@marsulta.bsky.social
New essay: "You Stop Questioning What You Think You Already Know"
honestfool.substack.com/p/you-stop-q...
honestfool.substack.com/p/you-stop-q...
You Stop Questioning What You Think You Already Know
Field Notes from a Barrel #5
honestfool.substack.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:14 PM
New essay: "You Stop Questioning What You Think You Already Know"
honestfool.substack.com/p/you-stop-q...
honestfool.substack.com/p/you-stop-q...
My daughter is still an honest fool. She hasn't learned to stop asking because the answer might make her look foolish. She just wants to know if Wally gets bacon. And honestly? That's a better question than most theology I've read.
November 5, 2025 at 2:14 PM
My daughter is still an honest fool. She hasn't learned to stop asking because the answer might make her look foolish. She just wants to know if Wally gets bacon. And honestly? That's a better question than most theology I've read.
Children ask ridiculous questions because they don't think they know yet. Adults don't ask because we think we figured it out. But did we? Or did we just accept an answer and stop interrogating it?
November 5, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Children ask ridiculous questions because they don't think they know yet. Adults don't ask because we think we figured it out. But did we? Or did we just accept an answer and stop interrogating it?
Missing the point entirely: A little girl just wants to know if her dog is happy. We learn to ask complicated questions that sound sophisticated instead of simple questions that sound ridiculous. We stop questioning what we think we already know.
November 5, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Missing the point entirely: A little girl just wants to know if her dog is happy. We learn to ask complicated questions that sound sophisticated instead of simple questions that sound ridiculous. We stop questioning what we think we already know.
I'd given her a system (heaven). She was still questioning the system (does it have bacon?). I've taught the Bible for 18 years. No one has ever asked me if God cooks bacon. But theologians would argue over it for hours - animal souls, resurrection bodies, eschatology.
November 5, 2025 at 2:14 PM
I'd given her a system (heaven). She was still questioning the system (does it have bacon?). I've taught the Bible for 18 years. No one has ever asked me if God cooks bacon. But theologians would argue over it for hours - animal souls, resurrection bodies, eschatology.
New essay: "Success" - first in my 30 Words series. Also includes a free downloadable reflection guide if you want to work through your own thinking on any of the 30 words.
open.substack.com/pub/honestfo...
open.substack.com/pub/honestfo...
30 Words: Success
A Guided Reflection Exercise Series
open.substack.com
October 29, 2025 at 1:51 PM
New essay: "Success" - first in my 30 Words series. Also includes a free downloadable reflection guide if you want to work through your own thinking on any of the 30 words.
open.substack.com/pub/honestfo...
open.substack.com/pub/honestfo...
Success is what you did. It's not what you are. The moment you think "I've made it" is the moment you stop actually doing anything and start performing the role of someone who made it.
October 29, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Success is what you did. It's not what you are. The moment you think "I've made it" is the moment you stop actually doing anything and start performing the role of someone who made it.
Money doesn't make you successful. It makes you a person with money. Power doesn't make you successful. It makes you a person with power. Fame doesn't make you successful. It makes you a person everyone's watching. That's exhausting, not aspirational.
October 29, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Money doesn't make you successful. It makes you a person with money. Power doesn't make you successful. It makes you a person with power. Fame doesn't make you successful. It makes you a person everyone's watching. That's exhausting, not aspirational.
We've convinced ourselves that success is a permanent state - something you achieve and then maintain forever. Like you can finally arrive and just stay there. But nobody stays successful. You have an event, then you're back to being a regular person.
October 29, 2025 at 1:51 PM
We've convinced ourselves that success is a permanent state - something you achieve and then maintain forever. Like you can finally arrive and just stay there. But nobody stays successful. You have an event, then you're back to being a regular person.
You can go to the waterfall to make memories with your kids, but taking pictures from the trail doesn't create memories; it creates a photo album.
Get in the water (or at least tell them to get wetter).
Full Essay: open.substack.com/pub/honestfo...
Get in the water (or at least tell them to get wetter).
Full Essay: open.substack.com/pub/honestfo...
When Did We Stop Playing?
Filed Notes from a Barrel #4
open.substack.com
October 22, 2025 at 1:17 PM
You can go to the waterfall to make memories with your kids, but taking pictures from the trail doesn't create memories; it creates a photo album.
Get in the water (or at least tell them to get wetter).
Full Essay: open.substack.com/pub/honestfo...
Get in the water (or at least tell them to get wetter).
Full Essay: open.substack.com/pub/honestfo...
For me? I never started.
Dysfunctional childhood. Play wasn't safe.
So when I encourage my kids to get soaked, I'm not just letting them play.
I'm breaking a cycle. Giving them what I never had. Maybe healing something in myself.
Dysfunctional childhood. Play wasn't safe.
So when I encourage my kids to get soaked, I'm not just letting them play.
I'm breaking a cycle. Giving them what I never had. Maybe healing something in myself.
October 22, 2025 at 1:17 PM
For me? I never started.
Dysfunctional childhood. Play wasn't safe.
So when I encourage my kids to get soaked, I'm not just letting them play.
I'm breaking a cycle. Giving them what I never had. Maybe healing something in myself.
Dysfunctional childhood. Play wasn't safe.
So when I encourage my kids to get soaked, I'm not just letting them play.
I'm breaking a cycle. Giving them what I never had. Maybe healing something in myself.
Somewhere between childhood and adulthood, we learned:
Playing is for kids
Adults supervise, don't participate
Spontaneity is irresponsible
Looking dignified matters more than being present
When did we stop playing?
Playing is for kids
Adults supervise, don't participate
Spontaneity is irresponsible
Looking dignified matters more than being present
When did we stop playing?
October 22, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Somewhere between childhood and adulthood, we learned:
Playing is for kids
Adults supervise, don't participate
Spontaneity is irresponsible
Looking dignified matters more than being present
When did we stop playing?
Playing is for kids
Adults supervise, don't participate
Spontaneity is irresponsible
Looking dignified matters more than being present
When did we stop playing?
Then I noticed the eyes.
Other hikers at the top of the trail. Staring. Raised eyebrows.
My wife: "Maybe what we're doing is frowned upon."
By whom? For what? We were just playing in water.
Other hikers at the top of the trail. Staring. Raised eyebrows.
My wife: "Maybe what we're doing is frowned upon."
By whom? For what? We were just playing in water.
October 22, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Then I noticed the eyes.
Other hikers at the top of the trail. Staring. Raised eyebrows.
My wife: "Maybe what we're doing is frowned upon."
By whom? For what? We were just playing in water.
Other hikers at the top of the trail. Staring. Raised eyebrows.
My wife: "Maybe what we're doing is frowned upon."
By whom? For what? We were just playing in water.
Cruelty is obedience to a system that wants you to be cruel.
Compassion is rebellion against it.
When you mock someone for being confused, you're doing the system's work for free.
Full essay: open.substack.com/pub/honestfo...
Compassion is rebellion against it.
When you mock someone for being confused, you're doing the system's work for free.
Full essay: open.substack.com/pub/honestfo...
Mock Systems, Not Souls
On reclaiming satire as an act of compassion
open.substack.com
October 15, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Cruelty is obedience to a system that wants you to be cruel.
Compassion is rebellion against it.
When you mock someone for being confused, you're doing the system's work for free.
Full essay: open.substack.com/pub/honestfo...
Compassion is rebellion against it.
When you mock someone for being confused, you're doing the system's work for free.
Full essay: open.substack.com/pub/honestfo...
Marcus Aurelius: "the culprit himself, who is my brother."
Not because we're related, but because we're both human, both stumbling through the same absurd world, both infected by the same systems.
Not because we're related, but because we're both human, both stumbling through the same absurd world, both infected by the same systems.
October 15, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Marcus Aurelius: "the culprit himself, who is my brother."
Not because we're related, but because we're both human, both stumbling through the same absurd world, both infected by the same systems.
Not because we're related, but because we're both human, both stumbling through the same absurd world, both infected by the same systems.
My pastor used to say: "Don't ask why someone is acting that way. Ask what happened to that person to make them act that way."
That question shifts from judgment to curiosity. From mockery to compassion.
That question shifts from judgment to curiosity. From mockery to compassion.
October 15, 2025 at 3:15 PM
My pastor used to say: "Don't ask why someone is acting that way. Ask what happened to that person to make them act that way."
That question shifts from judgment to curiosity. From mockery to compassion.
That question shifts from judgment to curiosity. From mockery to compassion.
I saw a Facebook comment on an overdose story: "It was their own fault."
Years ago, I would've attacked them. Now I know: they're not evil. They're running code. Old beliefs about addiction that have been killing people for decades.
Years ago, I would've attacked them. Now I know: they're not evil. They're running code. Old beliefs about addiction that have been killing people for decades.
October 15, 2025 at 3:15 PM
I saw a Facebook comment on an overdose story: "It was their own fault."
Years ago, I would've attacked them. Now I know: they're not evil. They're running code. Old beliefs about addiction that have been killing people for decades.
Years ago, I would've attacked them. Now I know: they're not evil. They're running code. Old beliefs about addiction that have been killing people for decades.
The 48-hour rule I'm trying: Before sharing any take that feels too perfect, wait 48 hours.
Most of the time? The moment passes. I realize I never actually cared—just cared about seeming like I cared.
Full Essay: open.substack.com/pub/honestfo...
Most of the time? The moment passes. I realize I never actually cared—just cared about seeming like I cared.
Full Essay: open.substack.com/pub/honestfo...
We Don't Have Opinions; We Just Pick Up the Ones on Sale
Field Notes from a Barrel, No. 2
open.substack.com
October 10, 2025 at 8:24 PM
The 48-hour rule I'm trying: Before sharing any take that feels too perfect, wait 48 hours.
Most of the time? The moment passes. I realize I never actually cared—just cared about seeming like I cared.
Full Essay: open.substack.com/pub/honestfo...
Most of the time? The moment passes. I realize I never actually cared—just cared about seeming like I cared.
Full Essay: open.substack.com/pub/honestfo...