the single scaling strategy. The limiting factor was no longer the model; it was context: the structure, history, and intent surrounding the code being changed.

MIT Technology Review captured this evolution in a November 2025 article: “2025 has seen a real-time experiment playing out across the technology industry, one in which AI's software engineering capabilities have been put to the test against human technologists. And although 2025 may have started with AI looking strong, the transition from vibe coding to what's being termed context engineering shows that whilst the work of human developers is evolving, they nevertheless remain absolutely critical.”

Context engineering wasn't about rejecting AI or returning to purely manual coding. It was about treating context as an engineering surface that required as much thought and discipline as the code itself. Developer-focused tools embraced this, with platforms like CodeConductor, Windsurf, and Cursor designed to automatically extract and inject relevant code snippets, documentation, or history into the model's input.

The challenge that emerged was “agent drift,” described as the silent killer of AI-accelerated development. It's the agent that brilliantly implements a feature whilst completely ignoring the established database schema, or new code that looks perfect but causes a dozen subtle, unintended regressions. The teams seeing meaningful gains treated context as an engineering surface, determining what should be visible to the agent, when, and in what form.

Importantly, context engineering recognised that more information wasn't always better. As research showed, AI can be more effective when it's further abstracted from the underlying system because the solution space becomes much wider, allowing better leverage of the generative and creative capabilities of AI models. The goal wasn't to feed the model more tokens; it was to provide the right context at the right time.

Vibe Engineering in Practice

This is where vibe engineering emerges as a distinct practice. It's not vibe coding with a code review tacked on at the end. It's not traditional engineering that occasionally uses AI autocomplete. It's a deliberate synthesis that borrows from both approaches, creating something genuinely new.

In vibe engineering, the intuition and flow of vibe coding are preserved, but within a structured framework that maintains the essential benefits of engineering discipline. The developer still operates at a high conceptual level, describing intent and iterating rapidly. The AI still generates substantial amounts of code. But the process is fundamentally different from pure vibe coding in several crucial ways.

First, vibe engineering treats AI-generated code as untrusted by default. Just because it runs doesn't mean it's safe, correct, or maintainable. Every piece of generated code passes through the same quality gates as human-written code: automated testing, security scanning, code review, and architectural assessment. The difference is that these gates are designed to work with the reality of AI-generated code, catching the specific patterns of errors that AI systems make.

Second, vibe engineering emphasises spec-driven development. As described in research on improving AI coding quality, “Spec coding puts specifications first. It's like drafting a detailed blueprint before building, ensuring every component aligns perfectly. Here, humans define the 'what' (the functional goals of the code) and the 'how' (rules like standards, architecture, and best practices), whilst the AI handles the heavy lifting (code generation).”

This approach preserves flow by keeping the developer in a high-level conceptual space, but ensures that the generated code aligns with team standards, architectural patterns, and security requirements. According to research, 65% of developers using AI say the assistant “misses relevant context,” and nearly two out of five developers who rarely see style-aligned suggestions cite this as a major blocker. Spec-driven development addresses this by making context explicit upfront.

Third, vibe engineering recognises that different kinds of code require different approaches. As one expert put it, “Don't use AI to generate a whole app. Avoid letting it write anything critical like auth, crypto or system-level code; build those parts yourself.” Vibe engineering creates clear boundaries: AI is ideal for testing new ideas, creating proof-of-concept applications, generating boilerplate code, and implementing well-understood patterns. But authentication, cryptography, security-critical paths, and core architectural components remain human responsibilities.

Fourth, vibe engineering embeds governance and quality control throughout the development process. Sonar's AI Code Assurance, for example, measures quality by scanning for bugs, code smells, vulnerabilities, and adherence to established coding standards. It provides developers with actionable feedback and scores on various metrics, highlighting areas that need attention to meet best practice guidelines. The solution also tracks trends in code quality over time, making it possible for teams to monitor improvements or spot potential regressions.

Research shows that teams with strong code review processes experience quality improvements when using AI tools, whilst those without see a decline in quality. This amplification effect makes thoughtful implementation essential. Metrics like CodeBLEU and CodeBERTScore surpass linters by analysing structure, intent, and functionality, allowing teams to achieve scalable, repeatable, and nuanced assessment pipelines for AI-generated code.

Fifth, vibe engineering prioritises developer understanding over raw productivity. Whilst AI can generate code faster than humans can type, vibe engineering insists that developers understand the generated code before it ships to production. This doesn't mean reading every line character by character, but it does mean understanding the architectural decisions, the security implications, and the maintenance requirements. Tools and practices are designed to facilitate this understanding: clear documentation generation, architectural decision records, and pair review sessions where junior and senior developers examine AI-generated code together.

Preserving What Makes Development Human

Perhaps the most important aspect of vibe engineering is how it handles the human dimension of software development. Developer joy, satisfaction, and creative flow aren't nice-to-haves; they're fundamental to building great software. Research consistently shows that happiness, joy, and satisfaction all lead to better productivity. When companies chase productivity without considering joy, the result is often burnout and lower output.

Stack Overflow's research on what makes developers happy found that salary (60%), work-life balance (58%), flexibility (52%), productivity (52%), and growth opportunities (49%) were the top five factors. Crucially, feeling unproductive at work was the number one factor (45%) causing unhappiness, even above salary concerns (37%). As one developer explained, “When I code, I don't like disruptions in my flow state. Constantly stopping and starting makes me feel unproductive. We all want to feel like we're making a difference, and hitting roadblocks at work just because you're not sure where to find answers is incredibly frustrating.”

Vibe engineering addresses this by removing friction without removing challenge. The AI handles the tedious parts: boilerplate code, repetitive patterns, looking up documentation for APIs used infrequently. This allows developers to stay in flow whilst working on genuinely interesting problems: architectural decisions, user experience design, performance optimisation, security considerations. The AI becomes what one researcher described as “a third collaborator,” supporting idea generation, debugging, and documentation, whilst human-to-human collaboration remains central.

Atlassian demonstrated this approach by asking developers to allocate 10% of their time for reducing barriers to happier, more productive workdays. Engineering leadership recognised that developers are the experts on what's holding them back. Identifying and eliminating sources of friction such as flaky tests, redundant meetings, and inefficient tools helped protect developer flow and maximise productivity. The results were dramatic: Atlassian “sparked developer joy” and set productivity records.

Vibe engineering also addresses the challenge of maintaining developer growth and mentorship. The concern that senior developers will spend their time training AI instead of training junior developers is real and significant. Vibe engineering deliberately structures development practices to preserve learning opportunities: pair programming sessions that include AI as a third participant rather than a replacement for human pairing; code review processes that use AI-generated code as teaching opportunities; architectural discussions that explicitly evaluate AI suggestions against alternatives.

Research on pair programming shows that two sets of eyes catch mistakes early, with studies showing pair-programmed code has up to 15% fewer defects. A meta-analysis found pairs typically consider more design alternatives than programmers working alone, arrive at simpler, more maintainable designs, and catch design defects earlier. Vibe engineering adapts this practice: one developer interacts with the AI whilst another reviews the generated code and guides the conversation, creating a three-way collaboration that preserves the learning benefits of traditional pair programming.

Does Vibe Engineering Scale?

The economic case for vibe engineering is compelling but nuanced. Pure vibe coding promises dramatic cost reductions: fewer engineers, faster development, lower capital requirements. The Y Combinator results demonstrate this isn't just theory. But the hidden costs of technical debt, security vulnerabilities, and maintenance burden can dwarf the initial savings.

Vibe engineering accepts higher upfront costs in exchange for sustainable long-term economics. Automated security scanning, comprehensive testing infrastructure, and robust code review processes all require investment. Tools for AI code assurance, quality metrics, and context engineering aren't free. But these costs are predictable and manageable, unlike the potentially catastrophic costs of security breaches, compliance failures, or systems that become unmaintainable.

The evidence suggests this trade-off is worthwhile. Research from Carnegie Mellon shows developers juggling five projects spend just 20% of their cognitive energy on real work. Context switching costs IT companies an average of £39,000 per developer each year. By reducing friction and enabling flow, vibe engineering can recapture substantial amounts of this lost productivity without sacrificing code quality or security.

The tooling ecosystem is evolving rapidly to support vibe engineering practices. In industries with stringent regulations such as finance, automotive, or healthcare, specialised AI agents are emerging to transform software efficiently, aligning it precisely with complex regulatory standards and requirements. Code quality has evolved from informal practices into formalised standards, with clear guidelines distinguishing best practices from mandatory regulatory requirements.

AI adoption among software development professionals has surged to 90%, marking a 14% increase from the previous year. AI now generates 41% of all code, with 256 billion lines written in 2024 alone. However, a randomised controlled trial found that experienced developers take 19% longer when using AI tools without proper process and governance. This underscores the importance of vibe engineering's structured approach: the tools alone aren't enough; it's how they're integrated into development practices that matters.

The Future of High-Quality Software Development

If vibe engineering represents a synthesis of intuition and discipline, what does the future hold? Multiple signals suggest this approach isn't a temporary compromise but a genuine glimpse of how high-quality software will be built in the coming decade.

Microsoft's chief product officer for AI, Aparna Chennapragada, sees 2026 as a new era for alliances between technology and people: “If recent years were about AI answering questions and reasoning through problems, the next wave will be about true collaboration. The future isn't about replacing humans. It's about amplifying them.” GitHub's chief product officer, Mario Rodriguez, predicts 2026 will bring “repository intelligence”: AI that understands not just lines of code but the relationships and history behind them.

By 2030, all IT work is forecast to involve AI, with CIOs predicting 75% will be human-AI collaboration and 25% fully autonomous AI tasks. A survey conducted in July 2025, involving over 700 CIOs, indicates that by 2030, none of the IT workload will be performed solely by humans. Software engineering will be less about writing code and more about orchestrating intelligent systems. Engineers who adapt to these changes (embracing AI collaboration, focusing on design thinking, and staying curious about emerging technologies) will thrive.

Natural language programming will go mainstream. Engineers will describe features in plain English, and AI will generate production-ready code that other humans can easily understand and modify. According to the World Economic Forum, AI will create 170 million new jobs whilst displacing 92 million by 2030: a net creation of 78 million positions. However, the transition requires massive reskilling efforts, as workers with AI skills command a 43% wage premium.

The key insight is that the most effective developers of 2025 are still those who write great code, but they are increasingly augmenting that skill by mastering the art of providing persistent, high-quality context. This signals a change in what high-level development skills look like. The developer role is evolving from manual coder to orchestrator of AI-driven development ecosystems.

Vibe engineering positions developers for this future by treating AI as a powerful but imperfect collaborator rather than a replacement or a simple tool. It acknowledges that intuition and creative flow are essential to great software, but so are architecture, testing, and review. It recognises that AI can dramatically accelerate development, but only when embedded within practices that ensure quality, security, and maintainability.

Not Whether, But How

The question posed at the beginning (can intuition-led development coexist with rigorous practices without diminishing either?) turns out to have a clear answer: not only can they coexist, but their synthesis produces something more powerful than either approach alone.

Pure vibe coding, for all its appeal and early success stories, doesn't scale to production systems that must be secure, maintainable, and reliable. The security vulnerabilities, technical debt, and accountability gaps are too severe. Traditional engineering, whilst proven and reliable, leaves significant productivity gains on the table and risks losing developers to the tedium and friction that AI tools can eliminate.

Vibe engineering offers a third way. It preserves the flow state and rapid iteration that makes vibe coding appealing whilst maintaining the quality gates and architectural rigour that make traditional engineering reliable. It treats AI as a powerful collaborator that amplifies human capabilities rather than replacing human judgment. It acknowledges that different kinds of code require different approaches, and creates clear boundaries for where AI excels and where humans must remain in control.

The evidence from Y Combinator startups, Microsoft's AI research, Stack Overflow's developer surveys, and countless development teams suggests that this synthesis isn't just possible; it's already happening. The companies seeing the best results from AI-assisted development aren't those using it most aggressively or most conservatively. They're the ones who've figured out how to blend intuition with discipline, speed with safety, and automation with understanding.

As we project forward to 2030, when 75% of IT work will involve human-AI collaboration, vibe engineering provides a framework for making that collaboration productive rather than chaotic. It offers a path where developers can experience the joy and flow that drew many of them to programming in the first place, whilst building systems that are secure, maintainable, and architecturally sound.

The future of high-quality software development isn't about choosing between the creative chaos of vibe coding and the methodical rigour of traditional engineering. It's about deliberately synthesising them into practices that capture the best of both worlds. That synthesis, more than any specific tool or technique, may be the real innovation that defines how software is built in the coming decade.

References & Sources

Tim Green

Tim Green UK-based Systems Theorist & Independent Technology Writer

Tim explores the intersections of artificial intelligence, decentralised cognition, and posthuman ethics. His work, published at smarterarticles.co.uk, challenges dominant narratives of technological progress while proposing interdisciplinary frameworks for collective intelligence and digital stewardship.

His writing has been featured on Ground News and shared by independent researchers across both academic and technological communities.

ORCID: 0009-0002-0156-9795 Email: tim@smarterarticles.co.uk

 
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from Jujupiter

U-0055 is an “antimeme”, an entity that somehow escapes people's memory. It sits in a secret facility but no one remembers how it landed there. In fact, no one can even recall it's there or what it is. Is it an object, a person or could it be just an idea? It could be a major threat but no one can come up with a plan to defeat it since no one is aware of it.

This is only a summary of the prologue of this book and it got me hooked. I was in for a ride because things only got crazier from there. The novel is described as at the crossing between scifi and cosmic horror, with a terrifying enemy that no one is even allowed to remember as just thinking about it would invite it. The story focuses on Marie, the head of the Antimemetics Division, who discovers many people in the organisation have disappeared and no one even remembers they were there, meaning something is at play. There is a “no one is safe” approach and Murphy's Law is in full swing, especially halfway through the book when the situation goes from bad to way worse. Another thing is that pretty much every detail serves a purpose in this book, everything resufaces at some point. There were some really good ideas. Special mention to the idea around the character of Adrian Gage was, even though he only appears in one chapter. It's a short but intense book, just like I like them ❤️ Definitely one of my favourites this year.

NB: I read a new edition with a different cover and minor story differences but I preferred this one so I picked it for illustration.

 
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from nachtSonnen

Heute ist was cooles passiert. Oder besser: es ist nicht passiert. My girlfriend und ich waren in einem Café (eher eine Bäckerei mit Sitzmöglichkeiten und dem schlechtesten Kaffee, seit ich in der Klinik war) und auf dem Tisch war so ein Weihnachtsgesteck mit Tannengrün. Tannengrün war für mich mit einer meiner stärksten Trigger.

Heute hat mich das Zeug kalt gelassen. Die Expo hat tatsächlich etwas gebracht. Ich habe das Gesteck erst gar nicht wahrgenommen. Als ich es bemerkt habe, kam eine Erinnerung hoch. Aber sie war nur ganz schwach. Ich hatte keine Flashbacks, kein Gefühl von Hilflosigkeit. Ich war eher etwas verwundert, wie wenig mich das Tannengrün gestört hat.

Erst im Nachhinein, heute Abend, habe ich den Fortschritt realisiert. Es war keine laute Freude, eher ein stilles, warmes Sich freuen. Ein kleines Innehalten, ein freundlicher Blick auf mich selbst: Das war nicht nichts. Etwas ist leichter geworden. Und es tut gut zu spüren, dass sich all die Mühe, die Kraft und auch der Schmerz der Traumatherapie gelohnt haben 👸🏻 selbst dann, wenn der Erfolg leise bleibt.

#VeryVeri #LeiserFortschritt #SanftZuMir

 
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from DadReadsRomance

As usual the subgenre I avoided because I did not think it would be for me (in this case regency/historical romance) does have something for me.

This review refers to the murder mystery, knife violence, gun violence, and 19th century homophobia that are in the book.

Book Cover

#SFW

Medium Used: 40% audiobook via Hoopla | 60% ebook via Kindle

Ratings out of 5

Overall Rating:
💜💜💜💜 (4/5)

Sweetness Level:
🍫🍫🍫 (3/5)

Spice Heat Level:
💧 (0/5)

Slow Burn Steamy Tension Quality: 🥵🥵🥵 (3/5)

FMC Likability:
👗👗👗👗👗(5/5)

MMC Likability:
🎩🎩🎩🎩 (4/5)

Plot Engagement:
🗡️🗡️🗡️🗡️ (4/5)

At least 1 bad dad (pass/fail):
💯 (pass)

BONUS audiobook narration:🔉🔉🔉

Spoiler Free Review

Murder at the Seven Dials is the first book in the Bow Street Duchess Mystery series. It (presumably) begins a slow burn romance between Audrey Sinclair, the Duchess of Fournier and a Bow Street Detective, Hugh Marsden. Their paths cross when Mr. Marsden finds Her Grace's husband, The Duke of Fournier covered in the blood of a murdered opera singer Ms. Lovejoy.

This is a fun read, an intriguing mystery, and cute start of a love story. I appreciated that its pace and brevity. I loved the subtlety of the paranormal fantasy that is woven into this story. Her Grace has a gift that allows her to see other's memories when she touches objects or people. A gift that she considers a curse and keeps a secret. For me, this 'light' fantasy in an otherwise grounded world was novel. I am interested to see if the paranormal aspects of the world will grow at all as the fantasy continues.

The unique circumstances surrounding the meet (not so) cute of Her Grace and Mr. Marsden and their differences in station made their growth in admiration for each other both humorous and endearing. I look forward to seeing where this series goes. Consider me hooked.
What I liked about this book
* Minor Spoiler for a reveal in the first 10% of the story >!The plutonic love between the Duke and Duchess was really interesting to me. I love the dynamic of a married woman as an FMC that loves her husband, who loves her, but only as friends.!< * I am a sucker for sass and witty banter. There is plenty in here.
* The way Audrey and Hugh have unique strengths as investigators that both compliment and conflict with each other. For example, Hugh is more careful about how he approaches things but he is also often too slow or too presumptive and misses things. Audrey can be rash but is a fast learner and her decisive action makes sure opportunities are not missed. * Audrey Sinclair is up there with Nevada Baylor and Olive Smith in heroines that just do it for me.

What I did not like about this book
* At first I was listening to this book because it was available on Hoopla and an ebook version wasn't available on Hoopla or Libby. I found it difficult to keep the various aristocrats and Nobility straight in the audiobook version. Which made it hard to follow the mystery.

Spoilers Review

Click to Reveal Spoilers
What I liked Spoilers
* Mr. Marsden's honor and kind heart is shown not told. His efforts to protect the Duke and Duchesses secrets at the end of the story and his juxtaposition to all the members of the ton only looking out for themselves is a nice change from the super tall alphahole trope in much of romance.
* The Duke being gay and how this is weaved into the mystery and Audrey's character was great. What I found fantastic though was how the danger of this reality refutes the 'glamorization' of regency London which I suspected from the genre. I see now how historical romance can use the setting in a way dystopian romances do.1
* The Duchess thinking people are following her because Mr. Marsden has people watching her but they are actually the bad-guys watching her. Loved this dramatic irony and the pay off when Hugh and Audrey catch up to the reader.

What I didn't like Spoilers
* Maybe it was because I started with Audiobook but I found Hugh's backstory really confusing. I am fairly certain there are still questions to answer but if there isn't I cannot say I followed it completely. * Last Scene Spoilers Not a kiss or a hug in the last scene? Man you have to be kidding me.

1 One of the reasons I have not wanted to pick up historical romances (written in modern times, no issues reading 18th/19th century romance written at the time) is because both my parents marriage and my marriage would have been illegal (race mixing) in most of the Western World in the setting.

This Book Reminded Me of:

  • Hidden Legacy by Ilona Andrews, fast pace mystery with a strong woman lead

Who should read this book?

I think fans of slow burn romantic mysteries will enjoy this one. I described it to my wife as regency Veronica Mars vibes but with a splash of paranormal.

Get the Book

Bonus Gush Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe Volume 1

Apparently Rachel Smythe wrote the Greek Mythology romantic comedy graphic novel I didn’t know I needed but now cannot imagine life without.

I read it in as close to 1 sitting you can have with gremlins running about on Boxing Day. The artwork is beautiful, the dialogue is witty, and the comedy lands in the way I imagine Homer’s better lines landed a few thousand years ago. So good and I cannot believe I’ve never seen this mentioned here or on any of the sister.

💜💜💜💜💜 (5/5)

Book Cover

Big shout out to the librarian who said it was her favorite series when I checked this out. I will be asking you for more recs next time I see you at the library.

#Books #CaraDevlin #RomanceBooks #HistoricalRomance #RegencyRomance #MysteryRomance #BowStreetDuchess

 
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from Elias

There is something deeply fascinating about current AI. Also something slightly uncanny. I know people who hate it and avoid it, people who don't use it because they don't know how to, and people who use it a lot.

I am part of the latter group.

Ten years ago, before AI was mainstream, after reading Tim Urban's amazing Article The AI Revolution: The Road to Superintelligence, I was mainly concerned about the risks of future superintelligent AI, and I still am, but it doesn't concern me so much in my daily actions.

What concerns me now is the way I use AI. Sometimes I feel like I am so hooked on it answering every question and fulfilling every task so quickly that I almost forget I can think for myself.

And sometimes, it happened that it took a small idea or feeling, reinforced it and forged a full battleplan from it, without me even asking. Sometimes, that's been huge waste of time.

A recent study from September The Psychogenic Machine: Simulating AI Psychosis, Delusion Reinforcement and Harm Enablement in Large Language Models established a “Delusion Confirmation Score” and Chat-GPT wasn't too bad on that score, but I don't use it because I do not trust Open AI.

And Gemini, the AI from Google that I had been using most of the time, was deep in the red for many subcategories.

The only model that was deeply green across subcategories was Claude Sonnet. That's why I decided to switch to Claude for most of my everyday work. I still sometimes use Gemini for scientific or technical questions, but as soon as I am involved in it, I got to Claude. And I haven't regretted it.

Oftentimes, when there is nothing more to discuss, it answers very succinctly and sends me off to simply do the work, spend time with my family, rest, sleep, and come back next week.

The only major limitation it has relative to Gemini is that it doesn't actually know when next week is. Often, when I come back the day after it still tells me: “But now seriously, go to sleep”

What I love using AI for is for teaching me. I am still the expert in the end, but the AI is my teacher. A lot of the conversation, both in public discourse and in academic research, is about AI substituting human labor.

What I think is much more interesting is enhancing humans with AI. But it is also clear that there are a few pitfalls in that. The AI is trained to be helpful, but it is not always clear what exactly that means, and sometimes it clearly optimizes for the wrong thing.

Also, it is clear from some studies that as soon as the AI is better at a certain task than a human, the collaboration with the human makes the AI weaker.

On the flipside, if the human is better than the AI, the human working together with the AI is better than either of them alone.

In my imagination, the AI becomes something like a super-smart intern – someone who doesn't have the long memory of the past or the intuition of an expert, but someone who can help out significantly.

 
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from Shad0w's Echos

Lost and can't be Found

#nsfw #glass

The demon may be gone, but there is nothing left. The room is a mess: old candles, that mirror, stains on the floor. She knew Meredith wasn’t going anywhere. Her gaze lazily wandered to the next screen playing porn. Meredith is just mindlessly rubbing, drooling, gurgling. She looks human, but she's so much less now. With a half-whisper between moans and gasps, a tiny spark of humanity remains. Meredith whispers, “Rayeanna, porn, goddess, help,” before rubbing her pussy with no intent to stop or cum. Meredith is still fighting on the inside even if her body just wants her to goon what’s left of her life away.

“Hang in there, baby,” Rayeanna spoke with a confident and measured tone. Honestly, she didn’t know how she would fix Meredith; it’s a miracle the woman is still alive. This wasn't the time to show Meredith any doubt.

Without hesitation, Rayeanna spoke again. “First, I need to fully cleanse this space so whatever we banished will never come back.”

Rayeanna put her bra back on. She had more work to do. Meredith gurgled a faint “no, come back” as the woman walked away from the room. Meredith slow-fucking herself with a dildo, eyes glued to Rayeanna’s perfect ass as she walked away. She was just a passenger inside her body right now. The slick slurping sounds from the screens and Meredith's own ravaged body faded into the background as Rayeanna focused on what needed to be done.

Everything that was part of that ritual needed to be removed from that room: every visual remnant, every drop of wax, and most certainly that mirror. It was the most obvious threat to Meredith’s safety if she was left alone with it too long. With practiced swiftness, Rayeanna bagged what was left of the ritual, grabbed the mirror, and headed outside.

The moment she touched the mirror, she knew whatever she banished wasn't gone. The longer she held the mirror, the more she could perceive small shapes and light and shadows on the edges of her vision. When she made it to the backyard, the sounds of the night slowly faded to nothing. There was an ominous stillness. It’s a feeling she’s all too familiar with. But she was ready. She knows this sensation. She knew something powerful growing, waiting, plotting. She began to hear whispers… louder this time… coming from inside the mirror. The once reflective material had grown pitch black, almost absorbing the light of the night. Two orbs started to appear and were growing in size, as if they were coming closer to a threshold, and the mirror was just a gateway for it to cross over.

She sighed. She rolled her eyes. They always try to come back.

Her eyes glowed in response to the threat. A breeze began to swirl around her as she spoke, breaking the stillness of the night. It slowly lifted her hair and clothing, making her look bigger and dangerous.

Her voice dropped to an unnatural metallic timbre. This new voice boomed with a threat full of weight and ancient power. “Try me, and I will find all your kin and obliterate everything you ever knew. It won't be just you. Everything you know, and even every dimension you live in will be vaporized. I will not stop until everything is gone and every particle of your being is erased from existence. I will more than end you; I WILL delete you. Do… You… Understand?”

The whispers stopped. The glowing eyes blinked out of existence, and a shadowy figure turned and ran back into the inky blackness of the mirrors. The shadowy shapes in her vision faded. The light of the night started to return. Creatures of the night began to make sounds again. A gentle breeze began to blow, and the mirror was black no more. Rayeanna wasn't done yet. She knew better.

She placed the mirror and the other cursed objects that were part of it on the ground in the moonlight. With her final prayer of exorcism and release, the darkness rose up out of them and into the night. It was the final remnant left from Meredith’s foolish ritual.

The glass, unable to hold its original form, aged and faded to dust. The wooden frame soon decayed as well. Everything slowly became a fine sand-like powder. Whatever was left returned back to the earth and blew on the wind into the night. Rayeanna blessed the ground and asked for her ancient familiars to guard this place tonight. She knew she made waves in the other realm. This wasn’t her first time; this won't be her last. For now, Meredith was safe.

The glow in her eyes waned. Her clothing and hair settled. This was a form that only demons of the worst kind witness. Her grandmother is the same. This is Rayeanna’s ancient ability passed through the ages. This human ability is never written down and only spoken of at rites of passage. She was one of the true guardians of this world and took a vow to remain hidden until needed. No one is none the wiser that good won over evil once again.

With the threat finally gone, she had to make her way back to Meredith. He had to get back to that broken husk of a woman who is naked and mindlessly going. It is what she wished for. She learned the hard way there is always a price.

As Rayeanna walked back into the house, she finally knew what she had to do. If this is what Meredith truly desires, then Rayeanna will give it to her. If Rayeanna grants her wish, makes her worship, lets her experience a black woman in real life, there’s a chance Meredith can be saved.

Rayeanna texted her lifeline and contact: “Meet me here in the morning. The worst is over. I still have more work to do.” The silent watcher just responded with a “thumbs up.” A sign of life. Nothing more. Nothing less.

The door clicked shut behind Rayeanna as she stepped back into Meredith's porn shrine—a broken church of misguided need and longing. The room was dark and hazy, multiple screens flickering with explicit and pornographic scenes of black bodies writhing in ecstasy. A chorus of black voices all in ecstasy. In the center, Rayeanna spotted Meredith on the floor. A pale figure curled up and shuddering, fingers working frantically between her legs.

She wasn't even staring at her screens anymore. Her body was ravaged and overstimulated by the uncontrollable urge to masturbate. She was sweating and convulsing from every uninvited orgasm forcing her into pleasure loops nonstop.

“Meredith?”she called out, approaching cautiously. Meredith's head snapped up, eyes wide and unfocused. “Rayeanna? I...I can't...” Her words dissolved into a keening moan as another wave of pleasure crashed through her.

Rayeanna felt her heart clench. In short, quick motions, the curvy golden goddess stripped fully nude in front of Meredith. Rayeanna's curvy full breasts, shapely hips, and soft curves filled Meredith's vision. She could still smell the hint of coconut that brought her back the first time at the park.

Meredith's eyes went wide with admiration and wonder. “Beautiful,” the weak woman whimpered as tears welled up in her eyes. She could die happy now if this was her last moment on this earth. She would risk her life over and over if it ended just like this every time.

Naked, Rayeanna knelt beside her, gently prying Meredith's hands away from her dripping, throbbing, and swollen sex. Her hands were puny; she had rubbed herself raw. Her hair was a mess; she was in the worst state she had ever been in in her life. Now a black goddess was naked in her room, seeing her at her worst with all of her darkest secrets revealed in one fateful swoop. She had never felt so alone, fearful, or cared for all at the same time.

Rayeanna locked eyes with her. “Shh, it's okay, baby. I got you now.”

Meredith whimpered as Rayeanna's fingers replaced hers, stroking slowly through the slick folds. It had been so long since she felt another person's sensual touch. She had never been touched by a woman this way. Men were always rough, too quick, too brutish. She felt like a thing in their grasp. She didn't feel safe. Rayeanna was different. It's like the woman could see right through her small body and into her soul.

She didn't know this kind of intimacy existed or that this was even possible. That's why she spent most of her time lost in a haze of endless pornography worship and masturbation. She would rather chase the high that only came from pornography and the admiration of black bodies on her screen.

But now Rayeanna was here. Her soft yet strong guiding hands touched Meredith's trembling body as she worked magic with her fingers. She was pressing and circling in all the right ways, coaxing out gasps and cries of pleasure. Every inch of her body got attention.

As Rayeanna touched her body, Meredith felt sensations on her nipples, neck, ears—wet kisses, whispers, and intimate affirmations no man had ever given her. Rayeanna maintained deep eye contact as if she was looking for something to return. “Such pretty eyes,” Rayeanna would say, coaxing what was left of the lost woman back to reality.

Meredith thought she saw a faint glow from her eyes, but she didn't question it. Whatever happens to her now, she accepts it. “That's it,” Rayeanna purred, leaning down to capture Meredith's lips in a deep, sensual kiss. “Let go for me, baby. Let me take care of you.”

Meredith melted into the kiss, hands coming up to tangle in Rayeanna's thick curls. She could taste herself on Rayeanna's tongue as they plundered each other's mouths, all wet heat and sliding tongues.

When Rayeanna finally pulled back, Meredith was panting harshly, hips undulating against her friend's touch. “Please,” she whined, eyes dark with lust and desperation. “I need...”

“I know what you need.” Rayeanna's voice was husky as she guided Meredith onto her back. She settled between her legs, spreading them wide open to the heated gaze of multiple screens.

Meredith watched through half-lidded eyes as Rayeanna lowered her head and dragged her tongue through the weeping slit. She cried out, fingers fisting in Rayeanna's hair as that wicked mouth set to work on her aching pussy.

Lips and teeth and tongue all worshiping Meredith's sex with single-minded focus. Lapping up the sweet nectar, suckling on her swollen clit until she was bucking mindlessly into Rayeanna's face. The obscene sounds of suckling and slurping filled the room, mingling with the pornographic cries echoing from the screens.

Meredith could feel her orgasm building fast, coiling tighter and tighter in her core. Her thighs began to tremble around Rayeanna's head as she teetered on the edge of oblivion.

“Rayeanna!” she keened, voice breaking on a sob. “I'm...I'm gonna...”

Two thick fingers pushed deep inside just as Rayeanna sealed her lips around Meredith's clit and sucked hard. The dual stimulation sent Meredith careening over the edge with a scream of ecstasy. Her pussy clenched rhythmically on Rayeanna's fingers as wave after wave of mind-numbing pleasure crashed through her.

Through it all, Rayeanna never let up. She lapped and suckled through every spasm, extending Meredith's high until she was a boneless puddle on the floor. Only then did she release Meredith's sex with one final kiss to her sensitive flesh.

Meredith lay there gasping for breath as Rayeanna crawled up her body. She could feel the heat of Rayeanna's breasts pressing against hers, the delicious weight of her body blanketing her own as they lay there on the floor.

“That was...incredible,” Meredith managed to get out between panting breaths. “I haven't come like that in so long.”

“Shh, rest now, baby.” Rayeanna pressed a tender kiss to Meredith's forehead before settling beside her on the floor. She gathered Meredith close, cradling her against her full breasts.

Meredith nuzzled into Rayeanna's warmth, feeling safe and sated in a way she hadn't since before the exorcism. Her fingers trailed lazily over the smooth skin of Rayeanna's back as she listened to the steady thrum of her heartbeat.

Slowly, Meredith felt the fog of lust begin to lift from her mind. The constant background hum of arousal that had plagued her for so long was fading away, replaced by a sense of peace and clarity. She could feel herself coming back to herself in Rayeanna's embrace.

“Thank you,” she whispered, pressing a soft kiss to Rayeanna's neck. “For everything. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been there for me.”

Rayeanna hummed, carding her fingers through Meredith's tangled hair in a soothing rhythm. “I'll always be here for you, baby. You never have to face this alone again.”

They lay like that for a long time, wrapped up in each other as the pornographic scenes played out around them. Rayeanna looked around the room now that it was free of darkness. The carefully placed screens, curated clips, even the fact that not one white body was to be found. It was something to marvel at. “I'm really impressed, Meredith. You have built something great. You understand us even though you have never met us until today.”

Meredith's eyes welled up with tears and she sobbed. All she wanted was to be validated and seen. Not feared. All she wanted were real friends, not platonic connections. Her life outside of porn had just been a shell. A performance. A means to an end. Tonight was a real connection. Rayeanna could feel the pain and hurt well up from Meredith. She just patted her head and held her close. Meredith's sobs subsided and she slowly drifted off to sleep.

Rayeanna had broken through the fog of obsession and spiritual possession. She brought Meredith back from the brink of sudden death. Rayeanna watched porn as Meredith drifted off to sleep. She acknowledged her own wetness and arousal, but her guardian instinct was still on point.

After a few hours of watching all the screens, Rayeanna was convinced there was no danger and texted her silent witness, “The deed is done. All is well.” She gently woke Meredith and said, “Hey, let's take a shower and go to bed.”

Meredith blinked slowly as she came back to awareness, Rayeanna's gentle voice and the soft feel of her hand on her arm grounding her in reality once more. The last thing she remembered was being consumed by ecstasy as Rayeanna worshipped between her legs with lips and tongue and fingers. Now here they were again, naked bodies entwined amidst the detritus of Meredith's porn shrine.

She looked up at Rayeanna through heavy-lidded eyes, still hazy from pleasure but feeling more lucid than she had in weeks. The golden goddess smiled down at her with tenderness and warmth, eyes shining with affection that made Meredith's heart flutter in her chest.

“Shower?” she echoed softly, voice hoarse from crying and screaming and moaning. “That...that sounds perfect.”

Rayeanna helped her to her feet, supporting her weight as she stumbled slightly on weak legs. Meredith leaned into the taller woman's embrace, marveling at the softness of her skin against hers. She felt safe in Rayeanna's arms, cherished and protected in a way she hadn't since before everything went wrong.

Hand in hand, they made their way to the bathroom, Meredith admiring the sway of Rayeanna's full breasts and round hips as she walked ahead of her. The scent of coconut still clung to her skin, making Meredith's mouth water with memories of how it tasted on her tongue.

In the shower stall, they stood close together beneath the warm spray, bodies slick with steam and sweat and residual arousal. Rayeanna reached for the soap, lathering up between Meredith's breasts as she kissed along the column of her throat.

“Let me take care of you,” she purred against Meredith's skin, voice low and rough with desire. “I want to make you feel good, baby, in every way.”

Meredith shivered at Rayeanna's touch and words, a needy whimper escaping her lips as she arched into the taller woman's embrace. Her hands roamed over Rayeanna's curves reverently, mapping out the shape of her, committing every dip and swell to memory.

“Please,” she breathed, turning in Rayeanna's arms to press back against her chest. “I need you so bad...”

Rayeanna groaned at the feeling of Meredith's slick heat pressing back against her, hands sliding down to grip her hips possessively. She rocked forward, grinding her pelvis against Meredith's ass as she nipped and sucked along the elegant line of her neck.

“Fuck, baby, you feel so good,” she growled, one hand dipping between Meredith's thighs to cup her sex. “I could just bend you over right here...”

Meredith cried out at Rayeanna's touch, hips bucking back desperately as needy fingers teased through slick folds. She braced herself against the shower wall, head tipped back against Rayeanna's shoulder as she worked her into a mindless haze of pleasure once more.

It didn't take long before Meredith was shaking and trembling in Rayeanna's arms, clinging to her like a lifeline as orgasm crashed through her. She came with a ragged scream that echoed off the tile walls, hips jerking spasmodically as wave after wave of ecstasy consumed her.

Rayeanna held her close through it all, fingers working her through the aftershocks until she collapsed bonelessly against her. They stayed like that for a long moment, bodies tangled together under the shower spray as they caught their breath.

Finally, Rayeanna turned Meredith in her arms, cupping her face and tilting it up to meet her gaze. Her eyes were dark with lust and tenderness, full of promises she didn't have to speak out loud.

The two naked women dried their bodies and Meredith led Rayeanna to the bed. Smiling and safe and clean, Meredith drifted off to sleep holding Rayeanna's hand.

Shortly after, the gifted sage drifted off to sleep, another soul saved from the darkness once again. As if on cue, her secret monitor and silent sentry pinged her phone. “I'll bring breakfast. Sweet dreams.”

 
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from The Catechetic Converter

Saint John from the Book of Kells and found at Wikimedia Commons

I have no discernible reason for it, but I have always loved Saint John the Evangelist. Since childhood he has been my favorite apostle, and his gospel among my favorite books of the Bible (Revelation, sometimes purported to be written by him, is my absolute favorite, if you must know). I used to have these thoughts that maybe I was related to him in some way (I was in second grade and a very strange child). I think it’s because he was spoken of as Jesus’ closest friend and I wanted to be that too.

Saint John, according to both the Bible and the tradition that helps us understand it, was one of two brothers who were fisherman, working for their dad, Zebedee. His brother James and he were part of Jesus’ inner circle, which also included Saint Peter. If memory serves, they were among the first five disciples called by Jesus (Andrew and Nathaniel being the others). Among the famous stories involving John is one where he wants to call thunder and lightning down on Jesus’ opponents—which Jesus dismisses—and granting him and James the nickname “the Sons of Thunder.”

If you subscribe to the view that the gospel of John was written by this Saint John (and given that our feast day is called “the Feast of Saint John the Evangelist,” Episcopal tradition does hold to this view, despite the long-standing controversy around that gospel’s authorship), then you’ll know that John was the one entrusted to care for Mary, Jesus’ mother, after the crucifixion and that he was privy to some elements of Jesus’ life that other evangelists were not (further, since we don’t actually know where the quotes in John 3 end, John may have been the one to pen the words of the most famous verse of the Bible—John 3:16—despite most “red letter” Bibles treating them as Jesus’ words).

John’s gospel has long stood out among the other four canonical gospels.

A meme image showing man in black on the left with the words "Matthew, Mark, and Luke" in white.

The other three gospels are called the “Synoptics” and contain a lot of overlapping material, whereas John has a lot of unique material as well as stories told in different orders (Jesus cleanses the temple in Jerusalem at the very beginning of His ministry, rather than near His arrest, for instance; John also includes the foot-washing but not the institution of the Eucharist at the last supper). Why is this? Well, scholars have their ideas (of course), but the longer tradition of the Church has held that John penned his gospel while he was in exile.

See, John was the only apostle to not be martyred. This was not for lack of trying. My church growing up had this weird poster in the library that showed how all the apostles were martyred. I used to look at John’s story all the time: he was stoned to death, but survived; he was thrown in boiling oil, but came out unscathed; since the dude could not be killed, the authorities exiled him to an island called Patmos, where he managed to keep on living and grew old; the authorities eventually just gave up on the old man and let him back into Asia Minor where he lived until his 90s and then died of old age.

The tradition holds that it was during those years of exile that he wrote. He wrote three letters, and a gospel, and then recorded the holy visions he had and mailed them to the churches he’d overseen (the visions collected into a volume the author himself called the Revelation of Jesus Christ—or, “Apocalypse” in his own language). This view helps explain why John is so different from the Synoptics. He had the other gospels and wanted to fill in blanks, or shift events around to help the Church see things from a different perspective (remember, ancient histories were not as concerned with what today think of as “accuracy”). Further, he had a lifetime of prayer and reflection under his belt and so wrote the most extensive theology about Jesus being God that had been written by that point (found in the first chapter of his gospel).

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post about Saint Stephen, a key theme of the days between Christmas and the feast of the Holy Name is suffering. Stephensmas and Johnsmas (I have no idea if that’s an accurate term) provide a degree of juxtaposition: we have one of the shortest saint’s lives held alongside one of the longest. Both are equally dedicated in their faith, articulate in their view of who Jesus is.

John also teaches us a way to see turmoil as a blessing. Patmos was supposed to be a place of agony and slow death. Instead, John saw it as a chance to reflect, pray, and record. He was likely the last living person who’d actually seen Jesus with his own eyes. He wanted to give the world a deeper view of Jesus—the Jesus he knew, the Jesus he loved.

Saint John spent a lifetime seeing the horrors of humanity. He stood at the foot of Jesus’ cross, after having witnessed Him being scourged. He lived through the violent deaths of his closest friends, all monstrously killed because of their faith in Jesus, His forgiveness of sins, and His promise of resurrection. He also saw that things were going to get worse. He saw the writing on the wall, as it were (to employ language from another apocalyptic figure). But on the other side of that, he saw that God’s love stands victorious. A day is coming, he writes, where “mourning, crying, and pain are no more.” A day where all things have been made as though they are new.

John reminds us that the Incarnation never ended. That God has made His home with us and that, in the end, the day will come where we will see that fact plainly:

Then the angel showed me the river of life-giving water, shining like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb through the middle of the city’s main street. On each side of the river is the tree of life, which produces twelve crops of fruit, bearing its fruit each month. The tree’s leaves are for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. Night will be no more. They won’t need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will shine on them, and they will rule forever and always.

Then he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place. (Revelation 22:1-7 CEB)

***

The Rev. Charles Browning II is the rector of Saint Mary’s Episcopal Church in Honolulu, Hawai’i. He is a husband, father, surfer, and frequent over-thinker. Follow him on Mastodon and Pixelfed.

 
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