Escaping Flatland

Just and loving seeing

Notes on Iris Murdoch

7 hrs ago • 

Henrik Karlsson

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November 2025

The paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, I change

Looking for Alice, part 4

Nov 19 • 

Henrik Karlsson

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A list of books and essays that I love

I’m purposefully not looking at my bookshelf to make sure I only pick books that I’ve thought about so much that they immediately occur to me.

Nov 4 • 

Henrik Karlsson

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October 2025

When is it better to think without words?

Non-verbal, blurry thinking is faster and can search in a broader way, but it is more error-prone than verbal thought.

Oct 23 • 

Henrik Karlsson

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Agentic fragments

This capacity to see through objects and notice how they can be reconfigured is closely related to agency. Having learned how to pick things apart and…

Oct 8 • 

Henrik Karlsson

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How I read

Reading well is an endurance sport. I sometimes talk to people who want to become serious readers and so pick up Kafka’s The Trial or something like…

Oct 1 • 

Henrik Karlsson

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September 2025

The moments

Life is not a story that builds to a climax. It is a story that meanders. In the first half, we accumulate resources—skills, friends, status—and, in the…

Sep 18 • 

Henrik Karlsson

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Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself and bloom

When people talk about the value of paying attention and slowing down, they often make it sound prudish and monk-like. But we shouldn’t forget how…

Sep 4 • 

Henrik Karlsson

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August 2025

When facing a complicated problem, don't try to solve it, try to understand it

On problem solving and form-context-fit

Aug 18 • 

Johanna Karlsson

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Henrik Karlsson

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July 2025

A constellation of lookers

Fragments, vol. 5

Jul 31 • 

Henrik Karlsson

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I went looking for friends, see what I found

Of all the ways this blog have changed my life, the most exciting was in December 2021 when I wrote a post about Ivan Illich that ended up, to my utter…

Jul 16 • 

Henrik Karlsson

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On agency

Or, how to handle being sentenced to freedom, and handle it effectively, and authentically, and responsibly

Jul 7 • 

Henrik Karlsson

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Johanna Karlsson

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