Instruments for thinking.
The methods behind my reading, writing, and attention, and the tools I use to practice them. Each shows how I actually work, so you can do something similar if you want to.
Where an instrument has a skill, it is written for an AI agent. It is not meant to be installed as it is: give it to your own agent as a starting point, and have the agent adapt the method to your notes and the way you work.
Methods
- Method
Ontological Type System
A classical realist type system for an Obsidian vault that helps you think and remember rather than just store text: six root types with templated subtypes, for atomic notes about real things and dense linking.
- Method
Witness
A way of keeping a journal as witness: write about what you meet, give each thing you care about its own note, and link the two, so the thing's note gathers every time you met it.
- Method
Quill
A way of writing essays by talking: developing the idea with an AI agent, composing aloud, and editing by ear toward something beautiful and true.
- Method
Capturing Scripture
A method for catching Bible references in real time during preaching, layering each verse with Strong's lexemes, so your Obsidian vault's graph grows by both reference and root word.
Skills
- Skill
Sermon Guides for Small Groups
Two Claude skills that turn a sermon transcript into a printed guide for small group leaders: the first writes the guide, the second renders it as a two-page branded PDF for your congregation.
- Skill
Nuance Finder
A Claude skill that splits a viral post into its parts the way a prism splits light: the story on one side, the framing on the other. It reconstructs what's actually known and names how the post is built, and it never issues a true-or-false verdict.
New essays and instruments by email